Baby grunts all night

amother

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Thu, Jul 12 2018, 8:46 am

My 5 week old grunts all night in his bassinet. He seems to be uncomfortable but I don’t know why. I don’t think it’s acid reflux because he barely spits up. What could it be? I feel bad for him and want to help him if I can. Also it’s really hard to sleep with him grunting all night.

groovy1224

Thu, Jul 12 2018, 9:12 am

Babies make a lot of strange noises..what makes you think he's uncomfortable?

Perhaps consider moving his basinett a little further away because it's very hard to sleep listening to every noise. Try moving him far enough that you can't hear every grunt but you would hear actual crying.

amother

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Thu, Jul 12 2018, 9:21 am

thunderstorm wrote:

To me grunting means hunger or a need to burp

The grunting is the worst after he eats. I burp him and he still grunts. His body moves a lot as he’s grunting which makes me wonder if something’s bothering him.

ra_mom

Thu, Jul 12 2018, 9:35 am

amother wrote:

Reflux does not always come along with splitting up or throwing up. Silent reflux has no physical symptoms yet babies suffer a lot from this.

amother

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Thu, Jul 12 2018, 9:35 am

ds14 wrote:

Grunting can sometimes mean respiratory issues. Does he seem to have trouble breathing?

Not that I know of.

amother

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Thu, Jul 12 2018, 9:36 am

ra_mom wrote:

Reflux does not always come along with splitting up or throwing up. Silent reflux has no physical symptoms yet babies suffer a lot from this.

How would I know if he has this?

thunderstorm

Thu, Jul 12 2018, 9:36 am

amother wrote:

The grunting is the worst after he eats. I burp him and he still grunts. His body moves a lot as he’s grunting which makes me wonder if something’s bothering him.

I just checked online and other people mentioned the same thing and their pediatricians mentioned it was normal and most likely gas. Some did mention reflux though.
The hard thing is we need to put our babies on their backs . I used to put them on their stomaches and they were much more comfortable digestion wise.
Now I have my baby on her back and there is such a difference. But this is what doctors say to do nowadays.

amother

Azure

Thu, Jul 12 2018, 9:39 am

ds14 wrote:

Grunting can sometimes mean respiratory issues. Does he seem to have trouble breathing?

This. Exactly. Grunting means difficulty breathing. First Straighten out his head so there is a finger or 2 of space between his chest and chin. When the airway is pressed because of poor positioning it can cause breathing problems
Or go to the dr.
I ended up bringing my baby to the ER when he was grunting alot and I asked a dr about it. He was in distress and I didn’t know.

ra_mom

Thu, Jul 12 2018, 9:39 am

amother wrote:

How would I know if he has this?

If he's fussy, uncomfortable or has trouble sleeping, if feeding takes a long time. Really symptoms differ.
My suggestion would be to take him to a pediatric gastroenterologist if his pediatrician doesn't know how to diagnose this.

amother

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Thu, Jul 12 2018, 9:40 am

thunderstorm wrote:

My baby was grunting for the last two hours and didn’t seem to sleep. I just put him on his stomach because I couldn’t see him suffering and he went right to sleep without grunting. I’m right near him the whole time and keep checking on him but I wish it would be safe for him to sleep like this all the time. He’s so comfortable and finally getting good sleep!

bwaybabe85

Thu, Jul 12 2018, 9:45 am

Could definitely be silent reflux. Feed your baby upright and keep him upright half an hour after each feeding. If it still continues ask your doctor to do a stool test to check for milk protein intolerance.

amother

Navy

Thu, Jul 12 2018, 12:04 pm

Grunting is a sign of respiratory distress. Pls pls pls call baby's dr now. Baby can look fine and only sign of distress could be grunting. What I've been told, having been in the situation with more then one child, is that when a baby works so hard to breathe, eventually they may give up. Pls pls call your dr. They will examine him and check his oxygen level, although it could be that it only happens when he is sleeping. But pls pls call them!

amother

Royalblue

Thu, Jul 12 2018, 12:11 pm

Amother navy, no need to be so alarmed & scare OP. Babies grunt! All my babies made noises & grunted in their sleep, bh everyone is alive and well! If the oxygen level is low, usually the baby has a hard time breathing & the color is not ok.
Maybe OP should call the Dr just to make sure but no reason for alarm.

amother

Navy

Thu, Jul 12 2018, 12:21 pm

I disagree. Her baby is still small. She must contact her dr and he can decide. I've been through this with all of my kids. Grunting in such a young baby must be taken seriously.
Color can be fine and baby can still be in distress and require oxygen.

amother

Tangerine

Thu, Jul 12 2018, 12:24 pm

What do you mean by grunting? My babies don't switch off their vocal cords and they make really weird kind of singing noises. just a kind of tension in the throat but soooooo annoying at night. not dangerous

amother

Royalblue

Thu, Jul 12 2018, 12:42 pm

Amother navy, all your babies had respiratory distress? Or all your babies where grunting? If all your babies where grunting, this just shows you that it's normal.

Pickle1

Thu, Jul 12 2018, 1:19 pm

all my 5 babies grunted in their sleep, no medical issues. (please rule all that out first...) when it was affecting my sleep - I wheeled the bassinett right outside my bdrm door.