Newborn gagging/grimacing in sleep. Keeps waking up angry

[Anonymous]

FTM.

Baby is 9 days old. Since the day he was born he seems so uncomfortable. He grimaced, gags and looks unhappy while sleeping and will wake up within 15 minutes crying and unhappy until I get get him back down and he’ll do it again 15 minutes later. He’s only slept more than an hour straight without me needing to settle him back down once. I know newborns don’t sleep very well, but something feels off. He requires constant settling, he rarely can just be (even when I’m rocking him). We went to the pediatrician who said he was fine.

[Anonymous]

Hi op - how are his poops? This sounds a bit like my son (though we didn’t have gagging) but he would wake up every 20-30 min in what seemed like pain. He turned out to have a dairy (and maybe soy) protein allergy. It goes away usually by their 1st birthday but some babies can’t digest the proteins in dairy, and less commonly soy (sometimes egg). Blood in the stool is a telltale sign but my baby didn’t have detectable blood in his stool, just mucous in his poop plus the constant crying and difficulty with sleep. If you do notice these signs, first thing is to stop eating dairy yourself if you are breastfeeding. If that doesn’t help and you don’t see a drastic difference, you can also try getting rid of soy but don’t kill yourself over this, my LC said they are finding in new research the soy allergy is actually less common. Egg can also be a culprit. But don’t just go off everything - I made that mistake at first and it was hard to figure things out. Try dairy and go from there. My son ended up on a hypoallergenic formula because my diet f changes didn’t make enough of a difference. He is on alimentum ready to feed which I recommend as a good one to start if baby is already on formula and you want to try a hypoallergenic one. There are Facebook groups about this and they can be helpful, and also harmful, so tread lightly.

[Anonymous]

Maybe GERD. Take a video of what troubles you and show the child's pediatrician.

[Anonymous]

Also I’m so sorry you’re going through this. It does sound to me like it’s not typical newborn sleep. Follow your parent gut. Silent reflux is also something to rule out. Does he often smell of old milk?

[Anonymous]

If the ped says it’s fine it probably is. They are SO noisy and grumpy in the early stages. Loudest sleepers. Always struggling to learn how to poop. Making horrible faces all the time. That’s totally normal.

[Anonymous]

Silent reflux?

[Anonymous]

It sounds like it could be reflux. New babies are very noisy sleepers with their grunting but the gagging doesn't seem normal.

[Anonymous]

Reflux + a milk protein allergy. This was my baby. Took 3 weeks to get a real dx. Changed over to alimentum formula and baby xantac (was 5 years ago) and was a new baby in 24 hours, literally.

[Anonymous]

Yes, sounds like a possible allergy.

[Anonymous]

Acid reflux. Laying down/sleeping position makes it worse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FTM.

Baby is 9 days old. Since the day he was born he seems so uncomfortable. He grimaced, gags and looks unhappy while sleeping and will wake up within 15 minutes crying and unhappy until I get get him back down and he’ll do it again 15 minutes later. He’s only slept more than an hour straight without me needing to settle him back down once. I know newborns don’t sleep very well, but something feels off. He requires constant settling, he rarely can just be (even when I’m rocking him). We went to the pediatrician who said he was fine.

Pediatricians are not usually great about this especially if you are a FTM. I used to have to bring my DH with me or have him take our son because if Dad mentions something is off it is somehow a valid concern but FTM are just anxious ninnies.

How do pediatricians rationalize the babies that dont sleep longer than 1 hour with the fact that everyone says newborns sleep a lot and they arent hard. Newborns sleep a LOT total but wake up often but it shouldnt be every hour, except during certain periods. And if you track the wakenings then its your sleep deprived and focusing too much/"babies are noisy". Take a video, have someone else stay up with you the whole day and track it, etc.

How are poops? Spit up? Nursing/formula? Any tilting to one side predominantly? Assessed by a LC for lip or tongue tie?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FTM.

Baby is 9 days old. Since the day he was born he seems so uncomfortable. He grimaced, gags and looks unhappy while sleeping and will wake up within 15 minutes crying and unhappy until I get get him back down and he’ll do it again 15 minutes later. He’s only slept more than an hour straight without me needing to settle him back down once. I know newborns don’t sleep very well, but something feels off. He requires constant settling, he rarely can just be (even when I’m rocking him). We went to the pediatrician who said he was fine.

Pediatricians are not usually great about this especially if you are a FTM. I used to have to bring my DH with me or have him take our son because if Dad mentions something is off it is somehow a valid concern but FTM are just anxious ninnies.

How do pediatricians rationalize the babies that dont sleep longer than 1 hour with the fact that everyone says newborns sleep a lot and they arent hard. Newborns sleep a LOT total but wake up often but it shouldnt be every hour, except during certain periods. And if you track the wakenings then its your sleep deprived and focusing too much/"babies are noisy". Take a video, have someone else stay up with you the whole day and track it, etc.

How are poops? Spit up? Nursing/formula? Any tilting to one side predominantly? Assessed by a LC for lip or tongue tie?

Also any other vocalizations/breathing issues? - Tugging at the neck or feeding issues/noisy breathing/etc?

[Anonymous]

I mean it sounds like Colic. That's everything OP described

[Anonymous]

Reflux.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe GERD. Take a video of what troubles you and show the child's pediatrician.

This reflux. Start with your ped but get to a gi.