snorting/kicking during sleep

positivenote

Hi all, as you may guess we have a newborn (based on what time im posting). Anyway he is five weeks old and recently his sleep at night has become very restless. When we get him to sleep, in a moses basket next to us, he snorts, kicks and makes all sorts of loud and strange noises whilst remaining asleep. It keeps us awake but he sleeps through it... This will last for his full 2hrs sleep, but he's a total silent sleeper during the day, when he's in the car-seat being wheeled around or in his 'vibrating' chair.
is he okay, should we get him checked out or is this perfectly normal? If so any advice on how we can stop him doing this for our peace of mind and some sleep of our own?
thanks

bad2dabone

hiya, our six week old girl is the same - honestly it sounds like theres a man in the room with us because of her noises!

I think its because there's a bit of wind or reflux (i take it your little man is lying on his back) and while they're asleep its just them trying to work it out. Does he do farts at all during this stage? My little girl does if you rub her tummy and it sometimes stops the grunting.

Another tactic I use to solve it is lie her on a pillow on her belly with me being awake to make sure she's ok, I do this for about 10 to 15 mins and then put her back on her back in her crib again and it usually stops the noises.

I believe baby massage is great for that kind of thing although not recommended before 6 weeks (so i hear). My wife is starting baby massage class with our little one in a couple of weeks.

positivenote

farts to beat the band to be honest... i'll try that lieing on the belly for a little while tonight and see how it goes. Thanks for the advice

Grawns

You could try swaddling.

crazy cat lady

This used to happen with our little girl too. Was really worried about the noises she would make in her sleep. I was constantly checking her to make sure she wasn't turning blue or anything.

I asked the doctor about it at the 6 week check and she seemed to think it was normal.

She has grown out of it anyway!

Ask your GP at your 6 week check for peace of mind, and I'm sure you'll be told the same thing. Its just a newborn thing!

Spinach

Ah, this sounds just like my girl, who is two weeks old at the moment. She has some lovely quiet nights where she goes straight back to blissful sleep after her feed, but then last night was snorting and snuffling away for what seemed like hours. I was half asleep and not all there myself so not even sure if she was really awake or asleep for most of it. Sometimes it sounds like she's chatting away to herself despite the fact that she's too young even for baby babbling.

Good to hear it's all normal anyway, I may try putting her on her front for a while so, although I will be hard put not to fall asleep myself

positivenote

thanks so far guys... the little fella is getting worse though, grunting, snorting and making a noise like he's clearing his throat. the wife was in tears last night feeling frustrated through lack of sleep. we have some gripe water that her sis advises that we use to get his wind up... what do you guys reckon? will this help
thanks

positivenote

hi all, sorry to bump this but the little lad is still making these grunting and 'clearing of the throat' noises... I can sleep through them pretty much, but once again my wife is struggling to get a wink of sleep. Im now back to wrk so was wondering if there's any further advice as he is getting crankier in the mornings and i think it may be due to him not having a 'deep' sleep at night?
thanks in advance

MeeMo

hiya, my little fella was the same. he eventually (about two weeks worth) just grew out of it, we didnt do anything in particular. I do think it was a deepset wind most of the time although I couldnt get anything up. hubbie found it easy enough to sleep through, i on the other hand was awake for the whole night so i can sympathise with your wife. we had middle of the night tears too! hang in there!

positivenote

cheers for the suport... his new thing know is making a noise like he is trying to clear his throat... hope he settles soon, for the sake of the wifes sleep (and as a direct consequence my stress levels)

gowayouttadat

My guy was the same at that age. Broke my heart. We'd pick him up some nights convinced he was awake and he was still asleep. We moved him into his own room when he was 4 weeks old just to try and get some sleep. In the end it turned out he had reflux and just couldn't stop grunting, thrashing, squirming etc in his sleep. He couldn't settle during the day either unless in the car or buggy.

cbyrd

Hi
we used to turn our lad on his side, he couldn't sleep on his back at all, not even in the hospital when he was a newborn!! even still if he has a lottle wind he can't sleep on his back (he's 8 months)
You mightn't hear the noise during the day cos of all the other background noise, it's very hard to ignore them when they're tiny especially the first one you're afraid of your life something will happen!!
It could be a little wind that's gone too far down to come up (if you get me) and it's working it's way out and is a little uncomfortable without causing a lot of pain. maybe infacol or colief drops would ease the wind problem..
There's so many things it could be, it's all trial and error but when you find the solution you might as well have found the holy grail!!
Best of luck

positivenote

thanks again guys, good to hear we are not alone. If he has/is reflux how would we know and what can we do about it?

gowayouttadat

positivenote wrote: »

thanks again guys, good to hear we are not alone. If he has/is reflux how would we know and what can we do about it?

