gruning newborn- only at night, all night

[Mandy.kamal]

My newborn is only 1 week old so I know I'm jumping the gun here but wanted to make sure I'm starting off on the right foot. (I didn't start my first baby on EASY until 4+ months and had a lot to correct so I want to do better this time).

She sleeps excellent all day with minimal fussing and tummy issues. We follow EASY (roughly) all day. She gets fed, changed, and swaddled and will fall asleep on her own in a rocker we take around the house with us.

The issue is nights. She grunts, cries out, fusses, squirms constantly. I can usually get her calm after a lot of burping and if she's on my chest (on her belly). I will maybe get an hour or 2 or sleep total at night because of how unsettled she is. She's loud and doesn't ever truly fall asleep until her first nap after her morning (7am) feed.

Is this all normal newborn digestion issues that she has to outgrow? Am I doing too much at night by holding her the whole time and teaching her not to sleep independently?

Or is it still far too early to matter or know what's really wrong?

Thanks in advance!!

[rc2]

I'm not sure if this is "normal", but I wanted to share my own experience. One of my twins (now 4 months) did this at night for several months. Eventually, he was diagnosed with silent reflux (reflux without the spitting up) and put on medication (Nexium). I never asked our doctor about whether that particular behavior was related to reflux, but I did notice that it seemed to gradually get better both as he aged and after he got put on medication. He's still squirmy when we put him in bed (especially now that he's trying to role over), but he's much less noisy.

If your baby has other signs of reflux, it might be worth talking to your pediatrician, but I also agree that it's early on to be able to diagnose anything. In the meantime, we found that using loud white noise helped everyone sleep, because it made the grunts and fusses less disruptive while still allowing me to hear when he truly needed me.

[Mandy.kamal]

Thank you for taking the time to reply and share your story as well. My last baby was treated for reflux too but unfortunately the meds gave him odd side effects so it wasn't worth it for him. He was over it around 4 months and we started solids too.

I just think it's odd it's only at night (and all night long!) With reflux, wouldn't it happen during the day after feeds when they are laid down?

I'm fine with holding her at night but that doesn't always help and I'm so worried about falling asleep with her on me. And I don't want to train her to only sleep when being held at night.

I think I'm worrying way too soon about all this but wanted the I out from you lovely ladies first

[clazzat]

Grunting is a common symptom of reflux, but one week is really early to be talking about a diagnosis - my ds was diagnosed at 4-5 weeks, but that was only because I already had a refluxer and I was quite insistent. It's not that unusual for it to only be at night, btw - when they are lying down for a long time it can make it worse, but during the day it is less uncomfortable.

At one week I wouldn't be stressing too much about bad habits - there is plenty of time to put things right if you need to, and at this stage what she needs is you. I would suggest that you do whatever works that you are happy with and see how things progress.

[Haribo2012]

I have a nearly 3 week old that grunts, making funny noises etc most of the night too. Could it be wind as my lo suffers quite badly x

[Mandy.kamal]

Thank you all so much! I'll continue to hold and keep her close until this passes and help her through the tummy pains. Xx

[Haribo2012]

We had a lot of success with elevating Moses basket head last night, holding upright for 20 mins after feed and only changing nappy if needed.

Enjoy lots of skin on skin cuddles and also try taking a nice warm bath with lo helps mine calm down and clears mucus a bit x