7 week old boy grunting, straining and groaning

[Cee3008]

Hi,
My 7week old boy is grunting and straining which is causing him to call out in pain. He is not constipated, is breastfed and genarally a content, happy little boy.

The straining etc is worse in the early hours, particularly from 5am until about 10am. The rest of the day is not so bad.

Does anyone have any experience of this? We have tried Infacol and gripe water and neither make much difference. We have just started cranial osteopathy but too early to tell if it is helping.

Cee

[SlightlySuperiorPeasant]

Are you doing baby massage with him? Digestion is definitely a whole body experience with someone so little so that would help. Other than that it is worth getting him checked over by your GP to rule out kinks, blockages or a hernia.

[Cee3008]

We've just started massage with him and so far the Dr says its a stage he'll grow out of but I'm not convinced, or if it is, can't bear to see him suffer

[SlightlySuperiorPeasant]

It is so hard when you don't know how to help. If you aren't convinced then you could always see another GP though.

[AlphabetiSpaghetti]

Is he definately in pain? My DS did this, especially the night hours. I brought it up 3 times with the dr/hv and they said he'd grow out of it. It drove me crazy (the worry and the fact it kept me awake all bleeding night). Low and behold, at about 12 weeks I noticed he'd stopped.

Unless he's obviously in pain I would try and relax and be assured it'll pass.

[ForFoxsGlacierMints]

Yup, my DS did exactly this for quite a while. Eventually it stopped, I know that's not much use to you but he hasn't had any problems since.

[Smallgreenone]

My DS is 5 weeks and does this too. Infacol and gripe water haven't worked. Would love advice too.

[Cee3008]

Hi smallgreenone - it certainly isn't a cure but we have found gently moving our DS legs - holding his ankles and benign his knees right up and straightening and bicycling them helps him release gas... It might be worth a try...

[mummybare]

Our DD did this too. Again bicycling her legs and massaging her tummy (clockwise) helped a bit, but I think it's just the digestive system maturing and that you have to wait it out, I'm afraid. On the plus side, though, the pooey nappies became slightly less frequent once we passed that stage, so that's something to look forward to!

[Vinnyinny]

My DS did this all the time. He is 13 weeks old now and doesn't do it really at all now. It was awful though- almost all night long and most of the day too. The GP said he wasn't concerned and the HV said it was quite normal. One think I would say is that DS had an umbilical hernia and I did wonder if it was bothering him. Don't worry- it will calm down

[Smallgreenone]

Thanks cee and mummy we do bicycling and it does help a little bit but I'll try massage too. Thanks. It's awful to watch them in pain. He was 3 weeks early too so wonder if his tummy is even more undeveloped than other babies.

[Cee3008]

I forgot to say, letting our DS sleep on his front seems to help too. We do it about 6am when the grunting as at it's worst and he sleeps on is tummy on one of our chests (we are awake) he gets some relief but he is still 'safe'