Hiya! You'd definitely know if there was something like that wrong.
With my own DS it didn't really start to bother him until 8 weeks. What happens is the acid from the stomach comes up and burns the oesophagus and it can take a few weeks before this damage really starts to hurt them. There are two types, normal reflux where it would be very obvious because he'd be throwing up his feeds and silent reflux which is what my DS had. When they have silent reflux they don't actually throw up. Acid/food comes up from the stomach but they swallow it back down again.

With DS it was so obvious he was uncomfortable. He found it hard to lie flat without getting cranky. He's arch his back, wouldn't sit (supported) for any length of time, even a second and he'd be throw himself backwards as if in pain. He started fighting his bottles and wouldn't feed properly. At 4 months he literally starved himself for a week.
You would honestly know if it was reflux. There would probably be a lot of little things going on.

edellc

sorry to hijack thread but my little lad is doing the same he is only 19 days old and is constantly moaning in his sleep and trashing round in his moses basket my other half sleeps through all this but im awake all night with it and it is so distressing
he is farting a lot too well eventually after a lot of moaning and crying so i went to the chemist and they gave me infacol to be taken before every feed...started it yesterday so will see how it works

positivenote

infacol is well worth trying, we use it halfway through the feed.

Ballyman

positivenote wrote: »

hi all, sorry to bump this but the little lad is still making these grunting and 'clearing of the throat' noises... I can sleep through them pretty much, but once again my wife is struggling to get a wink of sleep. Im now back to wrk so was wondering if there's any further advice as he is getting crankier in the mornings and i think it may be due to him not having a 'deep' sleep at night?
thanks in advance

I think you just have to put up with it I'm afraid. My little man was at the same crack for about 6 weeks. It was funny when he started it first, looking into the cot at him grunting away but it wasn't too funny after a week of no sleep. We tried everything to try and get him to stop but it just went on and on every night. Then it just stopped From speaking to other parents it's perfectly normal and he will stop. Hopefully soon!

He's now 14 weeks old and quiet as a mouse at night.

Dades

Just a note to add to this thread for anyone picking up on this thread...

Our fella - 5 months now - did all the grunting and farting and snorting mentioned. (I was on safari years back camping near Hippos - it brought me back).

Anyhooo, he used to get very upset every evening and would eventually cry/shriek himself to sleep with much straining and arching. We got usual "might have a bit of colic", "he's just being cranky", "he's just airing his lungs" type of unhelpful response from the Health Nurse and others.

Finally I read up on silent reflux, and one day bought and gave him some Infant Gaviscon (after a quick check with our GP) for his last couple of feeds and he turned into a different baby. The change was unbelievable - he was happy as could be. I felt so guilty we'd let the little fella go so long before helping him.

Obviously check with a nurse or GP first, but I hope this might help someone. It was just a simple solution to a problem a lot of people are resigned to living with.

cbyrd

Ah yes how did i forget the infant gavisgon!! we've been using it in his bottles for about 5 months now along with the colief drops, but i came across this little thing and it's been a godsend it's stopped him rolling onto his tummy at night too which is great!!
it costs €29.99

http://www.smyths.ie/Shop_Product_List.aspx?Profile=Euro&query=cleavamama+cleavasleep+positioner


The thing with the gavisgon is it works on both the reflux and it thickens the bottle in the tummy to stop it coming back up. ben was on 4 bottles a day which meant he was getting 8 sachets and the recommended daily dose is 6 but the gp phn and the pharmacist all agreed that he was better on it then off and there isn't anything that would do any long term harm using 8..
One good sign of silent reflux is chewing their hands.. ben did this a lot and i thought it was teething :eek: poor pet
He's on 2 bottles a day now and it 4 sachets and if he has a bottle without it he get really whingy and gets the hiccups a lot..
If you want to quantify it, silent reflux is a baby with a bad dose of indigestion you can't see it but you know it's hurting them!;)

edellc

my little fella is only 6wks old he didnt take to a soother and chews he hand too which i though was an indicator that he was hungry at the moment i am breast feeding but also giving him a top up bottle during the day and one in the middle of the night as he just seems to be a lazy feeder and could be on the breast for hours at at time and i cant get anything done he falls asleep and i wind him put him down and he is awake again crying to be fed maybe he is just a hungry baby???

he also gets very windy and the hiccups a lot and can whine in his sleep too i've been giving him infacol which is working but not hugely i have never heard of silent reflux but it does seem to mirror whats going on with him
is 6wks too young to be giving it to him??? my gp has said that he is the way he is due to him being so young and his underdeveloped stomach and intestines

cbyrd

edellc wrote: »

my little fella is only 6wks old he didnt take to a soother and chews he hand too which i though was an indicator that he was hungry at the moment i am breast feeding but also giving him a top up bottle during the day and one in the middle of the night as he just seems to be a lazy feeder and could be on the breast for hours at at time and i cant get anything done he falls asleep and i wind him put him down and he is awake again crying to be fed maybe he is just a hungry baby???

