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October 2015 Moms
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How to survive the witching hour???

jesssayingjesssaying member
in October 2015 Moms
Our witching hour(s) last from about 8 until close to 11:15.... Every night. Nothing console's DD. She cries and cries and screams. Burping, changing her, feeding her, playing with her, snuggling her, swaddling her.... Nothing works... My fiance works from 4pm until 12 and yesterday was his first day back so now I'm conquering the witching hour on my own... Last night consisted of DD and I both crying. I cried because I just couldn't seem to console her ... Any tips are appreciated.
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Re: How to survive the witching hour???

  • meganraschkemeganraschke member
    How old is your LO? Mine grew out of it around 4 weeks. I think we just endured
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  • kemp6117kemp6117 member
    Try gripe water, works well for us.
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  • jasminelukejasmineluke member
    I am currently going through the same thing at 6.5 weeks. I always make sure I'm prepared ahead of time. I anticipate her gas pain and give her one or two drops of gas drops, I try both swaddling and un-swaddling with a pacifier, keep lights dim and noises to a minimum to avoid hyper stimulation. Singing and humming calms her down as well. And then of course when all else fails just hold her and ensure knowing that it comes to an end. Slowly the witching hour (which is never an hour) gets shorter and shorter with time. Mine now lasts from 7-10.
    Also, she may be trying to cluster feed prior to bedtime so I was missing some hunger cues and started to feed her more at this time ...
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  • jesssayingjesssaying member
    She will be three weeks on Thursday. What exactly is gripe water, we were going to try just regular gas drops.
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  • mmcknight2mmcknight2 member
    @jesssaying Gripe water has fennel and ginger in it. It helps with gas and colic. It's been a lifesaver at our house. Our little one gets gassy very easily and this fixes it almost instantly.
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  • jesssayingjesssaying member
    I'll have to look into that!
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  • baby2teamsbaby2teams member
    White noise can help some babies. Do you have a moby wrap or baby wearing thing? My LO passes out in the moby.. Just remember it will pass :/ hang in there
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  • CarahallCarahall member
    If you're breastfeeding, you might think about food sensitivities. My SIL had the same problem with all 4 of her babies. Turns out, once she eliminated dairy, the babies stopped the marathon crying sessions in the evenings.
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  • jesssayingjesssaying member
    I have an app for white noise and sometimes that does help. I am breastfeeding so I'll try cutting our dairy. Tonight hasn't been nearly as bad as last night was. So thats a positive :)
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  • VioletandRoseVioletandRose member
    White noise has been working wonders for my LO. And is has to be LOUD. Maybe try running the vacuum for a few minutes to see if your baby likes it?
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  • babykitcatbabykitcat member
    Yes dim the lights!
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  • brynagcbrynagc member
    Try putting baby in a wrap on you. If a swaddle doesn't work for my son, I just wrap him to me and he calms down almost instantly. After about 10 minutes of uninterrupted sleep in the wrap I am able to quickly transition him into a swaddle and he will sleep for me! (We were on almost the same schedule for fussiness and this really has helped a lot!)

    Also, I do recommend gripe water as well. We have used that because he is gassy and it helps to relieve his stomach which helps him to sleep more peacefully. 

    Also, dim the lights and turn on some white noise (or vacuum!) Those sounds are very soothing for my LO!

    As a very very last resort we sometimes try a pacifier, but he spits it out after about 1-2 minutes of sucking so it hasn't been very helpful for us!
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  • mom4liakmom4liak member
    I feed my DD, burp her really well, give her gripe water, put her in my Moby wrap and start cleaning. The movement helps keep her calm and the sounds of the water running when I load the dishwasher, the dryer, and vacuum really keep her settled. She then falls asleep and I can transition her to get crib (which has the mattress at an angle). I figured out the cleaning routine one day when I was crying right along with her and just wanted to get some housework done because I knew she wouldn't be calming down anytime soon. To my surprise she calmed right down as soon as I started and this is now my nightly routine.
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  • cindykinnearcindykinnear member
    Gripe water is amazing! Also, are you breastfeeding? I stopped eating dairy and my baby girl hasn't had any tummy issues since. She may have a sensitivity to milk??
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  • dchiapelladchiapella member
    I just try to stay on a really strict pattern (my son's hard time is between 10 PM and 2 AM). It's much harder on my husband since it's his "shift" and he likes to deviate from said pattern which makes LO much more fussy and I usually end up getting up anyway, lol. But before I get LO I get the bottle ready, make sure the nightlight only is on, put the noise maker on. I then give him 2 oz, burp, change, swaddle, we also do a second swaddle since LO will only sleep at night in a really warm, tight swaddle but kicks out of them so easily. Then I give him another 2 oz and burp then keep him on my shoulder and rock until all gas pains have passed (he gets a LOT) and he falls asleep. The harder he cries the larger I rock until he calms down. Then I transition him to the crib, even if his eyes are still open. If he starts getting fussy again I just offer him the pacifier. I do this part over and over until he's soothed himself. I feel like, even on those nights that are just terrible, having a pattern he can rely on helps HIM but it also keeps ME from going totally insane! 
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