Hello, we had our son who is 4 weeks old now, 5.6 lbs at 34 weeks and was in the NICU for 3 weeks. Our issue is he sleeps well during the day but at night he grunts and I mean GRUNTS non stop and won’t sleep. What can we do to help our little guy sleep more? He is always so hungry but our doctor said don’t go over 75 ml per feeding.
@adesigner Are you sure he is awake when grunting? Preemies are particularly noisy and active sleepers. Ours made some crazy goat sounds for a while. They also have underdeveloped digestive systems so struggle to get farts out. These systems are very active at night and early morning so they strain a lot. Our girls were usually asleep while doing so, but it sounded horrific. It does get better. The only thing we did was bicycle their legs.
I am not sure if there's a medical reason for you to remain at 75ml? I would be trying to follow hunger cues and feed according to this. Sometimes the NICU drums a schedule into your head but when you get home, it's time to listen to your baby.
Hang in there. It's tough! Look up the concept of the 4th trimester. Babies should really still be in tummies for 3 more months because they're not ready for this world.
You've got this.
I am not sure if there's a medical reason for you to remain at 75ml? I would be trying to follow hunger cues and feed according to this. Sometimes the NICU drums a schedule into your head but when you get home, it's time to listen to your baby.
Hang in there. It's tough! Look up the concept of the 4th trimester. Babies should really still be in tummies for 3 more months because they're not ready for this world.
You've got this.
daddydubya
New member
@adesigner Mine grunts kicks snorts chortles and intermittently lets out one loud wail. Literally sounds like a troll is in my baby’s bed. By the time I jump out of my bed and run to him two feet away he’s sound asleep.
gisellemartinez1
New member
@daddydubya I almost never actually figured out how to tell the difference between active sleep and awake for my baby (especially in the middle of the night when I was also tired) but this is exactly what I think is happening here too. It's not just a preemie thing!
makesense114
New member
@daddydubya We call the one loud wail during sleep a battle cry. It is very startling.
austinmiles89
New member
@adesigner Are you breastfeeding or formula? Our LO has already been home for 3 months and still having so many issues sleeping continuously. Like yours, he sleeps well during the day but difficult at night. He gets breastmilk by bottle so we just “fill” him up until he’s passed out. We just make sure to carry him for at least 15-20 mins after we are doing feeding so he doesn’t spit up.
Hang in there. First time parent here and this shit is difficult.
Hang in there. First time parent here and this shit is difficult.
@austinmiles89 Breast milk, bottle fed. We tried mylicon drops but those didn’t help with his gas. We see some improvement when he is able to release gas but not all the time.
austinmiles89
New member
@adesigner Ah ok. We used them as well but didn’t see much difference either. Does tummy time help with gas? Also, I read that breastmilk pumped during the night hours has melatonin in it vs cortisol for the daytime so maybe try that.
johnredeemed103
New member
@adesigner You should try anti colic bottles . There are several in the market now, they made a huge difference in the grunting
freesoul88
New member
@johnredeemed103 The Dr browns bottles with the inserts and a premie nipple helped us out a lot with the gas when we first went home
johnredeemed103
New member
@freesoul88 Same
bonngamchan
New member
@adesigner My baby did this after coming home!! I stayed up all night worried that he was awake —turns out he was just in very active sleeep. He literally sounded like a pterodactyl one night 
It stopped after a few weeks at home with no specific intervention
It stopped after a few weeks at home with no specific intervention
@bonngamchan We call mine baby pterodactyl 
@bonngamchan Also call ours a baby pterodactyl!
@adesigner We had the same challenge. Our son was born at 3lbs 1oz at 33 weeks. He's now 2 months (3 weeks adjusted). He sleeps great when being held and will sleep in his SnuggleMe. The problem is the SnuggleMe isn't certified sleep safe so we can only let him sleep there if we watch him.
While I was off work my wife and I slept in shifts but now that I'm back...we had to figure it out. We try to just feed him and hold him until he falls asleep then put him in the bassinet. At first it was AWFUL. VERY active sleeper, tons of grunting, would be up in 15 minutes...only real solution was to brute force it...keep putting him in there. We changed sleep sacks and he likes the new kind a lot more. He still isn't GREAT at sleeping in there...but he did sleep 3 uninterrupted hours once this week which felt like a miracle.
While I was off work my wife and I slept in shifts but now that I'm back...we had to figure it out. We try to just feed him and hold him until he falls asleep then put him in the bassinet. At first it was AWFUL. VERY active sleeper, tons of grunting, would be up in 15 minutes...only real solution was to brute force it...keep putting him in there. We changed sleep sacks and he likes the new kind a lot more. He still isn't GREAT at sleeping in there...but he did sleep 3 uninterrupted hours once this week which felt like a miracle.
@adesigner We were using the Halo sleep sack, but we switched the LovetoDream.
He always seemed to want to bust his arms out of the Halo one but this LovetoDream one is kind of like a starfish sort of thing so his arms are contained but not restricted.
I think the routine ane the sleep sack and just him getting a tiny bit older are helping. Still a long ways to go with sleep but...it is definitely improving.
He always seemed to want to bust his arms out of the Halo one but this LovetoDream one is kind of like a starfish sort of thing so his arms are contained but not restricted.
I think the routine ane the sleep sack and just him getting a tiny bit older are helping. Still a long ways to go with sleep but...it is definitely improving.
johnanderson
New member
@adesigner I think it’s just a premie thing! Mine did that too and grew out of it after a while. Do you swaddle him? That helped me a little. If he’s hungry feed more often if they don’t recommend over 75ml my NICU told me to do 5 ml increments but every doctor is different and mine was born at 3 lb 8oz so quite smaller.
@adesigner It’s a preemie thing. I say that as a mama of 6 preemies spanning 16 years. They grow out of it around 4/5 months usually
@adesigner Just brought my preemie home and he grunts most of the time. Sometimes I have to wonder if he’s uncomfortable because I’m uncomfortable hearing it!! He definitely grunts less when he’s taking a contact nap on my chest but we can’t always do that. I’m hoping he grows out of it soon. He sounds like a goat, a troll, a pterodactyl, and sometimes a kitten