Witching Hour?

[Deleted User] · July 2012

Does anyone else's LO have a time when they do NOT stop crying??? After LO's 6ish feeding she is a nightmare. won't stop crying unless you are holding her. bobby, swing, bouncy seat, crib, swaddled - NOPE. wtf do we do? like it stresses me out and i can (mentally) let her cry it out but DH doesn't feel the same way.

Any tips or tricks to getting LO to sleep for a nap? At night she is fine being swaddled in her crib - but i fear doing that at 8pm when i want to feed her again at 10pm... don't want her thinking it's night time yet.

UUGHHHHH - I feel so bad and would love to know if there is something bothering her but fed, clean and comfortable!

TIA!

k8edgerton · July 2012

Mine does the same thing between 7-8 p.m. every freakin night!

Lately, we have started a routine. When we see that she is starting to loose it we pop the paci in the mouth and then start the 3 b's (Bath, Bottle, Bed). I give her a massage after the bath and then swaddle keeping the lights dim.

We figure when she reaches the melting point each evening it is because she is tired. Therefore, we start the bedtime process. She will still melt down but tonight she didn't cry quite as long... We were able to get her to bed with only a few min of cries and usually it lasts for 10-20. I figure with the "routine" she will eventually find comfort in it and know that it isn't time to cry... its time to calm down and get ready for bed.

k4slr6 · July 2012

Yep DD has been fussy since 3 and it is 8 here now. She goes through it most nights. Even when I held her she would flail all over me and scoot around my neck and scratch me. We put her in the swing 30 minutes ago and have had peace and quiet. She hasn't slept since 3 and is just way over tired and keeps fighting it. I just looked and her eyes have finally closed. Poor little thing.

FyreFlyeRush · July 2012

Yep. 7:30-8:00 ish until he falls asleep. I've started leaving the room and lying down with him at 8. That usually keeps him from getting over stimulated and he goes down fairly easily. It's not set in stone, tho. Sometimes he has a long nap and it's later when Heinrich the Horrid shows up. Other days, he misses an afternoon nap and Hurricane Henry makes shore earlier.

And, sometimes we play pass the baby and walk the floor. Other days, it's pop a boob in his mouth and let him comfort nurse for literally HOURS. Still others I've put him in his carrier and walked him around the house in his stroller (too hot outside). Once or twice I've debated going for a drive. Had to do that with DD more than a couple of times.

FyreFlyeRush · July 2012

BTW, you said you're wondering what to do because she wants to be held. That's what you do, hold her.

In five years, you won't look back and say, "I wish I'd held her less." You'll say the opposite, no matter how much you hold her.

prettybird05 · July 2012

DD was crying 2-3 hours every night between 6-9 until we changed her formula. Now she still fusses a lot and wants to be held, but she'll actually catnap during that period too. One thing I noticed is that she likes to eat more often during that time, getting hungry every 1 1/2-2 hours instead of her normal 3-4 hours. Since she was already crying, I thinking we weren't picking up on her hunger cues, which of course made the crying worse. Besides feeding her, we had to either hold her and dance or put her in the stroller for a walk. I've also put her in the stroller and just walked around the house when it's been too hot out. Giving her a bath also calmed her, but only while she was in the bath. The crying started again as soon as we got her out of the water.

winter-shock · July 2012

Have you tried swaddling her and putting her to bed at 8 and then just dream feeding her? That is what I do with DD2, she is in bed between 8 and 8:30 every night i go and get her between 10:30 and 11 change her bum and nurse her one more time all in the dark. She never fully wakes just nurses and is back out until 5:30 or 6.

Pdxmom73 · July 2012

It's not unusual for babies to have a witching hour. Dd is always more fussy at night . Maybe your LO is trying to tell you that she is tired at 8 and wants to go to bed? Do you feed her at 10 because she is hungry or because you want her to eat?

I am not strict on schedule with feeding LO. She is slowly going down to sleep earlier and earlier as she gets older. I just watch her signs. But it's summer break for older lo's and I am not going back to work so feel like I don't have to force a schedule but let it happen on its own.

And CIO was not recommended by pedi this early on.

RnMom2Be · July 2012

k8edgerton:

Mine does the same thing between 7-8 p.m. every freakin night!

Lately, we have started a routine. When we see that she is starting to loose it we pop the paci in the mouth and then start the 3 b's (Bath, Bottle, Bed). I give her a massage after the bath and then swaddle keeping the lights dim.

We figure when she reaches the melting point each evening it is because she is tired. Therefore, we start the bedtime process. She will still melt down but tonight she didn't cry quite as long... We were able to get her to bed with only a few min of cries and usually it lasts for 10-20. I figure with the "routine" she will eventually find comfort in it and know that it isn't time to cry... its time to calm down and get ready for bed.

This exactly!!!! They have just reached their limits for the day and are ready for bed.

bellelamb · July 2012

FyreFlyeRush:
BTW, you said you're wondering what to do because she wants to be held. That's what you do, hold her.
In five years, you won't look back and say, "I wish I'd held her less." You'll say the opposite, no matter how much you hold her.

This exactly!! Also it is very normal to have a witching hour in the evenings. I would try putting your lo to bed at 8 and dream feeding, your baby may be ready for bed at that point. Or your lo wants to cluster feed and is hungry, or your lo is just being a baby and fussing. But if holding her makes her happy that's an easy fix enjoy your snuggle time!

stemms8810 · July 2012

My LO is done and ready for bed between 7 and 8pm. I would like to put him down later but if I don't, he is just cranky. Like others have said, we do bath, pj's, swaddle, nurse, and bed. He will usually fall right to sleep even if I lay him down drowsy.

I don't mind the earlier bedtime because usually he will sleep until 2 or 3 am. So if I go to bed by 10pm, I can get 4-5 hours of sleep before he wakes up. This doesn't happen every single night but most nights I can get a good stretch.

I would really try a bedtime routine. I started it because he was cranky and was just experimenting, it worked!

gatogrrl · July 2012

DD does this too between 8 and 9 at night. She starts getting fussy and not very pleasant to be around from 5 pm on, actually. This is normal for a lot of infants, though. Supposedly they turn the corner and stop crying so much around 3 months old.

sarahcsnod · July 2012

Ive just been reading "healthy sleep habits, happy baby". It's really opened my perspective to having an earlier bed time. I had been putting LO to bed at 10 and he was sleeping till 4 or 5 but I noticed he really gets tired at 8. So I'm moving toward that bed time and he's still just waking up once a night. The book talks about how earlier bed times doesn't necessarily mean more wake ups or less naps during the day...in fact the opposite! It seems much harder to calm my LO when he is overtired. Good luck!

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