Newborn grunting/straining all night.

[Emmaeloiseee]

Hi,

my son who’s 4 weeks old has for the past three weeks been grunting/squirming/straining at night. He sounds like a lamb or that’s the best I can describe it. It’s worse after a feed but can carry all night until his next feed 3 hours after. He’s FF & eats 4oz every 3/4 hours. He does pass a lot of gas and have tried infacol but it doesn’t seem to work. He also sounds like he’s swallowing milk that’s coming up to his throat in the night but is rarely sick. My first son had reflux and I’m thinking it’s that, however I don’t want them to put him on gaviscon as I’ve heard it can cause constipation. Has anybody ever had this with their newborn and if so, anything to help? I’ve switched to Dr brown bottles anti colic, I’ve ordered colief, I burp him for over 30 minutes and have him on an incline in his cot.

Just reading this and reminiscing! My DD was such a noisy sleeper I couldn't believe that she could sleep through the noises/ grunts/groans/lip smacking and at one point screaming. I worried about it. But my instinct said she was ok and I put ear plugs in. She sleeps like a baby now!

Hello. First time mum here to a 2.5 week old baby. Found this feed as I’m suffering the same problem. He is asleep all day and then as soon as 8/9pm arrives; grunting, hiccuping, crying until red in the face and straining like he needs to poo/pass wind. Then he starts routing for food (I’m breastfeeding) and I think as a way of soothing his pain. I feed him again and the whole process starts again as he is full and needs to pass poo/gas. I’m wondering if feeding him for comfort again is making it worse? I’m so sleep deprived and wondering if there is anything I can do to help him pass gas/poo? Tried massaging his belly, frog legs and bicycle legs, burping on shoulder… nothing seems to comfort him! Infanticol doesn’t seem to do anything. He really seems in pain and it’s really distressing, especially when you haven’t slept properly in days. Please someone tell me this is a short term phase!! 😭

Hi Ruby,

firstly congratulations! I too wrote this post when I was sleep deprived & I understand how hard the first few weeks can be. My son ended up having colic.

My son starting grunting early on, never during day time naps only night time. The digestive system slows right down at night time & this can cause gas. The grunting did stop at around 8/10 weeks. I found a few things helped me to sleep as my son was asleep and stayed asleep during most of the grunting in an active sleep stage. However his grunting woke me up all the time!

white noise, I found the lumi machine on Amazon the best as you can choose what “white noise you can” such as a fan noise which I find a lot softer.

swaddle swaddle swaddle. The tommee tippee swaddles which you can also find on Amazon are sleeping bags which you can put removeable arm covers on so it becomes a swaddle! You can use the newborn ones (0-3m) from 7.5 pounds.

dentinox drops, colif drops? These helped or seemed to help my son however it was trial and error with finding them as I first tried infacol that didn’t work.

my son slept most of the day and woke at nighttime as well until he learnt that nighttime is for sleeping. I used to give him a bath at 9pm which he would wake up for, he would stay awake in the bath for 20 minutes then would get ready for bed and have a bottle. This little night time routine cemented what would become his bedtime routine in the future. Because he had been awake from the bath, he would sleep straight after his bottle and I would go to sleep as well. It was also nice because it felt like my day was ending and not one long never ending time.

I remember feeding him on demand at that age too and it’s what they need. It’s really good he’s rooting and feeding. This time feels like It will never end but I promise you it does and it takes a few weeks for him to know what night time and day time is and start producing melatonin at night. Itll come don’t worry x

Also their digestive system is still so new and adjusting and it’ll take a few weeks as well! What helped calm him? Swaddling, a bath in a muslin cloth, white noise, dentinox drops, Google “the tiger in the tree hold” position for the crying and discomfort times, what about a dummy? Mine had a MAM one? My friend whose baby is breast fed using the BIBS ones?

My DD1 was awful for this, continued until she was about 5 months. It was so loud! DD2 only did it for about six weeks. It is normal for babies to make it lot of noise when they sleep.