# Newborn grunting/straining sounds all night



## SilverMoon010

My 7-week-old has been making grunting noises at night since birth. I know newborn grunting is most likely a normal thing; however, it happens every night at the same time in the middle of the night and it is very persistent.

It happens somewhere between 3 am and 6 am. It's not a noise that happens every 20 minutes or so...It goes on for like an hour straight! He seems to be sleeping and it's like a grunting/straining type of sound, and then he'll throw in a few cries as well. I did think it was gas at first but why does it happen at the same time every night? I don't understand that. If it's not gas, what is it? Sometimes when I pick him up and hold him he stops. I normally rub his back and stuff but that doesn't always help either.

Any ideas? I just want to be sure it's nothing to worry about. He has no health issues that I know of and has gotten a clean bill of health at each ped visit.


----------



## eggsandpancakes

what happens when you offer him boobie? He might be hungry.


----------



## Bokonon

DD did that during those exact hours, and it resolved when I cut out dairy and soy from my diet. She had other symptoms though (dry, flaky skin on her brows, constant nasal congestion, excessive spitting up).


----------



## MichelleZB

I don't know what it is, but my son totally did this for about 6 weeks. Now he doesn't.


----------



## rtjunker

My 12 week old LO does this, too. She used to grunt away all day long, but now it's mostly during the early morning. It does often seem to lead up to a BM, but not always. The internet said it was not a big deal, and likely caused by an immature digestive system as she figures out the ins and outs of pooping. I'm not too worried about it, my LO is thriving and happy most of the time, and doesn't seem to be in any pain aside from gas at times. She'll let me know if something is wrong, like the time she grabbed a fistful of her own hair and screamed until Mommy pried her tiny fingers open...


----------



## MissE

dont worry..look up grunting baby syndrome.

ds used to do this for the first 12 weeks and it drove me batty. what helped was sleeping belly on belly and just holding him close. he usually started grunting after the 2am feeding and it lead to a huge bm around 9am every morning. worked like clockwork and at 12 weeks it was over.


----------



## dejagerw

My son did the exact same thing at that age. He grew out of it.


----------



## Susan Joubert

I raised five children that I breast fed, and never heard of this grunting syndrome. I even took care of children for many years before that, from my early teens (I am now in my late 60's) and have known hundreds of parents over the years without hearing about it or seeing it, so I don't really know if it's altogether normal, or is a condition that's increasing. It may not be dire, but when my daughter had her first baby, a nurse at the hospital chided her for not 'burping' the baby vigorously enough, and taught her to almost slap his back, and this child grunted like people are describing, until she stopped. It's very likely a tendency to experience nerve irritation of the esophagus or related areas. It could be natural for some babies, but for others caused by position, burping techniques, or formulas with too many foreign chemicals.

I read comments from mothers such as that breast fed babies tend to have colic (wrong, it's the other way around - formula and cow's milk fed babies almost always have colic), that a doctor gave one baby acid reflux medication (an insane idea - medication like that is not for infants,) and on this blog, one mother said things cleared up when she stopped milk and soy. Since a very low percent of the human population truly has lactose intolerance, I urge people not to accept popular nonsense about lactose intolerance, and instead understand that digestion problems with most foods are caused by a lack of getting proper nutrition, or by fatigue, or simply by not eating them often enough. Also, I urge people to obtain and read some old fashioned baby books such as an early edition of Dr. Spock, that will give you some solid, sane advice. It's hard to believe how much bad advice and drastic ignorance is out there these days regarding babies, medicine, and diet.


----------



## hyde

There are a bunch of mamas in the September 2012 DDC (so, babies the same age) that are dealing with the same thing. Mine (7 weeks today) pulled this last night.. once I'm sure she's not in pain and isn't hungry, I just chalk this one up to ah, sweet mystery of life.  I hear it stops eventually.


----------



## Bokonon

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Susan Joubert*
> 
> I raised five children that I breast fed, and never heard of this grunting syndrome. I even took care of children for many years before that, from my early teens (I am now in my late 60's) and have known hundreds of parents over the years without hearing about it or seeing it, so I don't really know if it's altogether normal, or is a condition that's increasing. It may not be dire, but when my daughter had her first baby, a nurse at the hospital chided her for not 'burping' the baby vigorously enough, and taught her to almost slap his back, and this child grunted like people are describing, until she stopped. It's very likely a tendency to experience nerve irritation of the esophagus or related areas. It could be natural for some babies, but for others caused by position, burping techniques, or formulas with too many foreign chemicals.
> 
> I read comments from mothers such as that breast fed babies tend to have colic (wrong, it's the other way around - formula and cow's milk fed babies almost always have colic), that a doctor gave one baby acid reflux medication (an insane idea - medication like that is not for infants,) and on this blog, one mother said things cleared up when she stopped milk and soy. Since a very low percent of the human population truly has lactose intolerance, I urge people not to accept popular nonsense about lactose intolerance, and instead understand that digestion problems with most foods are caused by a lack of getting proper nutrition, or by fatigue, or simply by not eating them often enough. Also, I urge people to obtain and read some old fashioned baby books such as an early edition of Dr. Spock, that will give you some solid, sane advice. It's hard to believe how much bad advice and drastic ignorance is out there these days regarding babies, medicine, and diet.


This thread is several months old, but I wanted to comment on milk and soy vs. lactose intolerance. It is not "popular nonsense" to eliminated dairy and soy from one's diet when breastfeeding if the baby is showing symptoms of dairy intolerance. This is NOT the same thing as lactose intolerance. Lactose is a sugar in breastmilk and you're right - it is extremely rare for an infant to be truly lactose intolerance. However, an infant being sensitive to dairy has to do with the proteins, not the sugars. It is not at all uncommon for babies to be sensitive/intolerant/allergic to the proteins in dairy and soy (as the two are similar).

This has nothing to do with the mother's nutrition or fatigue.

Furthermore, many of Dr. Spock's parenting and health opinions have been proven to be dangerous and well outside the realm of natural and attachment parenting, which is what this forum is about.

With all due respect, there is much research available about the science of breastfeeding and infant nutrition, and it is highly offensive for someone to come in and say that it is "bad advice and drastic ignorance" because you raised children many years ago.


----------

