Newborn squirming and grunting in crib

[roseswade]

FTM here so all very new to me.

For the past 2/3 nights my 2 week old has been really unsettled in crib at night. When we put her down she will squirm, grunt and make high pitched sounds all night, sometimes to the point where she will make herself cry. If we put her in our arms to sleep she is fine (sometimes an occasional grunt) but nothing like when she’s in the crib.

She has also been sicking up a small amount of her feeds so I’m wondering if this is all reflux related?

The squirming and grunting almost sounds like she is in pain. We’ve tried to sleep through it but now she’s just upsetting herself from it.

Any advice?

Reflux is a possibility but start simple first, is it possibly wind?

I was wondering about wind but we’ve tried winding her in between feeds and keeping her upright for 30 mins after but doesn’t seem to have helped sadly :(

Is it continuous? All newborn babies squirm and grunt a lot when they're asleep. My 4th was DH's first and he used to panic at every sound.

How long are you making her lay down by herself? As a newborn, all she wants is to be held and cuddled, being alone will make her upset. Please read about the 4th trimester. She needs all the contact and cuddles possible.

My newborn is two weeks and prem and to honest the midwife has said baby needs to be held as much as possible for the next few weeks and certainly not put down to cry. The crib especially if not swaddled is terrifyingly vacuous and unsupportive compared to your womb.

Posted too soon sorry....So we are taking it in turn to be up cuddling baby and only putting her down when she is flat out ATM. The squeaks and grunts are signs of light sleep I believe not deep sleep.

I used to say it was like Jurassic park when ours were newborn. They do make a lot of noise

It sounds like something digestive. Please don't feel you need to hold her 24/7, if she's sleeping ok then why would you put yourself through that?

Can you talk to your health visitor?

I remember the racket my firstborn made when sleeping! Couldn’t sleep listening to him stretching, grunting , squirming it was almost constant.

It’s continuous when she’s down in her crib at night. We hold her at least every 2 hours and I don’t think it’s necessary to be holding 24/7. Spoke to HV today who said it’s most likely reflux so has suggested raising crib slightly to see how she gets on

My 5 week old does this when he’s trying to work through some wind. He’s my second born and I have to be up early with my eldest so I tend to turn over and ignore him unless he gets upset, when I will of course pick him up.

My DD was like this, noisy sleeper generally but also suffered from reflux plus from 6 weeks to 12/14 weeks purple crying I think it's called. Was bloody exhausting.

We ended up raising the snuzpod on one end although I can't remember now what the health research is around it. (I remember I'd raise it one day then panic in middle of night and put it flat again 😖)

Both of mine went through a phase of trapped wind at around 2 weeks old. It started with squirming and grunting and climaxed with 3am crying sessions where we were doing tummy massage, bicycle legs, tiger in the tree hold etc. Keep trying things to ease/prevent it and you'll either hit on something that works or she'll grow out of it (but you'll probably never know which it is )

In my experience all new borns are very noisy sleepers. Their digestive systems are very immature leading to a lot of squirming and grunting. You can try relieving some wind but I think you have to expect a certain degree of noise. There is nothing 'wrong' per se.

Grunting and squirming normal- mine is doing it right now. If she's squeaking but not actually crying it's probably wind (farts not burp). Of course you can't hold her 24/7 as some pp suggested, when would you sleep?!

Both of mine did this for a few weeks. Im convinced it’s just as their digestive systems mature and I think reflux is massively over diagnosed.

This is very normal! Newborns are incredibly grunty!

Mine was very grubby, its quite common so I wouldn't worry too much about that. With the being sick, it could be reflux. As well as keeping her upright until you get a burp we also fed smaller amounts but more often which seemed to help too.

@Aquamarine1029

How long are you making her lay down by herself? As a newborn, all she wants is to be held and cuddled, being alone will make her upset. Please read about the 4th trimester. She needs all the contact and cuddles possible.

So how are parents meant to sleep then? I've never heard anything so ridiculous.

It's totally normal op, my daughter sounded like a little buffalo. She would sleep 4 hour stretches and through the night at 6 weeks, same as my son. If they weren't crying, just making little noises I'd leave them to it and they'd settle. Shock horror - without needing to hold them 24 hours a day

Google infant dyschezia 🙂 just their tiny digestive systems learning how to work!

Noisy little buggers though. It does pass.

X

My first was like this - I used to say she sounded like a velociraptor! It was wind related I think as she just wouldn't burp but would fart like a trooper when placed on her tummy for tummy time.

It's essentially normal and not something you need to do anything about assuming you're already winding as best you can.