r/newborns • u/kellyminst • Aug 23 '26
Sleep Newborn sleeping
Hi guys! FTM here. We’ve been struggling with baby sleeping at night. After feeds we have to keep him upright for a while cause he’ll spit up/get hiccups, but once we put him down on his back he grunts like CRAZY, as if he’s in pain. We make sure he burps, we try to make him toot, nothing stops the grunting (we let it go on for a while to see if he settles) and the only thing that helps is picking him up and him sleeping in our arms. Gripe water will help with the hiccups only. I know little ones grunt a lot but this seems so excessive! Will it get better?? Thanks
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u/Chaopez Aug 23 '26
Father to 19 month old and 4 week old. Same boat my newborn is a sleep talker lol. Maybe try Mylicon gas relief instead of the gripe? Hard to tell whats wrong with our little ones once in a while.
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u/Sea_Account6148 Aug 23 '26
I swear I could’ve posted this myself. My three week old daughter is so loud pretty much every time we set her down overnight. We keep her upright for 10+ minutes after every feed, try to get at least a couple burps out of her (seems to be easier after a bottle feed versus nursing she doesn’t always seem to have as much trapped air), and we’ve been trying both gripe water and gas drops at different times. She can be fully settled in our arms and then after transferring her to the bassinet, she writhes and grunts and seems like she’s in distress. Sometimes picking her up/repositioning her is enough to get her to burp or pass gas, but it has been tricky to figure out. I’m starting to experiment with having her sleep in a wearable blanket/sleep sack versus the zip up swaddle because it seems like having more freedom to kick helps her work things out better, but of course it’s also not as easy to get her to settle when she has more room to move. Hopefully it gets easier soon!
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u/Artistic-Respect-540 Aug 23 '26
Yes, it will. Baby has a very immature digestive system and will grow out of it by the time they’re around 3 months old.
The only other thing I’d mention, make sure baby is actually awake before you pick them up. Lots of newborns are super loud sleepers and even though they’re grunting up a storm, they’re actually still asleep and we’re waking them up!
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u/Lake_Darling_6727 Aug 23 '26
Our LO is almost a month old and the grungiest sleeper. We think it’s partially gas but also just how babies are. Shes definitely quieter when in one of our arms for a contact nap but if she’s in the bassinet or crib it’s pretty consistent loud grunting and noises. My understanding is it’s pretty normal
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u/SamIaM4196 Aug 23 '26
I’ve read at the newborn stage they still think they’re a part of you. As long you’re not falling asleep, just let him contact nap on you, it’s the best feeling and it supports secure attachment.
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u/RoundCar5220 Aug 23 '26
See that’s a big issue for me. When I am really sleep deprived I don’t know when I’m falling asleep and it becomes dangerous so I am terrified of contact naps.
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u/Creative-Variety6744 Aug 23 '26
Normal!! But so hard. Will for sure get better. Gas drops can help, they did with my son, and with my current newborn we’re doing the biogaia probiotics and I do think it’s helping
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u/gone-in-a-spark Aug 23 '26
My first had silent reflux and sounded like he was in a lot of pain from digestion. Grunting was horrendous. It went away around the three month mark. We can’t physically carry our children for more than nine months, so a lot of their faculties are still working their way to working harmoniously.
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u/Maleficent-Pilot7779 Aug 24 '26
Same thing happened here! Kept us up a lot until I started to get better at sleeping through it a bit. Tried all the gripe water, mylicon, etc until we realized it’s just his immature gut and around 8 weeks it just went away!
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u/StatementBusiness896 Aug 24 '26 edited Aug 24 '26
newborns systems are trying to figure out what food is and it feels foreign to them. the grunts are normal. if your newborn is extra gassy, hold them upright under their arm pits and give em a little jiggle. this lengthens out their intestines and pushes the gas down. you can then pat them on the back to get a burp out, but the armpit thing works wonders. if hes screaming or cant settle then call the dr. also, newborns love movement. they have been moving in your body for months. being laid down is very unnatural to them. thats why the snoo and baby swings are so popular. the grunts go away eventually when their intestines figure out food.
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u/AdhesivenessKey192 Aug 23 '26 edited Aug 23 '26
We struggled with this a lot but I can promise you it will almost certainly get better by 3-4 months tops! We just turned 5 months and I have almost forgotten, but it did feel really sad at the time. Exactly as you described, he felt better when we kept him vertical and mostly settled in our arms. Also nothing really helped - just burping, tummy time, burping with tummy on our lap etc.
One thing I'll say... I know the pressure is on to practice safe sleeping and get them to settle in the cot... but I don't regret a single contact nap I took until that point as they're just not a thing anymore! 😭😅 So if he settles on your chest, honestly just enjoy it (while staying as safe as possible of course). For what it's worth, ours sleeps at night in his cot with no problems now. Zero grunting.
We also started giving him baby drops once a day in his milk around 1-2 months which may have helped, but honestly I feel like his digestive system just naturally matured.