sleeping 5wo very noisy!

[MrsCLH]

My ds will finish his last feed, I'll wind him, and he'll be flat out sozzled fast asleep on my shoulder so I put him in his crib and all is quiet for about 2 mins and then it starts! Heaving breathing, snorting, grunting, straining, panting huh huh huh, sometimes sounds like he's struggling to get his breath, then its the odd wail and this carries on, with the odd quiet pause until either he falls asleep (I can cope with it just about it if it ends in sleep) or he works himself up into a crescendo of more wails and eventually full on crying and I have to get him up and try to settle him again, this can happen 2 or 3 times before I finally get him down and each time the noise starts I just feel like crying. Ended up having a huge row with dh last night cos we both reached the end of our tether and dh keeps asking me whats wrong with him as if I know fffs! You can imagine the sort of thing :) It is shockingly loud and it just sounds like something awful is wrong with him! He does not do this in the day, he tends to fall asleep in his bouncy chair and I thought, as this has a bit of an incline, I would stick a folded towel under the mattress of the crib to prop his head up slightly in case his is mucusy, a bit blocked up etc but it makes absolutely no difference. Anyone else had this? Is it normal? Can I do anything?

xx

I think it's probably wind. My own DS as a baby was a terrible old wind-bag and, if I put him down before getting every single last bubble out of him, he would do exactly what you describe. I remember spending what felt like ages every night of his first few months with him slumped over one shoulder, endlessly patting his back. Signs that you need to keep winding are things like a greyish colour to the top lip, 'fluttering' eyelids and drawing the legs up when lying down. Give it a try.

Any tips for getting wind up, feel like I'm rubbish at it, we hardly seem to get a burp out of him! I'm using infacol and have got more burps since we started using that but i did wonder if it was wind and just dont know how to get rid of it!

My technique (and there are many) was to hold him upright with my hand spread wide on his chest, thumb under one armpit, rest of fingers under the other so that his body sort of 'hung' suspended. Then pat and rub the back ad infinitum until that grey tint on the top lip and fluttering eyelids. Another good one was slinging him over one shoulder, tummy down, draped like a mink stole! The pressure on the tummy seemed to squeeze out the gas. Infacol never helped baby DS FWIW. Just lots of patting, 'hanging' and 'draping'... :)

Thanks, will definitely give the sitting upright position a go tonight. I think what's probably happening at night is that I'm so exhausted, the minute he seems to have drifted off I'm desperate to get him in the crib, and not spending enough time making sure he isn't windy.

Mines the same - I always ended up bfing in bed, and DD had the same grunty windy thing as you describe, so I would lie down and drape her over my belly & hip like a kitten. The pressure would bring up the burp, and I'd snooze a bit but not deeply. Maybe it's dangerous, I don't know, but I got a bit of rest.

Getting wind up can be a nightmare - I liked the "hula" technique - basically sitting up supported and then round in a circle as if they're doing the hula.

BUT - sometimes babies are noisy at night like this and it's not normal. Sometimes, especially if they're waking themselves with it, it may be that he has a problem with his breathing. It's probably not but please go and see your GP to make sure.

Thanks, I've got the health visitor coming tomorrow so will speak to her. And 6 weeks check with GP next week so will bring it up then as well. Can't be too careful I agree!