newborn grunting/straining/gen uncomfortable-what's the norm?

[feekerry]

dc2 is 4.5 weeks old. since birth he has been a very grunty/wriggly baby. it seems to be getting worse now tho. he spends 90% of his awake time grunting/writhing etc. typical colicky type stuff but it just seems constant.
at night its awful. keeps the whole house awake. he doesn't scream or cry inconsolably but cries out/grunts/ moans so loudly. he does appear to be in pain, goes red etc.
he is ebf and seems to only poo every 2 days and when he does he poos several times. poo all looks fine and he isn't often sick.
what is normal? he just seems so uncomfortable/unhappy little thing.

Jesus. The multiple posts

This was just like my dd. She was formular fed but was constantly squirming and grunting like she was constipated but she wasn't.

Turned out to be CMPI. One hypoallergenic milk later and she was a different baby!!!!

It's often diagnosed as reflux too poor dd I was told she may have "colic" not a diagnoses or silent reflux. I beged for a milk as I just knew and honestly it changed everything and stuff I hadn't linked with the problem went to.

yes i will ask about cutting dairy out of my diet too as that is another possibility.
he has just pooed a bit after 36 hours of none and seems bit happier

okay update....
went to gp who agreed he looked v uncomfortable and he also had a temp so we were actually admitted to hospital as an emergency!!! gulp.
been there all day and they ran lots of tests and decided he has probably picked up a small virus hence the temp. BUT re the grunting/writhing etc they have suggesed CMPI and said to try dairy free for a month!!!

Bless him, what a worry for you. Dairy free is tough (had to do it with dd as antibiotics destroyed her gut flora at a few days old), but do-able. Good luck.

Has he been checked for tongue tie? DD was a very writhy grunty terrible sleeper baby. she was on reflux meds, I came off dairy, nothing helped. Turned out she had posterior tongue tie and was swallowing lots of air when feeding (hence bad wind). worth getting checked but gps and HVs are terrible at this - you need a bf counsellor.

Seconding tongue tie checks.

Mine did this. Dr had no clue. Got worse as baby got older. Turned out to be dairy allergy (through my milk) and tongue tie. Stopped eating dairy and got tie corrected and all was well again.

Dairy free has been surprisingly ok.

Another one reporting that both my babies went through a phase of sporadic pooing in their second month, and both were shocking grunters (DS in particular, sometimes I expected to look into the Moses basket and see a badger rooting around in there)

Glad you got him checked out though

Have you spoken to Doc or HV about reflux?! My DD1 used to do the same and It was silent reflux... She needed meds and a special angled cushion thing to sleep on .

I might try the dairy milk change .. Were waiting for a referral to get DS tongue tie snipped .. Fingers crossed for happier babies all around x

ye reflux and tt are next on the list. he has been checked for tt by a paed but yesterday the hospital suggested a lactation consultant check as difficult to pick up.
if dairy free doesn't work they will prescribe rantadine. the only thing that doesn't add up re reflux is he is prob happier lying down...

he has been checked for tt by a paed but yesterday the hospital suggested a lactation consultant check as difficult to pick up

Good advice - doctors are not really much good at spotting TTs unless they are specialists in that field. Have they given you the name of a good lactation consultant to see?

Dairy free is a bit of a bugger as you have to check for hidden dairy which is in loads of things (even some bread!) and it's best to avoid soy as well (though soya lecithin is ok) as dairy allergic babies often can't tolerate soy either. It takes at least 2 weeks for the dairy to clear your system.