he also gets very windy and the hiccups a lot and can whine in his sleep too i've been giving him infacol which is working but not hugely i have never heard of silent reflux but it does seem to mirror whats going on with him
is 6wks too young to be giving it to him??? my gp has said that he is the way he is due to him being so young and his underdeveloped stomach and intestines

That sounds like Ben at that age, ask the pharmacist or gp about the gavisgon, i discovered it after posting here and someone recommended i try it, to be honest i was at my wits end and it worked, one bottle and he was like a different baby, thing is there's nothing in it that will do any harm if it's not reflux then you can rule it out..

gowayouttadat

I'd try it too to be honest. We tried it but Jack needed medication for his reflux. There's no harm in trying it and see if it helps.
If it is reflux it will probably get worse as the weeks go by because the oesophagus will be getting more damaged.

annetted

hiya
yea it is a bit scary - i never knew babies made so much noise when they were asleep. i use to be in and out of bed all night either checking what the noise was - or if there wasn't a noise i would be checking why not! it does pass. you could try putting karvol in the room.
good luck

wmpdd3

All this sound like my 5 week old, she hates lying down on her back, the last few nights she has slept on my chest!

One question are infant galviscon sachets perscritpion only?

2SWEET

positivenote wrote: »

thanks so far guys... the little fella is getting worse though, grunting, snorting and making a noise like he's clearing his throat. the wife was in tears last night feeling frustrated through lack of sleep. we have some gripe water that her sis advises that we use to get his wind up... what do you guys reckon? will this help
thanks

If it's sounds like he is clearing his throat it may well be a build mucus at the back of his nose and throat, my son had this problem when he was born. Does your little fella have a runny nose at all?
What worked best for us was folding a small blanket and putting it under the top end of the mattress to tilt him slightly to stop mucus running back his throat making him more comfortable and definitely less noisy:)

Das Kitty

wmpdd3 wrote: »

All this sound like my 5 week old, she hates lying down on her back, the last few nights she has slept on my chest!

One question are infant galviscon sachets perscritpion only?

For babies I think it is.

It could just be gas though, newborns have no muscle tone so have awful trouble burping and farting. Our lad used to hate being on his back unless every bubble of air was gone. We not only burped him but "farted" him too by raising his legs and massaging his belly. We tried everything for wind but cracked it by giving him two droppers of infacol and trying to keep him fairly upright when feeding.

annetted

hiya
it was one of the hardest things to cope with. we had no idea babies made so much noise! our little boy use to make these mad noises so we would be constantly hoping in and out of the bed checking on him. i have to say he did not like his moses basket at all - so he did end up in our bed sometimes (either way we did not get much sleep). infacol which you can buy in chemist and infant gaviscon which you need a prescription for can help. For us it didn't work, just in time it settled, about 12 weeks.

good luck, try sleep when baby sleep. its not easy but it does get better.

wmpdd3

Got the galviscon sachets today, trying those now, its been a bit of a disaster. She feeds every 2 oz every 1.5 hrs. Can't lie on her back at all, cradle is redundant.


so now ill try, sachet in the bottle and infacol 1/2 way through the feed.

any other infant i minded i had in a routine within 2 days!

hopefully this works.

Cat Melodeon

Like cbyrd, we could only put our lad to sleep on his side. Side-sleeping is not recommended for babies, not because it is in itself dangerous but because there is a risk that they will roll on to their tummies, increasing the SIDS risk. If side-sleeping seems more comfortable for your baby, you can get a sleep positioner that will stop them from rolling on to their tummy and keep them in a safe position. There are always cheap ones on Amazon (under €20) that do the job just fine.

cbyrd

wmpdd3 wrote: »

Got the galviscon sachets today, trying those now, its been a bit of a disaster. She feeds every 2 oz every 1.5 hrs. Can't lie on her back at all, cradle is redundant.


so now ill try, sachet in the bottle and infacol 1/2 way through the feed.

any other infant i minded i had in a routine within 2 days!

hopefully this works.

The cleveamama sleep positioner is amazing.. i used it with Ben for ages, you can get it in smyths toy store for €29.99 it really is worth it expecially when they get to the rolling stage and turn onto their tummy at night and then wake up cos they can't get back !! :rolleyes: for wind, we got the colief drops. 2 drops in the bottle made up the night before (or 4 drops a half hour before) and (8oz bottle) 2 sachets of gavisgon and we were sorted. You will try everything known to man and woman for a nights sleep

Dades

wmpdd3 wrote: »

One question are infant galviscon sachets perscritpion only?

Das Kitty wrote: »

For babies I think it is.

annetted wrote: »

...infacol which you can buy in chemist and infant gaviscon which you need a prescription for can help.

Unless something has changed in the last couple of weeks, you can walk into a chemist and ask for Infant Gaviscon from behind the counter, no questions asked.