6 week old - really noisy grunting around 4-5am each morning

[BettyButterknife]

DS2 is 6 weeks and sleeps in our room with us. He's been waking us up around 4-5am each morning with all manner of grunting, straining, groaning, farting, squeaking etc. and some of the noises he's making even remind me of being in labour! It sounds as though he should have done a giant poo, but more often than not there's nothing in there when we change his nappy.

He's not hungry as he normally feeds around 2.30-3am, but my instincts say it's digestion. Maybe as he's been lying down for 9 or 10 hours by this point. He will settle if we bring him in with us and cuddle him/give him a dummy. But then I can't sleep if he's in with us.

I'm thinking of taking him to an osteopath just to get his tummy checked out, but wanted to ask whether anyone here had any bright ideas about what it could be and/or what to do about it (other than earplugs ). It's waking us up, and him possibly, and he sounds so uncomfortable.

Is he actually crying or showing signs of being in any pain ??

My youngest DS was also a great grunter in his sleep at that early stage and it was all normal and nothing to worry about.

He too woke both me and DH most days with his noises whilst he was in our room in the moses basket.

One thing we did use with DS was some nasal sal I think it was called. They were basically just saline drops that you put in their nose to help breathing etc as at times DS seemed a bit bunged up which was contributing to his noises.

Our little boy is the same age and doing exactly the same thing right down to the time of last feed and time of day. HV says it's quite normal as their insides are still sorting themselves out until about 12 weeks. She did say that if he doesn't poo for 3 days we should go and see the GP. Doesn't help with the noises particularly (some of them are quite spectacular), but hope you find some solace in solidarity.

My DS2 was a grunter, sa was his wee pal down the road. Started at about the same time, and is apparently something to do with their guts colonising.

Perfectly normal, as long as you can't see any signs of actual respiratory distress when he is grunting.

Sorry for you, it is very noisy

Oh, she also suggested baby massage might ease things a little bit. Usually sessions at most surestart centres for 50p :)

Betty

Ds2 did this. Nothing could be done, he wasn't in any pain or suffereing from anything, he was just a nopisy little so and so (this hasn't changed now that he's 2.2 and is the loudest child I have ever heard. All day long.)

Sorry! Know how frustrating it is when you are trying to sleep.

My 7 week old is extremely noisy when sleeping and even more so when waking up. his snuffles, grunts and squeaks wake me, he rarely cries at night.

He is a bit snuffly at times, usually around 3-4am - I have been using saline nasal drops to very good effect (when I manage to actually get them up the little squirmers nose, but thats another story!)

My ds, 6weeks does this - drives me mad, seems worse if he hasn't done a big burp, but if burp can't be achieved he is a squirmy grunty thing.

Both of mine were very grunty - we ended up putting them in the room next door where we couldn't hear them so much!

Mine did this until about 8 weeks but was in pain and woke himself up with it. Baby massage on his tum really helped - amazing how it gets the farts out for them! The other thing that helped was going from demand feeding to 3 hourly - seemed to give his tum more rest time, but it may have been coincidence. Now at 11 weeks he can manage the wind himself and is much more content.

Hi betty, there's a possibility that it might be that he does need a poo. Many babies signal this when very young, it's an instinct to keep the "nest" clean iyswim. We just aren't really looking for it as we use nappies, it's not on our check list. If you google "elimination communication" you can find more info. Ec can seem a bit lentil weavey, but i have heard of lots of people starting it because their baby made it clear that they didn't want to poo in their nappy. Instead they hold them over the loo or a potty. No pooey nappies. Maybe he just likes grunting! Maybe he just wants a little help to have a poo!

Ooh MFM that's really interesting, I might try holding my DD over the WC tomorrow morning then!
I posted about the same thing, what I did in the end was make the bed safe for co sleeping and just bring her in at 5ISH when she starts a-grunting and a-groaning. Shuts her up like a charm! My friend moved her DS into his own room but now he just keeps her up via baby monitor :)

DD did this - I took her to a cranial osteopath and it stopped, and she slept much better (as did we!).

DS did this we took him to an osteopath about something unrelated and mentioned this. She did whatever it is they do and he never did the grunting thing again

DDDixon ec sites will show you some safe holds that your baby will feel secure in. The born ready forum has some video links i think. And the nappy free baby site is great. (don't worry, ec doesn't mean not using nappys, though some hardcore peeps don't! )

I asked my HV about this and she said if the baby wasn't crying, she is OK, so i never worried about it after that, all three of mine have done it, and have been fine.

Brilliant, thanks for reassuring me we're not alone!

I have my name down for a baby massage class but it doesn't start until next month. But in the meantime I think I'll take him to an osteopath and see if that makes any difference.