Squeaking/grunting

[AmyB1978]

Does anyone know if squeaking/grunting is normal or why it occurs?

My baby was born at 34 weeks exactly and spent awhile in the NICU for apnea episodes and feeding issues mostly. She is home now and is 5 weeks old and has been doing well but she squeaks/grunts. She has done this since even in the NICU with all that was going on I didn't think to ask about it... now that she is home it scares me but I try to figure that she must be okay cause the nurses would hear her do it and never seemed alarmed. She sqeaks/grunts a lot, sometimes around feeding, sometimes not. There are times she makes a gulping type of noise/action (not with feeding) and then turns slightly blue around her mouth/nose.. if she does this she most certainly will have lots of squeaking after that. I can get her to stop (the gulping especially) by picking her up and patting/stimulating her(she did this in the NICU too and had heart rate drops and, at times, apnea episodes related to it.) I don't know if i should call her pediatrician or not... or even if she would happen to do it in front of them cause it is so random. Any help/advice would be great... I worry for her.

 

[AP]

Definatly a common preemie thing hun! If you are worried though, give your paeditrician a call

 

[AmyB1978]

Definatly a common preemie thing hun! If you are worried though, give your paeditrician a call

Thanks for responding. Do you have any idea why they do it?

My instincts, most times, tell me it is fine but it still scares me sometimes. I will definitely either mention it at her next appointment or call her pediatrician if it keeps worrying me or anything changes.

By the way, the post you made years ago about (can't remember the exact title) what people should know/not say when dealing with NICU parents was simply amazing. I could relate to almost everything you said and some of them REALLY hit home! Thank you for posting it!

 

[AP]

A lot of babies do it, but more common in preemies. It does stop after a while. If You google "Grunting Baby Syndrome" you'll find a lot on it! (I know , it does sound funny but its a real thing )

 

[Bakebino]

Grunting Baby Syndrome? My Ryleigh Belle definitely has that!

 

[Srrme]

Both of mine did it!

 

[keyahopes]

Was your baby ever on a ventilator? My daughter had vocal cord paralysis, which means that the airway did not close completely. We first found this out when she ws taken off the ventilator and she would always "squeek". You could literally hear her from across the room. Its called a stridor. Could it be something like that? Just wondering.

 

[AmyB1978]

Was your baby ever on a ventilator? My daughter had vocal cord paralysis, which means that the airway did not close completely. We first found this out when she ws taken off the ventilator and she would always "squeek". You could literally hear her from across the room. Its called a stridor. Could it be something like that? Just wondering.

She never had to be ventilated, just had oxygen so I don't think it's that. She definitely can be loud with it though!

 

[Casper72]

My baby boy grunts a lot too. He was born at 30+3 almost 3 months ago. Corrected age is 3 weeks tomorrow. He's so loud that we can't sleep when he sleeps....he keeps us awake with all of his grunting and squeaking. I'm sure my full term babies didn't do that. In the NICU they called it the 'preemie grunt' so it must be a common preemie thing.

 

[calypso]

The preemie grunt

At first it is scary, then adorable, then it's gone before you realize it.

 

[labmommy]

Perfectly a normal preemie thing. I don't remember when it stopped, Jonathan is 9 months old now (29wkr). I asked the ped about it after we got home, he didn't know anything about it. It went away on it's own. He used to do it quite often. I was very worried!

 

[Stelly]

It's a preemie thing. We call it his little goat baby noises lol

 

[coolchip10]

I was told tracheomalacia by my pediatrician. One of my twin boys had it and it resolved itself but was told we could go to ENT if we were concerned. They were born at 35 weeks.

 

[rbourre]

My daughter grunted a lot. She finally grew out of it around a month corrected age. Now she babbles a lot.

The nurses nicknamed my daughter G&G for grunt and groan because she did it so much.

 

[WishfulX1]

My little girl done this, born at 33w, I don't remember when it went as we sort of got used to it but she's 7 months now and it's completely gone

 

[MummyMana]

My little girl squeaks, grunts and, well, growls almost, she sounds angry xD she was born at 36 Weeks, I'm sure she didn't do it at first though... I thought it was just wind or something until I saw this

 

[AmyB1978]

Emily does the same... the growling type of noise as well. I do think it is partially related to her digestion. She seems to do it less (or I am just used to it now) then she used to but she definitely still does it.