4 wks old breastfed always making grunting, pushing noises , any advice?

[M78]

I have a 4 wks old baby, she eats well , she has regular bowel movements and she is putting on weight, but she is always very unsettled. After eating she always starts grunting and pushing and straining , I need to hold her in my arms and even then she seems to be unable to relax, even when asleep she will keep making noises, going red in the face, pushing her knees up and sometimes but not often she will cry. I can't put her in her moses basket at night and she only sleep laying on my chest. During the day she will only really settle if I take her for a drive. I assume this is wind as the only couple of times she has slept ok have been after I have managed to wind her successfully. This is really getting me down I am not getting much sleep and she just seems unhappy and uncomfortable all the time, and I do really try to wind her properly and more than once during and after feeds, but after 20 min max I stop. Has anyone experienced anything similar? I have a 7yrs old DD and she was always quite settled. Thanks!

Do you have a very overactive letdown? My milk spurts everywhere, and it was only after my dc learned to control the flow (ds was about 12 weeks and dd a bit older) that they settled a bit. Try hand expressing the "top" off a feed, so that the flow isn't so fast, or pump a little before feeding her.

I also found this winding technique to work very well: lay them flat on the bed, bicycle their legs a bit, then lift them up veeeerrrrry slowly and rub their back in a circular motion. Usually worked and I got a lovely burp and puke down my back

Yup sounds like wind to me. There isn't much you can do apart from help them bring it up. Infacol helped a bit. Dd3 is four months and still very windy. I some times have to walk up and down with her for hours before she brings it up. It's exhausting.

M78 my DD2 is a bit like this! She's 13 weeks now and is getting a lot better - but she won't nap in the day, has been wriggling and squibbling and gurning and generally seeming uncomfortable all the time.

I put it down to wind - from both ends - they seem to really struggle with it when they're small.

If your DD isn't crying she's probably not actually that uncomfortable no matter what she looks like!

Does she sleep at night - do you get any sleep - or is she grunting and wriggling while seemingly asleep and keeping you awake (my LOs trick)?

TAFKAtheUrbanDryad Yes my letdown is very fast, I actually hear her swallowing lots of air and I can feel the air bubble going down to her tummy every time she starts feeding! I'll try to espress some milk first to see if it helps.
SardineQueen She only sleeps on my chest or in my bed while still making the grunting noises and of course I get very little sleep, I find the all thing so exhausting!

Oh dear M78 no sleep is a killer, everything seems much worse when you're knackered.

I don't have any advice to give on that front i'm afraid apart from it does gradually get better - it won't go on like this forever!

Do you have an OH / are they pulling their weight?

I would arrange for a HV/breastfeeding counsellor to come to your home and witness baby feeding and then let them show you a range of winding techniques.

I used to do little sqwat thrusts with dc3, so sat on your knee facing you, then lift, down with a couple of bounces and then lift. (idea is to squish and stretch the tummy.

And go to any bf workshops or post natal meets to seek out any other methods.

And good luck.

Bouncing on a birthing ball with baby on your shoulder might work?

Or, failing that, the knowledge that This Too Will Pass - by 15 weeks both mine were sleeping through and had learned to regulate my flow by themselves. Although what this means in practice is that dd comes off the breast when it's getting to fast and watches it spurt whatever's behind her! I'm waiting for it to happen in Starbucks and someone end up with a breastmilk latte!

lol @ bm latte
Urbandryad - just out of interest, did you do clockwise or anti-clockwise circular movements on the back? I know if you massage the stomach it should be clockwise but the mirror image of this (back) would be anti-clockwise. I want to try this for dd who is very windy indeed but don't want to rub the wrong way and make the wind worse!

I do clockwise motions, coupled with some gentle patting. Or I massage up the spine with the heel of my hand. It was more the putting down and picking up that seemed to get the wind up, rather than the patting or the rubbing, but to be perfectly honest, the only thing that really sorted it was when she started to sit unaided (about 19-20 weeks) - I just to try and keep her upright as much as possible, we propped up her moses basket/cot with books so she was sleeping slanted IYSWIM, and I carried her upright in a sling or put her sitting in her buggy. She also used to really like her vibrating bouncy chair.

M78, my DS (now 8weeks) was same in the beginning, making grunting and pushing noises, especially in the night.
What I did:

I stopped drinking milk as read somewhere that it might upset baby's stomach. In the beginning I was drinking loads of it thinking it was a good thing.

Stopped putting garlic into my food when I linked one garlic-loaded meal to DS being more restless and unhappy than usually. I think anything that gives us wind can potentially cause wind in baby as well. It's just that we might not feel much discomfort whereas they do.

