Witching hour/Fighting sleep

moonladymae

My little guy is 7 weeks today and for the past couple of weeks he's decided he wants to fight sleep in the late evening for a few hours. He doesn't scream the whole time, he just is fussy and hard to please and absolutely refuses to go to sleep. I'm trying to set a sort of bedtime routine and bath him in the evening and get him all relaxed, he'll totally pass out and I'll put him down in either the co-sleeper or the swing and he'll wake up in 20-30 minutes and refuse to go back to sleep for sometimes hours. Anyone else seen this happen? I know he's in that phase of growth spurts, purple crying, etc. I am just having a rough time with it, I feel like we aren't bonding well and I am not doing the right things to make him happy. He's generally happy during the day and sleeps 2-3 hr stretches around the clock, it's mostly just the late evening about 8pm-midnight that is hard. He eats well, I try the swing, swaddle, bouncing on the yoga ball, a whole slew of tricks to calm him and get him to sleep during those hours and nothing, just fussy and hard to please. Anyone else have this experience? Any suggestions for helping him and me get through these evening hours? Is it too soon to sleep train? Should I keep him awake more during the day? Thanks for your time! Cheers! 

minibean16

My girl has the same hours of torture. Not every night, and not the whole time, but if she is going to be fussy, it will be during that time.

A lot of people say they try not to let their LO nap after a certain point - that does NOT work for us. Bedtime is the easiest if she has a nap around 7, so she's not overtired. When she wakes up from that nap, I'm careful not to overstimulate her as we do our real bedtime routine (which is not complex - diaper change, pjs, nurse and lullabys)

mamaluzi

minibean16 said:

My girl has the same hours of torture. Not every night, and not the whole time, but if she is going to be fussy, it will be during that time.

A lot of people say they try not to let their LO nap after a certain point - that does NOT work for us. Bedtime is the easiest if she has a nap around 7, so she's not overtired. When she wakes up from that nap, I'm careful not to overstimulate her as we do our real bedtime routine (which is not complex - diaper change, pjs, nurse and lullabys)

This is exactly us. Though sometimes Norah's last nap doesn't go so well due to the fussies...but if that happens I just wait for her hunger cues again and start our real bedtime: bath, pjs/swaddle, nurse while daddy reads to us, supplement. Then she's out like a light in her bedside bassinet for like 4-6 hours.

bustarmu21

My little guy also fights sleep on most nights between these hours. He's 10 weeks now. We've gotten into a bedtime routine of an evening bath usually around 8, sometimes later. He will be relaxed and usually fall asleep but won't go down for the night usually until between 11 - 12. To get him to sleep for the night, I have to walk with him and sway back and forth in our quiet, dark bedroom - the only light comes from a lamp in the living room which just let's a little light into the room. I just keep trying until he finally stays asleep once I put him in his bassinet. Some nights are easier the others. Just stay calm and keep trying. That's all you can really do

bustarmu21

Oh and also - his night sleep is not effected by his sleep during the day. He could hardly nap during the day and still sleep like crap that same night. So I just let him sleep when he wants during the day, he will usually take a decent morning/early afternoon nap then another decent evening nap.

ColtiersMom

My pedi explained this to me as my baby's fussy time because they have built up energy and the only way to burmbit off is to cry. Good news: he/she will grow out of it soon, bad news: their is nothing that we can do now to stop them from being fussy everynight for a few hours.