February 2013 Moms

Preventing evening fussiness

Apologies for two posts in one day--my mom is in town and I'm hiding from her and DD. Mama needs a break!

So we've established that baby meltdowns in the evening are normal, but has anyone figured out a way to prevent them or make them less intense?

LO flips out around 5:30 every night.  She'll scream/cry for about 45 minutes and then goes to bed about 30 or 45 minutes after the meltdown is over.  I've tried putting her down early, but no dice.  The only thing that calms her is if I walk around with her on my shoulder.  Sometimes if I catch it early a bottle followed promptly by some comfort sucking on the paci will prevent it from getting worse. 

Does anyone else have a strategy? 

Re: Preventing evening fussiness

  • I try to feed him around the time I know he'll melt down. I try to have him play a little before that so he'll sleep through that time frame. We've been able to avoid it a few times and keep it minimal the rest.
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  • Ours start at 6 so right at that time I do something to distract them. Sometimes it's a bath and then a bottle which is perfect because they go to bed at 7. Today they napped a little later until 5:30 so they had a late bottle plus had a bath last night so I took them outside. We played on a blanket on the grass and when they came in they ate and passed out. Distractions seem to work. Maybe a walk around that time would help?
  • DD has been waking from her afternoon nap around 4, then goes to bed by 6:30 but she still needs a mini swing nap or she can't make it until bedtime. If I can get her to sleep in the swing, even just for a few minutes, we can avoid a meltdown.
  • sometimes a feeding and a little nap helps. If it's 630-7 then I will go upstairs and start the bedtime routine, which snaps her right out of her funk.
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  • DD#1 was a terrible napper and had a witching hour every night. DD#2 is a great napper and is never fussy. I'm convinced DD#1 just didn't get enough sleep and was perpetually overtired. I'm not 100% convinced that I could have done anything to make her sleep more, but if I could go back in time, I would certainly try!
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