Nightime grunter - we need sleep!

[naturegirl419]

Hi all,
I am a new mama to a darling 6 week old girl. She is a grunter. I love her to death but my goodness is she loud at night. I've pretty much ruled out the medical causes such as reflux and silent reflux. She doesn't spit up much and is not a big crier so I don't think she is in pain. Plus, she doesn't grunt nearly as much during the day when she naps. At night her sleeping is erratic. Sometimes she will sleep long stretches, but often she wakes herself up every hour with her grunting which turns to fussing. It sounds to me like "Grunting Baby Syndrome" because she tightens her abdomen and it seems like she is trying to poop or pass gas. She sleeps in a swing because it is marginally better than having her flat on her back. The worse times are between 1am to 5am and often we are up that whole time. She doesn't even want to nurse, she's just half awake/half asleep. Any advice on ways to get her to sleep better? When did YOUR grunter outgrow this?

Thanks!

[Alisse]

Oh yeah i remember the grunting. Our son would do it whenever he was near waking and would also flail a bit too sometimes. From least effective to most effective, we'd try the following:
- patting on his back or front or bum
- nursing
- scooping him up and walking around with a bounce/sway until he fell more deeply asleep again

If i ignored it he'd always continue grunting and/or flailing until i gave in. Those were tiring days and i think he outgrew the grunting before 3months (we can't really remember) but the flailing has continued and occurs only when he wants to nurse.

[erthfemme]

Hi,

My 7 week old girl is like yours! I can sympathize with the family's disturbed sleep. My daughter seems to be doing it less and less though, maybe it's just something else we have to stick out until it subsides?

Best of luck (for us both!)

[JustSimplicity]

DS is/was like this too. His sleeping was especially off during weeks 5-8 and I've talked to a lot of mamas who say that those weeks are difficult sleep weeks so my guess if your LO will sleep better in a few weeks. DS has always started up the grunting the loudest at 5am and he is probably half awake until 6:30, not fussing just grunting. I've learned that I just have to put my pillow over my head and let him be loud until he really wakes up around 6:30 or 7. I also have found that bringing him into the bed and patting his back when he starts to grunt helps him quiet more quickly and go back to sleep. If I do this, I get a longer period of cat-napping for myself but not really solid sleep. Luckily, the amount of time he grunts at night has gradually decreased. He's 10 weeks now.

[carmen358]

DD was a big time grunter too. We just got used to it and it stopped around 7 or 8 weeks.

[sarahr]

My DS is the same. He seems to be asleep the whole time, so it is my sleep that is disrupted, not his. Some things that sometimes help is making sure his swaddle is good and tight (often by early morning it has become loose), putting gentle pressure on his tummy, and bringing him into bed with us. He's 10 weeks now and it's definitely better than it was a few weeks ago, but still there.

[Ldogg]

Yeah, my LO did this for a while too... she still does (she's 5 weeks old) but not nearly as badly as a couple of weeks ago. I found that bringing her into bed with me made the grunting all but disappear. We don't do this every night now, but on those particular loud grunting nights, it's a must! Her breathing is much more regular next to mama.

[TSomm]

Mine does this in the early morning hours. She'll sleep from 8pm-ish to 4am-ish, nurse, then grunt from then til 7am-ish. Luckily, we live in a ranch style home and after the morning nursing I move to the couch in the living room. I can still hear her if she needs me, just not as loudly.

DH sleeps through it ALL.