I try to make sure baby burps after the feed. I have noticed that if I let him lay for a while on a pillow after the feed and then pick him up he usually gives me a massive burp. If not I try changing positions - keep him upright, then lie or sit on my knees and try burping again (stretching the stomach as starwhores said...). If all fails I put him back to his crib expecting grunting and pushing noises. And when after a while he starts making them I know he needs burping and he usually burps and calms down.

I have lifted one side of the crib cause he was having a bit of reflux for some time and maybe was more noisy than usual because of that. Seems to work...

He still grunts when put to the crib but these days it doesn't last very long and he soon falls asleep. Maybe it got a bit better because he's older now?...

Hang in there - it will get better.

Thank you for all your replies, I have tried laying her down and then picking her up and that seems to work, I am going to talk to the HV re breastfeeding as she really swallows lots of air in the first 5 min on the breast and that is the wind that I desperately try to get out after! She might not be latching on properly. Anyway, even if I know it will pass eventually, I just find the grunting and straining difficult to listen to all day, as she looks so uncomfortable and her little face is goes so red from the pushing , I really hope it will get a bit better using my new burping techniques!

My little one has been doing this since 2 weeks old. He's now almost 5 months and it still continues. Dr said colic but I'm not so sure. He struggles after every feed. He is EBF. He can only sleep on his stomach and has been doing so since afew weeks old. The straining, wriggling, going red continues for awhile after a feed. He can burp fine so it isn't wind. Takes awhile for it to come up but it always does and it make a no difference. I tried infacol, dentinox and colief and gripe water when he was a baby but none made a difference so I stopped using it. Weight gain is fine, wee and poops once or twice a day so that's fine. Did you get to the bottom of it?

Even if it was colic, surely 5 months it should have gone? I'm going to ring Dr Monday and get a referral to a specialist. Getting nowhere with hv and Dr.

Hi Allusive,

Any luck with specialist. Really what to know how it could be sorted. My 14 weeks old is struggling : (

Thanks alot

Hi,

The Dr assured me it can't be anything serious as there wouldn't be normal weight gain or a happy baby between feeds. Dr also said colic has no end date....

He will be 5 months next week. He doesn't go so red anymore but still straining and curling up. I burp him and put him on his tummy now. He will turn his head side to side, but eventually go to sleep. He rarely cries with it now. I wish I could put him on his back as his head is alittle flat on both sides from sleeping with head to one side but he won't settle long on his back unless I'm holding him or he's in the car. I don't know how long this will go on for. I'm hoping with solids in a few weeks and with him starting to crawl it may make an improvement. The less breast milk might make it easier.

Thank alot for sharing
I believe I have to wait for him to outgrow this as well. Hope your lo get better soon.

If it'd lower GI distress as in from the navel down, it's often cows milk protein intolerance. They're struggling to digest dairy. My DS was diagnosed with it at 9 weeks

My lo is bf so really don't want to switch him to comfort milk or don't want to try gavison.. thinking to try Colief. I have tried infacol but it gave reflux to my lo... hoping something works .

I cut out milk, cheese and yogurts from my diet as well a caffeine but again, made no difference so I resumed a normal diet. It's horrible watching them clearly uncomfortable after something as natural as breast milk but I think this one is just one of those things you may have to wait out.

My DD1 was ebf for 2yrs. She was nothing like my son and would only feed to sleep. However, she never slept longer than a couple of hours up till 2yrs of age. My boy might have this tummy issue but when sleeping on his tummy he can sleep a good 5-6hr stretch at night and can put himself to sleep rather than me constantly rocking him.

During the early stage of this tummy thing, he would cry in the evenings and I had to swing him around to get him to calm down. Thankfully, I read somewhere that such babies prefer sleeping on their tummies. I would put him on my chest but the bigger he got, the more awake he became on my shoulder so putting him into bed on his tummy would eventually lead to him falling asleep, after the wriggling round and straining episode was over.

Bless him . Hope this phase get over soon . I changed my mind going to try Dentinox tonight let see what happens. My lo doesn't like tummy time so can't put him on his tummy : (

I need some advice on having baby injections. I haven't had them done. My baby boy is 11 weeks old and I haven't had them done. I don't believe in putting things like that into my child. My doctors keep calling me and having a go at me for not booking an appointment for having them done. Do you have to have them done by law?

Emma, this is the wrong folder. There is a vaccinations/immunisations folder. Ask your question there.

I know it’s been a while but your description is exact with what my DS now 4weeks old is going throughout burps fine but is uncomfortable after and when feeding after. Yours being 5months long scared me. I’m desperate for relief. Gripe water seems to worsen it. I’m thinking of trying colief but I hope it really is just wind. Did get any findings from yours?