Baby grunting and squirming all night

[Lalarara10]

My LO is a month old and since birth has squirmed, grunted and wriggled all night long.

It rarely ever turns into a cry, we thought it might be gas (maybe it is?!) but it’s the exact same time every single day - around 1 am until 6 am.

She doesn’t really do this much in the day though has done from time to time and doesn’t do it if she falls asleep on one of us.

The movement and noises are almost constantly starting and stopping every few minutes at night - kicking her legs a fair bit and then the noises are mostly whimpering and grunting.

It’s been keeping us up and we’ve been convinced she is not a good sleeper at night. However, it somehow only just occurred to me that she might actually be asleep when doing this and by picking her up and soothing her we are disturbing her?

Last night I put my AirPods in to muffle the sound slightly and although she made the noises all night I had a much better night sleep.

Has anyone had similar and has an idea of if the she could be asleep? Or am I being cruel leaving her to squirm like that most of the night?

It’s normal and she could be asleep, my daughter was. Only pick her up if she cries. If you decide to only wake up for sustained crying, you may find you are able to sleep through the noises.
They don’t all do it, my second baby didn’t. They do grow out of it fairly quickly.

While she may be asleep, it's unlikely to be a very deep sleep with constant noise and shuffling.

You are right that picking her up is likely waking her up more, so making the problem worse. Better to find ways to help baby calm and still while in the cot.

An easy way to do this is with a swaddle. Teamed with a dummy this is very effective to calm baby.

You could also place your hands fairly firmly (but gently) on babys torso and thighs. The weight of your hands may help calm baby into a deeper sleep.

None of these will be effective if baby is hungry, cold or uncomfortable though. So ensure baby is fed, well winded and warm first.

As above, go through the 'list' is she warm, fed, comfortable, winded etc. My now 8 week old baby always has been a noisy grunty baby and unlike my husband who could switch off and sleep like a log, I am a very light sleeper so was almost always awake. My mum suggested the silicone earplugs that I used to drown out my husband's snoring. I was initially really reluctant but actually I could still hear his 'important' noises, but the squirmy grunty noises were more manageable. Don't feel bad, some babies just make more noise. I definitely feel more rested.

Thanks all for your suggestions and kind reminder that this is all normal!

We do swaddle her - it doesn’t stop her trying to fling her arms and kicking her legs but it definitely helps. She’s not great at taking the dummy at night but maybe we could try to be more persistent with it and see if it makes a difference.

she also very rarely burps so will try burping her for a little longer too!

My husband used to walk up and down the stairs to get a burp out of our DD when it was proving difficult - always worked.

I have this exact problem too - 7 weeks and I didn’t sleep a wink last night as he was keeping me up. Doesn’t open his eyes but wriggles and squirms for a minute or two, then stops for a minute or two, asleep. He doesn’t seem very good at night feeds when nights are like this, and tends to fall asleep very quickly on the boob. I might have to try the earplugs too.

@stewmew - we’re now at 12 weeks and things are so much better! She still wriggles when falling asleep/getting ready to wake up but much, much less - doesn’t keep me up anymore.

rest assured it DOES improve

I have this exact thing with my 3 week old boy. It goes on all night and I was beginning to worry that something seriously alarming is up. I’m exhausted too! Did this just self resolve with age?

Yes it just resolves with age. I just needed to listen out when he was actually calling for me at that age, rather than paying attention to him wriggling and squirming.

Best off getting some decent earplugs for now!

It's normal. My ds was like this and I was like you - unable to block it out. It's prob part gas and part things unknown. He's 13 now and STILL a massive fidget.

It improved with age for us and in the meantime I’d put my noise cancelling headphones in - would still be able to hear her cry but couldn’t hear the wriggling and grunting as much.