MOANING AND GROANING AT NIGHT - DUE TO FORMULA?

[MrsBigD]

Hi there,

wasn't sure whether to post this under sleep or feeding... so here I am with a parallel posting:

ds is 7 weeks old and unfortunately I had to swap from breast to bottle as I didn't produce enough milk. Shortly after that he started waking up more frequently at night and even when asleep is grunting, moaning and straining ferosciously during the night which is rather noisy and disturbing and most likely very uncomfortable for him as well - just not too sound too selfish here! My husband is ready to put him into dd's room, but I've vetoed that because ds would only wake her up and she's only just started sleeping through every so often.

Ds is not constipated as he gets lots of fennel tea during the day - otherwise he'd be wanting milk 24/7 that little glutton of mine! Also he winds very well, and some of his burps would do his dad proud ;)

My suspicion is that it's the formula milk causing it - ds has been on cow & gate so far, but swapping to farley today to see whether that'll change anything. Spoken to a MW and all I got there is 'it's probably wind and it'll pass' - very helpful that!

So if anybody had a similar problem and found a solution I'm all ears and would be eternally grateful!

If he's not waking he's prob ok, MrsBigD - but you say he is waking more often...is that linked to the noises do you think?

Please don't take this as any other than a mild suggestion, but is relactating not an option for you? It can't have been that long since you stopped bf and it is certainly possible for bf to be fixed and to be made more successful...though you would need to give formula while you were building up your milk again, of course. If you;re interested, I could give you more info.

I know some people on Mumsnet have used other types of formula with some success so hopefully you will hear from more people later

he's generally hungry when he wakes up so have changed formula today to see whether the 'effects' are longer lasting. as for relactating... didn't manage to produce enough milk in the first run so ds started loosing weight, had to top up with bottle, at which stage he probably thought to himself... why work hard (I've got inverted nipples)) when the bottle is so easy...
thanks for your post

What about speaking to the nct help line? Breastfeeding works on supply and demand and it's really about confidence. You can produce enough milk! Once you start introducing bottles it can make it much harder to bf as you arent stimulating your breasts to produce milk each time you give the bottle.

Hi! I bottle fed my ds2 from birth through choice, he is now 11months, and I remember the first few weeks that he would grunt and groan and stretch in his cot after being fed during the night, didn't notice him doing the same thing durung the day though. It never seemed to bother him although I never went back to sleep until he had! He grew out of it after a while, can't remember how long.(He was on SMA gold at first and then white as big guzzler!)

my little one, 7 wks old, bottle fed since birth has been making similar noises since day 3 am fairly sure it's wind tho. started on sma gold, then moved on to sma white, really noisy bowels then, then changed him to soya milk formula. less wind, noises still present. sleeps fairly well, gaining weight, alert and responsive.
like yours, more quiet in the day, when napping. if ur baby is gaining weight, no fever or other worrying signs, carry on with what you are doing.

My DD (5 weeks) also does this at night but only after the second feed of the night (3/4 am). I am BF but she is having a bottle of formula before we go to bed (@10.30/11pm) and she never makes the grunty noises after this feed only after a BF. She does this occasionally during the day but not as much as at night and obviously we notice it more! It really distracts me from sleeping and i keep leaping up to check she is OK whereas my DH wants to put her in her own room soon but she is too small and would just mean that i would keep having to go into another room. Mentioned this to the HV and she said it is normal.

Took her for some cranial osteopathy today just to check her over so will let you know if this makes any difference or not - but sounds like everyone else says they will grow out of it. Thought would reassure you that dont think it is anything to do with the formula.

Good luck

Thanks all, I'm glad to hear that he'll grow out of it hope it's sooner rather than later!

funkydiva - mine's a guzzler too but no longer tempted to give in to his demands in quantity as he usually uses part of the overfeeding to redecorate our t-shirts! ;)

morethanithot - did you check with HV first re soya?

hercules - unfortunately the demand and supply didn't work with me and believe me I tried! Didn't help though that different midwifes give different tips on how to fee, i.e. all of one breast for one feed and then the other for the next feed / both breasts for 15 mins etc. tried all that was recommended with the result that I either still had a screaming baby or he was latched on or trying to latch on for most of the day as he kept slipping off ... no nipple to stop him... and after all, if mum is stressed because she's getting frustrated can't be good for baby either.

bonus for bottle... hubby can feed too.

MrsBigD - you have had crap support from midwives (neither of the bits of advice given you are correct) so not surprising it didn't work.... Sounds sure enough like a positioniing prob if he was so unhappy and also slipping off.

I would also say that breastfed and bottle fed babies do this grunty thing in their sleeps....seems amazing that such a small person can make such a loud noise and still be asleep

ah well, no use crying about spilled milk (no pun intended as I said, at least hubby can help

it's reassurung to hear though that bf and btlf groan

mrsbigd, no didn't ask health visitor. decided on soya based on 2 things: one of my younger sibs was lactose intolerant when a baby, and these things can be genetic. the other reason, i was having ds weighed in surgery, when another lady with older baby was asking for advise abt baby who wouldn't sleep. hv suggested soya formula to her. i thot it over and made the change( sounds flimsy i know, but the science sounded appealing). he's generally fine tho, but poo has greenish tinge, and is quite firm, but baby is happy, so i've continued for 4 weeks now.

also, while breast is great and all that, there's no reason to feel bad abt exclusive bottle feeds. no hard and fast rules abt this business of child rearing no?

not feeling bad about doing pure bottle now. I tried, I 'failed' and hey ds is happy, allert and putting on the weight, just like a little piggie... hmmm maybe that's why he's grunting? .

morethan - check web for info about soya formula, and mumsnet, too.

Some babies do really need it, but the majority should avoid it.

Not wanting to scare you, but you need to know!!

thanks tiktok, can u recommend any sites for more info?

Hi all, been searching thru the posts tonight to see if I can find any info that could help me with DD. Now 4.5mths - when very young she suffered with colic, had awful time, saw cranial osteo and got all the over the counter remedies, suffice to say that none worked. I changed ny diet (as BF) and helped a bit. Tried to give formula (C&G) recently as have a day away at a health farm in Jan and won't be able to feed her myself. Has never taken to the bottle, not even with EBM, so been trying cups (Doidy), some milk goes in, but most ends up on bibs, and then the milk that does stay in her mouth, she then spits out. Managed (kicking and screaming) today to get about 2oz down her, and she has been sick about 6 times since then. Looking at the lactose intolerance posts etc, her colic reduced when I cut out diary in my diet. Is there a link d'ya think?

Me again, sorry forget to say that DD moaned, groaned and cried in her sleep, figeted around loads, passed wind and then fell back to sleep again. When this happened every two hrs, I stopped eating dairy, drinking wine and eating chocolate (not fair!) and moaning and groaning has stopped again.