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Witching hour - screaming hell help?

DarthBabyDarthBaby member
in Multiples

So this isn't really twin specific, but I like how nice everyone is here. And experienced.

My DD seems to have taken up the routine of the "witching hour", pretty much every day from 6pm-7:30pm. It's driving me crazy. My first DD did this too and I just remember being miserable, but no idea if we found anything to help. 

How long does this phase last? What should we be trying to do to make it better? We have tried - eating, burping, the 5 S's, changing the scenery, putting her down, picking her up - pretty much everything I can think of. Am I missing something? 

Last night for the first time she also woke up in the middle of the night wide awake and wanted to hang out for 3 hours. That is the first time she has not just eaten and gone back to bed. Are these related?

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Re: Witching hour - screaming hell help?

  • ervin412@gmail.comervin412@gmail.com member
    I have definitely been there and feel your pain. We did it all too, and just when we think that we got it figured out as to how to calm them down, they would change their mind and we'd have to find something else. I think a lot of it has to do with them becoming more aware of their surroundings and becoming overstimulated, and then it all catches up with them in the evenings. We went for a lot of drives in the evening when the "witching hour" was bad. We also have put over 100,000 miles on our swings, literally, lol. It really didn't start getting dramatically better for us until they were 5 months old or so. But don't worry it does get "easier" as time goes on, you will find those things that comfort them and make those dreaded hours better. We also used gripe water a lot during this time too, it did seem to help also. Just know that you're not alone! I hope it gets better for you soon!
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  • AbbeAbbe
    I don't necessarily have any solid answers to this, but just wanted to tell you I feel for you.  We're just coming out of a phase just like that.  It actually lasted from about 6:30 until 9 for a while.  I tried everything like you said.  I couldn't get them to sleep and I couldn't find any way to keep them from crying.  Being a first time mom, I had no idea what to do.  We started to establish a bedtime routine and better structured naps throughout the day and it has helped a lot.  It could be the routine, or it could be that the girls are just getting past that fussy phase.  I did read that it's very common around that time because of all the stimulation throughout the day.  Hang in there, I'm sure they'll outgrow that phase soon.
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  • joliemariéejoliemariée member
    As a mom with babies a few months older , I have been through the "witching" stage and feel your pain. It was awful until we realized they wanted an earlier bedtime. We solved the witching hour by realizing the babies wanted to go to bed by 6-6:15, we had been keeping them up until 7:30-8 at around your LOs age, slowly we started moving bedtime back until it has stayed now at 6-6:30 for the last 4 months. Makes a world of difference. If they are not in pj's ready for a bedtime bottle at 6pm - all hell breaks loose! GL :)
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  • ervin412@gmail.comervin412@gmail.com member

    imagejoliemari?e:
    As a mom with babies a few months older , I have been through the "witching" stage and feel your pain. It was awful until we realized they wanted an earlier bedtime. We solved the witching hour by realizing the babies wanted to go to bed by 6-6:15, we had been keeping them up until 7:30-8 at around your LOs age, slowly we started moving bedtime back until it has stayed now at 6-6:30 for the last 4 months. Makes a world of difference. If they are not in pj's ready for a bedtime bottle at 6pm - all hell breaks loose! GL :)

     I should've added this also. We did the same thing. We were so focused on getting them to sleep through the night, that we were keeping them up at times until 9:30-10pm (for that last bottle) because we knew they would sleep until 6am. When the "witching hour" was bad enough, it dawned on us that we might be keeping them up too long, so we slowly started moving back their bedtime. At one point they were sleeping by 7pm, and lo and behold they stayed sleeping till 7am! They just upped their formula intake during the day to make up for it. 

    Nowadays, they are usually sleeping by 8pm, and a lot of times will stay sleeping until 8am with no problems. The only times they may wake up during the night is during a growth spurt or cold (which we've had both in the last month).

    Try starting to knock back their bedtimes by 1/2 hour for a couple of days and see what happens! 

     

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