I'm fairly sure this is just one of those things we're going to have to wait out (this is baby #2 so I know some things just last until they stop by themselves) but I'm hoping someone might have experienced it before.
My three week old starts grunting the minute you put him down asleep and doesn't stop until he wakes up 30mins to an hour and a half later.
I know grunting is normal - my daughter did it too - but this isn't the type of grunting where he's happily asleep but just noisy. It's like real effortous straining and groaning, and it gets louder and louder and more distressed until he starts crying. It doesn't happen at all when he's held.
Any ideas? If he slept normally (2-3 hours between feeds) I wouldn't be bothered by the noise, but it's like the grunting is a symptom of something which is also stopping him sleep/waking him up prematurely.
Because it wakes him (and us) my partner and I are having to split the nights in half, which isn't ideal since we have a toddler too. We're both exhausted.
We're about to try ranitidine from the GP (gaviscon doesn't seem to be working) and it's not affected by sleeping surface (he does it in a Moses basket, Sleepyhead and bouncer chair - anywhere he isn't being held), whether he's been burped or not, day or night, farting, pooping etc. I coslept with him last night and he did it then too - I had to pay him every ten minutes to keep him asleep. If he's asleep and you put him down, he'll start grunting, regardless of how he is otherwise.
My DD was ok at sleeping when put down so I have no experience here. Help!