Constant grunting and random constipation

[Anicole10]

I had my daughter April 9th at 37 +1 weeks but she is gestationally 7 months and considered a late term premie due to her size. I've noticed in the last few days she's been doing ALOT of grunting and what seems to be straining to have a bowel movement (theres been a decrease in her bowel movements as of Wednesday of last week). Although she is constipated at times, she continues to grunt throughout the day for no apparent reason. I feel so helpless I wish I could make her feel better.

We tried rectal stimulation which resulted in a movement but I couldnt bring myself to do it again so we contacted her doctor and he recommended 1-2oz of pedialyte everyday to help her go more regularly. Along with her constipation has come this strange grunting. She'll grunt even though she's just gone #2, she'll grunt when she's eating, she'll grunt in her sleep etc. I've googled a lot online and the only thing I can find is something about it's normal for babies born early and they "just grow out of it". Is this normal? Do any of your children do this? We have a nurse who comes out once a week to check and weigh her and I plan on asking but in the mean time I'm hoping some of you can calm my nerves since the doctor hasnt been able to. Also, do any of you have constipation problems with your child and were you told to use pedialyte?

 

[AP]

Do you have something called lactulose your way? We had to use that

 

[PrincessPea]

Cant really help you with the constipation Im afraid but Jessica used to grunt and groan almost constantly towards the end of her hospital stay and when we got her home and also what appeared to be straining too but it never seemed to coincide with her filling her nappy. The only time she didnt do it was when she had fallen into a deep sleep.

When we got her home I used to think to myself 'I wish she would stop that so she could fall into a deep peaceful sleep' (for her own good) then the minute she did I'd jump out the chair to make sure she was still breathing!!!

One of the nurses at our NICU told us its common for preemies to do this.

Long story short Jessica did grow out of it after a few months and now no longer does it.

 

[toothfairyx]

Yes we had a grunting baby too. It was mainly around 3am after the night feed it really got going. He did grow out of it, but it was a while after his due date.

 

[okciv]

Eve was constipated a lot we gave her cooled boiled water - about 1 oz before every feed & it really helped.