help solve this night time mystery!

[ktcl]

DD is 2 weeks old. During the past week or so, she grunts much of the night! The grunts seem related to gas/belly discomfort, as she nurses, and then when I put her down she starts to grunt. She is sleeping swaddled, and sometimes I think it's that she is trying so hard to get out of the swaddle that she grunts. While she seems to be pooping at least 3-4 times per day (in other words, not having a hard time pooping), the grunts do sometimes stop after she poops. The strange thing is that she doesn't really do this grunting during the day!

Is this really a problem? Well... it keeps me from sleeping even when she is sleeping because I keep thinking something is wrong!

Any thoughts?

[Knitting Mama]

Cecilia was like this, and she was a very gassy baby, too. I would manually fart her a lot before swaddling her for bed, to try to get out as much gas as I could. It helped, but because she nursed overnight (co-sleeping), it generally only helped for the first half of the night. All I can tell you is, now at 3.5 months old, this has gotten a lot better. She is nowhere near as gassy and also doesn't grunt like she used to.

[ellairiesmom]

congrats!

it seems like just yesterday i was dealing w/ the grunting. you would have thought our little dd2 was a linebacker. can't believe she is almost 6 mos.

soooo...ours was also only nighttime & it was all. night. long. lasted about 6 weeks or so. it was gas like you wouldn't believe. loud farting that would make us laugh. i would bicycle her legs throughout the night & did Mylicon & Gripe Water around 11pm each night for a few weeks.

those 1st 6 weeks, we noticed less grunting if she slept (we did swaddle back then) upright in her bouncy seat thingy or propped in my elbow in bed. i squezzed her bouncy seat into the mini cosleeper right next to my side & she would start there for the 1st sleep shift & seemed comfy. she still grunted & farted like crazy, but a little less. upright really helped.

i was starting to look into elim diets but then it got better & i realized that it really was just the immature digestive system everyone talks about.

[1blueheron]

Originally Posted by ellairiesmom

i was starting to look into elim diets but then it got better & i realized that it really was just the immature digestive system everyone talks about.

Yes, exactly. DD did this for the first few weeks (i don't think as long as 6, but you really do forget these things). Now she's totally fine except for the stray toot in the night which doesn't seem to bother anybody.

[Tway]

Oh, the flashbacks! DD was exactly like this--before swaddling, with swaddling, didn't matter. I thought it was gas for the longest time, and it kept me up nights when she was first born. It eventually got better and then went away completely at about 6 months. (Although now, at 9 months, DD tosses and turns no end! And talks in her sleep!)

[terra-pip]

My 2 week old grunts in her sleep...it seems to be related to poops or gas or more than likely burps. With all my children I would lay back with them asleep on my chest after nursing and then lay them down beside me later...staying upright after nursing seems to help...and making sure they get a good burp after nursing, which can get forgotten in the middle of the night.

[jsh7809]

I agree with everyone posting here - my (now 3 month) daughter did that a LOT as a younger baby. It was so annoying (I couldn't sleep through it either) that we moved her to her own crib in her own room a lot earlier than we anticipated (which ended up being great, she takes to it nicely! - for the time being). It was definitely gas and who knows what else too.
In our case, I found a great lactation consultant who helped me with my milk oversupply. Apparently if babies are getting too much of the foremilk (vs the fattier, keeps-you-full-longer hindmilk that comes out after a few minutes of nursing) they can be really gassy and uncomfortable, and that was the situation for us. Lots of light, sugary milk that kept her gassy.
Block feeding and other reducing my supply techniques helped a little, but mostly it was just time and letting her digestion grow up. I know it seems far off, but by 6 weeks things were much better.
Now at 3 months, she doesn't grunt much at all. She does other things (she's learning to find her hands to suck on, can't quite control her arms and legs still, so there is a ton of wiggling alllllll night long) but the swaddling helps with that, and there's not any more grunting!

[ellairiesmom]

yes-i should have mentioned-i also have oversupply/oald & switched to block feeding. so that, combined with her digestive system maturing probably did the trick.

keeping her upright while it was going on was what really helped us.

[ktcl]

Wow! These replies are so helpful! Thanks so much everyone. Mostly just glad to know DD is not alone here, and that what we're doing is pretty much right on track. Last night we upped the gas-drops, which definitely helped some.... we'll see what tonight brings.

[carmen358]

Our DD grunted A LOT too for about the first month at least...maybe longer. Everyone I talked to, including our midwives, said most babies do it and it's likely nothing to worry about...they were all right! We thought newborns were supposed to be quiet when they slept

[Alisse]

Initially i had been worried about gas or constipation but it ended up not seeming to be related to either. Our son use to grunt and flail his arms a lot whenever he was near waking. So whenever he'd start it i'd either pat his bum, nurse, or walk him about in my arms until he fell more deeply asleep again.