8 week old uncomfortable only at night

[Daydream11]

Hi
i am looking for some advice from any mums possibly going through or have gone through anything similar.
Since birth after the first night feed, usually around 12/1am, my little one is so uncomfortable when put back down in his next to me. He starts arching his back, grunting, straining and writhing around. So much so that I end up picking him up and letting him sleep on me (which he then does silently!) but this obviously means I am getting little to no sleep at all.
If I just leave him to it, he ends up waking himself up fully and then getting upset.
This doesn’t happen in the daytime, he sleeps well on his back with no discomfort.
He is now bottle fed, winded as much as I possibly can and held upright for around 20 mins after his feed.
He is on gaviscon as he was being sick a lot, resulting in numerous full changes, and this has helped massively with that side of things. His next to me is slightly elevated.
We use white noise and I have a humidifier in the room.
I spoke with the HV and we discussed CMPA, but he isn’t meeting enough of the markers really. She advised me to try a lactose free formula, which we are currently doing but no improvement seen. I am aware that lactose intolerance is extremely rare, but assumed the HV had experience so was willing to give it a try.
Anyone going through similar with any hints or tips? Or is it a case of him growing out of it?
thanks for taking the time to read this, much appreciated x

Could he be straining to poo? Gaviscon helped my daughter's reflux but made her a bit constipated, and we only gave her a small amount.

That has definitely ran through my mind, but it was exactly the same before the gaviscon and he is pooing frequently. It’s just so hard to pinpoint what it could be, because as soon as he is led on me it all stops!

My little guy was like this also! I cut out diary but it made no difference.

When he got to 13weeks it stopped over night. Before this he grunted and strained loudly all night from around 1ish.

Hopefully it'll get better for you soon. 🤗

To be honest I have been thinking it’s just going to be a case of him growing out of it.
I really can’t wait for that time to come, but then don’t want to wish this precious time away!!
Thank you for commenting, feels better to not feel alone with this!

We went through this exact thing with my baby, all the grunting and squirming. Check out 'infant dischezia' - it's basically them using their digestive system for the first time and trying to process milk (and gaviscon which can be quite tough on their tummies!) he grew out of it by 3 months x

In fact here's my thread about it Baby gassy pains www.mumsnet.com/Talk/behaviour_development/4671025-baby-gassy-pains

My daughter was like this ever evening between 5-9. I would pick up and walk her around for hours.

Then I got a bouncer for babies and that really helped her.

Sorry to tell you this, but it's completely normal. Babies tend to be gassiest and gruntiest at night, and we don't entirely know why.

Thanks everyone, as I thought just going to have to grin and bear these tough nights, but nice to know it’s normal

I felt the same. Guilt for wishing time away and I also went down a Google wormhole trying to find solutions.

My best advice is if someone offers to help/hold the baby say yes. It's sooo hard to function with limited sleep because of holding a baby.

Some nights my mum or partner would and give him a bottle of expressed milk for the 10pm feed and I'd crawl off to bed at 8pm. Getting 5hrs of unbroken sleep made me able to function better.

Sending you lots of strength 🤗

My baby was like this, but she wasn’t pooing regularly mind. She wouldn’t settle unless on me, straining and grunting all night.

We switched from Kendamil cows formula to The Kendamil Goat formula for a few months. Its pricey about £22 a tub but it really worked for us. I think was reading other peoples reviews on the website x

Sounds exactly like my LO

He’s on lactose free top now but the biggest difference was when we trialled stopping the prep machine. It may not be relevant if you’re making up bottles with a kettle but I found the machine was adding tiny bubbles to the milk that built up through the day! Could be worth a try if you use one just to see?

We had a grunter and a squirmer at night. As others have said, I think it's just them getting used to their digestive systems. He was so loud sometimes, he sounded like a baby elephant! I didn't pick him up a lot of the time, because despite the noise and movement, I actually think he was asleep. As long as he's not crying, see if you can leave him in his crib. There's still the noise to contend with, but you should feel more comfortable getting to sleep as the baby isn't on you!

It does stop though!

Hi op, sounds like little man might constipated or has acid reflux.. my son had acid reflux and was put on gaviscon. I think you should speak woth tour gp or HV

Is he actually crying /distressed? Or just making lots of noise. Babies can be very noisy I would leave him there unless he is distressed.