Grunting baby, snoring and nightfeeds.

[OnNaturesCourse]

DD is 1 month old and has always been a noisy baby but it's steadily been increasing. She is constantly grunting and straining like she's constipated (she's not, her movements are soft and large every 1-2 days) I mean she strains to the point of going purple sometimes and is constantly grunting. Has anyone experienced this? No healthcare professional seem concerned and through my own research it seems within the realms of "normal".

Her noises make getting back to sleep after her 2 or 3 night feeds extremely difficult. It's not too bad at the start of the night as we both drop off to sleep around the same time (she tends to fall asleep right after being swaddled again after the night feeds) Last night for example I lay awake from 4am until 6am, dropped off and then got woken at 6:30 for her next feed. This happens with all her nightfeeds so I'm literally getting 30minutes sleep between each one even though she is asleep the full time.

She also snores slightly and my DP is like a thunderstorm most nights with his snoring. I'm so tired my eyes hurt and feel like dropping out the sockets.

Normally I catch a break at the weekends when DP takes over the feeds but he's lately taken to not hearing DD until she's in complete meltdown. (She tends to grumble a little first which I leave her to as she occasionally self soothes if not hungry. She then cries which is when I tend to her. If she's left to cry for too long she just gets herself worked up which means it's harder to settle her before/after a feed.) Plus she has taken to being swaddled in a blanket and he "doesn't know how" so I done all the feeds this past weekend.

Surely I'm not wrong in being a little damn pissed off when DP doesn't do the nightfeeds he's meant to, snores in my ear all night every night then gets up on Monday and says "was just going to make sure you're awake before I leave, bye!" ... I'm seriously thinking I might end up punching him next time he leaves for work. This Mummy exhaustion is making me crazy. How do others cope? I can't sleep during the day as my body won't let me plus DD only naps over lunch when my mild OCD insists that I tidy up, and around 3pm-5pm when I try to shower etc. (Annoyingly DP gets home around then and goes "aww has she slept all day again?!")

Sorry, it's a rant but I needed it.

Grunting baby... Anyone else?
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Anyone

DS is also a grunting baby and for him it did peak between 1 and 2 months. He's 11 weeks now and I think it's getting a bit better now, including the noises when he feeds. It's so annoying, I really feel for you. Sadly I think it's just a case of having to wait out until their guts mature and they can cope better with the digestion processes. You're lucky if she doesn't wake herself up, my DS would and still does sometimes - we have to co-sleep and when he starts stirring I have to hug him until he rides it out, otherwise he'd be up all night (and me with him...)

Apparently Dads often develop selective hearing when it comes to newborns... but tell him you really need him to pull his weight again as you're overtired. Besides, your DD should learn that she can rely on both Mummy and Daddy to be able to soothe her and meet her needs, and she can only do that if her Dad participates in as many aspects of her care as possible.

Maximise her naps to catch up on sleep. Surely your DP can tidy up when he comes home, or you can have a shower when he's home and looking after DD. It sounds like right now you're doing lion's share of caring for the baby as well as doing house chores. He needs to participate more - don't let him get away with slacking, or you'll be mothering him too.

Btw, as annoying as it is, grunting is completely normal:
www.healthline.com/health/parenting/newborn-grunting

Is it reflux? Both of my babies were grunters and both had reflux.

This will pass.

I suspect reflux as she's definitely in pain 😖

My baby is a very loud grunty, thrashy, shuffly, snuffly baby. I worry she is in pain too as she never poos and scans have shown she is full of air :-(
Anyway, we sleep with white noise playing loudly, to help her settle and stay asleep. We hated it at first but actually, once you get used to it, it drowns out the sound of her grunts. So the benefits are two fold. Worth a try.
It has to be turned up very loudly, and be continuous all night (my phone battery is permernantly low because of this)
We also moved moses basket to the end of the bed rather than next to me. Forces OH to share the soothing overnight as well

I had a grunter. She did have mild reflux and was on gaviscon, but even with that she sounded like an entire farmyard!

Once I knew she was ok I didn't mind it too much but DH hated it. It really bothered him, he was sure something terrible was happening to her. She soon grew out of it though and we talk almost fondly of 'chicken noise' several years later

A dummy might help quieten her down

My DS is 5 weeks (6 this week) and is a hell of a grunter!! Keeps me up most nights and on most occasions himself too.. funnily enough my DH has also got selective hearing and snores like a wildebeest on heat EVERY night 😣 drives me insane!! I totally sympathise with the lack of sleep between feeds I’m literally having the same problem, only I’m ebf so the feeds are totally down to me unless I express (but that’s a rant for another thread... 😩😂)
Definitely get your lo checked for reflux as mine has it too. You can try tilting the cot up slightly at night so baby’s head sits a little bit higher than the rest of her body, that seems to help a bit with us.
I’ve found the only thing that helps me sleep through the noise is ear plugs. They’re only cheap foam ones so don’t block out all sound completely - I always hear DS when he stirs/wakes so he’s not ever left unattended to - just turns it down a few notches so you’re not left going mad trying to sleep through the racket!!
Hope you have a better night tonight

Thank you all.

