Newborn grunts and strains

[Hodge85]

Hi,

So my newborn is nearly 2 weeks old and for the past week he has started grunting and straining from about 4am, it's looking like he's really struggling with wind. I just don't know how to help him, it's only really been happening for the past week.

He has had Aptamil since birth, he also had colostrum from birth and I struggled with breastfeeding as my supply wasn't there initially. Since last Thursday though I have managed to express my milk so he gets a full bottle (if not a little more) once a day. So I'm not sure if there's something in my milk which is causing the discomfort or is this a normal newborn thing? Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated! We make sure to burp him regularly through feeds too x

[AncientRainbowABC]

We had this for a while and my conclusion was that they do just have a grunting phase.

It came and went, and mostly seemed to be happening in DD’s sleep. We also had a mix of Aptamil and expressed breast milk, similar situation to you.

There was also some suggestion in online articles that this is developmental rather than tummy related.

For what it’s worth, the only thing I thought did help with colic crying (early evening rather than 4am) was excluding broccoli, cabbage and other brassicas from my diet while still expressing. There is no scientific basis for this but our lactation consultant said it helps some babies and it did in our case, even if technically “unproven”.

[Dexy2020]

My little one was the same from about 3 weeks till 14 weeks old, definately worse from 4am onwards but seemed to happen all night, took me a little while to figure out what was asleep grunting and what was awake grunting but worked it out in the end, I do think it's a newborn thing until their digestive system starts to mature, he used to have terrible bottom wind throughout the night until I started him on optibac probiotic powder which seemed to help him alot, he's always been formula fed, he was on SMA and I swapped him to Hipp Organic but didn't seem to make any difference xx

[Yorkiee]

I remember this happening with my lo. It was worse 5am everyday up until 10 weeks!! My doctor said its their digestive system working

[Yorkiee]

@Dexy2020 said the same thing! Digestive system :)

[Ginandtonic31]

They all do it don't worry. My 16 week old has just stopped doing it and now only pushes when actually doing a poo. I know at the time it's not nice and I was the same, trying everything! She also used to do it early hours. But one day you will just notice that it has stopped!