6 Week Old Grunts

My daughter grunted all night long. She also would sometimes pant like a puppy dog..too weird :) She slept in a bassinet next to my side of the bed. It drove me kinda nuts, but eventually I got used to it.
I think it's pretty normal.
I just dealt with it until I moved my daughter to her crib a little after 4 months.
Oddly enough, the first few night after moving her were the WORST nights of sleep I had. It was almost too quiet in my room and I kept waking up thinking there was something wrong with her. I got over that pretty quickly though LOL
Sorry I don't have any advice. Do know that you will eventually get a good night's sleep, I promise :)

Enjoy it while it lasts! The sounds of a newborn don't last very long... You probably only have a few weeks left before you won't ever hear that baby grunt again.

Hi,

My son, who is now 15 months, also grunted and I remember not being able to sleep when he did it either. The only thing I think we did that sort of helped was he slept in his baby seat for a while because I think being slightly elevated helped.

my son is 7 weeks old and he does this as well. I don't find it a cute baby noise as he seems very uncomfortable when he does it (moves around a lot, gets red...).Plus, during the night it keeps me up. I think it is a stomach or gas thing. What I do is the La Leche League Massage for Colic you can find out how on their website. I find that it settles him and helps him pass gas. Warning it takes about 20 minutes to "hear" it work but it helps.

Hi C.,

As I can see below, I wasn't alone either. My daughter grunted, but it sounded more like an elephant. It was funny. She did it while she slept...she was trying to stretch. I had her swaddled and it turns out, she hated it. She's 5.5 months and she sleeps legs open and arms over her had. My husband always looked and said 'I surrender'. I was having sleep problems as well. She was in a bassinet in our room when she came home from the hospital. I'm the only one that was woken up with the grunting. My husband and dog were sound asleep. We/mom's are also in tune for every little noise. I would wake up to make sure she was breathing and still there. After a week of her being home, we decided to put her in her crib. O was ip all night. She's been in there ever since and I was able to catch up on some sleep until she woke up to nurse. I knew should would be O.K. down the hall in her room. When she cried....we heard her. I think it helps now...we didn't go through the transition from mommy & daddy's room to the her room.

The person below is right....she hardly does it anymore. Enjoy it.

My daughter used to grunt and stretch ALL night when she was about 6 weeks old. It's as if her muscles were always stiff and she wanted to stretch her arms and legs all the time. It kept me awake for hours. It was strange and wierd... but she eventually grew out of it!

This is pretty normal I think. My son certainly did it around that age too. It's funny.. one of the things that people never tell you about newborns is how noisy and restless they sleep. It may be gas, in which case you can try some of those mylecon drops (I never used them) and if you're breastfeeding maybe you've added something new to your diet? The bottom line is that I wouldn't worry about him - it's just a question of you being able to sleep. Put a pillow over your head for now, I'd say. You'll still wake up when he needs to eat, don't worry.

Hi C. -

I have a 16 week old that grunted allllllll the time too! She stopped at about 12 weeks or so. It was so odd to me b/c our older daughter never did this - but then again, grunting was fine with me b/c our older daughter CRIED alllll the time - she was horribly colicky. So, grunting was fine with us! She still does it now and again but nothing like she used to. I'm guessing your little man will grow out of it shortly. Hang in there!

Erin

Hi Caren,

Yep, they make lots of sounds while they sleep. Despite the fact that we just had our second child (first one did it too) our pediatrician had to reassure my husband nothing was wrong with our son! It will stop - if you have him in the room with you and it's disturbing your sleep, you can move him to his own room - you'll still hear him if he needs you but might be able to sleep a little sounder....especially now that you know it's just normal baby stuff.

Congratulations - by the second one you'll sleep right through most of that grunting :-)

C.,
If the "grunting" is accompanied by retractions in his rib area it could be a sign of respiratory distress, of pneumonia. My son Cory contracted meningitis and pneumonia on a pediatric ward in Bethlehem, PA when he was 5 months old (he's now 16) and I distinctly remember the grunting.
C.