I've given her some gripe water tonight and purchased some colic relief bottles plus comfort formula so hopefully she soon reaps some benefits and we BOTH get some peace!

Or I'll end in a mental ward 😖🍼

My baby sniffles and grunts. I use a saline nasal spray to unblock his nose which seems to work. Have also put bowls of water in certain rooms in the house to humidify the air a bit.

My baby was like this and it was due to reflux and a dairy intolerance. She would scream and writhe and arch her back all night, and w rarely got more than a few hours sleep. If it's just a mild case of trapped wind, then she will grow out of it around 3 or 4 months old, but there are things you can do to help. If you're formula feeding, perhaps try a dairy free formula like nanny care and do lots of tummy massage and cycling legs before sleep. The cranial osteopath was brilliant at relieving her trapped wind and helping her constipation. But definitely speak to your gp first before you change her formula. We're at 7 months now and are still trying to manage her reflux and sleep patterns. I've never asked my husband to get up at night as I was breastfeeding for 5 months, until the paediatrician insisted I moved her onto neocate, and I found it easier to cope if only I was tired. When we're both tired we tend to fall out, so I moved him into the spare room to sleep! I know it's really hard in the beginning but you will get used to it, and things will get easier. But my advice is see a paediatrician if you really do think there is something wrong. The sooner you get on top of it the better you will all sleep. Good luck!!!

My baby used to make a lot of odd noises after night feeds as she was drifting off but would be asleep so didn’t seem to be in pain. She was a very windy baby so I think it was due to that.
I used to feel murderous when DP would talk about being tired because of her noises as it was me getting up every 2 hours to do the feeds! I used to sleep in the day a bit and sometimes go to bed for a couple of hours when DP got home from work.
I would elbow him awake when she wakes.

Why don't you let DD share a room with DP and you sleep in the nursery??

was just going to make sure you're awake before I leave, bye!"

You need to make him understand that this is unacceptable. If you've been up most of the night he doesn't even kiss you good bye for fear of waking you! A swift punch to his gentleman's area will suffice. Also he needs to cut the bullshit about not knowing how to swaddle. It's about time he learns.

Well. I left DP to it for her last feed before our normal bedtime and I went to sleep early. I woke about 1.5 hours after her usual time to DP being really grumpy as DD wouldn't settle and he couldn't swaddle her right. (He'd been trying to get her to feed etc for the 1.5 hours) DD was half asleep but grumping when moved, hadn't finished her bottle etc. DP I think got a reality check and learnt it's not just a case of a quick feed, change and back to sleep. Poor DD though, all out her routine.

I put in earplugs tonight so minimize the noise but pleased to say there was hardly any (from DD) We have put her on gripe water and colic drops and a Tommee Tippee anti colic/wind bottle. I am praying this is the start of it helping. We are always gently winding her for ten minutes after a feed, and a few more times in between. Keeping her upright after a feed / last winding for 5/10 minutes. Going to give her a few days and ease her off the colic drops. Please keep your fingers crossed.

She actually slept 4 solid hours without wriggling or grunting herself awake !! Hoping for a much calmer, happier baby in morning.

That's great. Well done! If you have any problems with the tommy yippee bottles, then I would recommend mam but titles. They are excellent for colic and reflux.

DS used to be a dreadful thrashy grunter. He's now 5 months and isn't a thrashy grunter. No reflux etc, just grew out of it. He is however back to bf pretty much every 2 hours though. Def not just for comfort though, genuinely full feeds.
But DH isn't working tomorrow so will bring ds for feeds but other than that i get to sleep without an ear open.

At that age though, we were doing shifts in separate beds taking turns to get some decent sleep or be on DS duty

And as for swaddling, dh read up on it and was better than me. Your Dp is basically being pathetic

Quick one

Our grunted is 8 weeks old now and a tad less grunty.

Tips for sore baby guts: infacol before each feed, wind wind wind after every 50ml or so, after feed is complete keep baby upright for 30mins

Teasing out farts can be done by massaging the sole of the baby’s foot whilst rotating legs in a cycling motion. Beware of poos if you’re doing this with a nude baby

Our little grunter has bronchiolitis which is making it worse at times; just check for the signs on NHS Choices - but I’m sure your baby, like mine was/still is a wee bit is just a noisy beast x

Well after a excellent day with a happy baby... It literally went to shit tonight.

DD very unsettled from dinner onwards, extremely gassy and it stinks, straining and very pent up and ridged. Like this for 3 hours or so with a little green poop in between but then we got a poonami of dark green loose seedy poop... And it required a gas mask.

DD still extremely unsettled and only sleeping in my arms. 😖

I'm wondering if the comfort milk and gripe water is just too much and the milk is passing through her stomach / gut too quickly?

I am no expert but maybe try non-comfort milk? And lay off the gripe water, even though I swear it does zip for DS we use it sparingly.

I hear you (smell you?) on the stinky farts - our poos not so much. Dds milk poos were never greeny nor smelled, different story with DS.

As the stools are loose maybe call the GP?

She could be milk or lactose intolerant- the rancid smell and green loose stools are often an indicator