Grunting - Early hours!

[mummy1202]

Hi everyone,

My little one is 8 weeks old and for the past month or so he has been grunting/straining and generally seems so so uncomfortable during the night. It usually starts around his 4/5am feed and carries on until we get him up around 7ish. He also scratches and claws at his face as if he is uncomfortable. If we life him out, he will sleep more peacefully on our chest, but as soon as we lay him back down, the grunting starts again. It is so so noisy and he sounds so uncomfortable. He never does this during the day, it is only at this time every morning.

We recently moved onto Nutramigen formula for suspected CMPA as he was very uncomfortable and this has been going well, touch wood. The grunting has been going on for much longer than the change in formula though, he has been doing it for over a month.

Does anyone else have experience of this at all? I have read that it can be a case of waiting for their digestive system to mature and that he will grow out of it. But if this isn’t the case, I’d like to try and do something to help! Not sure if it can be a sign of reflux, but if that was the case it seems strange to only be during these early morning hours.

Please help!

Thank you x

@mummy1202 my little boy did this and I was so worried something was wrong. I spoke to my HV who mentioned it's very normal as their digestive system starts to change around 8 weeks so the "motion of movement" can be felt by this age. I think my little boy stopped doing it around 12 weeks but my goodness it was a noisy set of nights! If baby is doing it in their sleep I would say it is normal but if they seem unsettled and cry out it may be worth a check with your HV to be sure x

@Capuchini when did your son start doing it? Seems kind of weird that it just starts out of the blue, as obviously prior to this he has been having bowel movements just fine beforehand. My DS is just coming up to 4 weeks now. My HV is on annual leave I think - any idea who I would contact while she’s away?!

Yeah I would say about 4 weeks she's started. Slept lovely and quiet beforehand! 😂 I remember waking up and checking she was OK before that! Umm possibly GP, not sure if where you are they do triage phonecalls as you could get someone to you? The GP saw her doing it at 6 week check and wasn't concerned and said wind mainly. I am not sure if it makes much difference but my daughter was a bit premature and only weighed 5lbs 5 when born. I really don't know. It will be a hard few weeks yet but I am sure it will stop and then it will move onto something else. I couldn't get my daughter to sleep in the day either with the grunting.. But I have my sleep back now( sometimes!) and you will too! Xx

@Capuchini ah that makes me feel better that he’s started doing it around the same time - like you he slept soundly and for 1.5-3 hour stretches before. Sorry realised I said your ‘son’ earlier when you said it was your DD! Oh that’s interesting about your DD being born early - my DS was induced at 37 weeks after my waters started leaking at 34 weeks, but I knew he was actually 36 weeks and 4 days. He was 6 pound 12. We also stayed in hospital until he was 9 day’s old as he needed repeat treatment for jaundice. He won’t be put down at all in the day at the moment. He only seems to do the grunting/noises when put down, otherwise if he’s on me he doesn’t do it anywhere near as much, apart from a bit of straining/grunting when he’s feeding. He’s cluster feeding as well at the mo, so we’ve got both things going on! So glad to hear things resolved with you ☺️ Xx

@mintgreenlife funnily enough my daughter was back in for Jaundice too. Oh that cluster feeding is tough. Hang in there. So much easier breastfeeding now. I tell you what I tried as well ( she wouldn't be put down in the day) is one of those swinging rocking chairs. I used to be able to transfer her into that and the swinging motion bought me about 40mins of time to run around the house and do things. I think I managed that from about 8 weeks though. I just remember watching Netflix box sets I didn't have time to do when I was working! Now I don't have time to do that, although the cluster feeding is hard, it does give you a chance to sit down. Xx

@Capuchini oh that’s interesting- they have many things in common then! I do have a bouncy chair but I think he’s too young for it at the mo, I’ll look into a swinging chair though ☺️ To be honest I can’t complain too much about all the Netflix! Xx