We’re talking today about something that most of us parents have experienced. It’s brutal. It’s intense. It makes us want to grab the nearest set of earplugs.
We’re talking about The Witching Hour.
You know what we mean, right? That time during the late afternoon/early evening when our newborns suddenly begin wailing for no apparent reason (sometimes for hours a day) and WILL NOT STOP?
During The Witching Hour, sometimes nothing calms our newborns. Feedings are fruitless. Pacifiers are pointless. Lullabies are lacking. It’s hour after hour of red-faced or high-pitched crying, and it often doesn’t end until long after the sun has gone down. Often, it’s inconsolable crying which can be heartbreaking. For others, sometimes your baby can be soothed by feeding or being held, but can’t be put down even for one second.
Nicole’s Note
“My son didn’t cry a lot in the evening, but boy was he fussy if I wasn’t nursing him virtually non-stop. I camped out on the sofa 5p-9p almost every evening!”
These bouts of evening fussiness aren’t just hard to listen to; they do major damage to sleep! A baby who’s wailing won’t usually settle down for a nap, and a baby who’s spent the last 4 or 5 hours crying is much less likely to sleep through the night.
So why do our newborn babies do this?
Colic Is Sometimes To Blame
Many parents chalk this newborn behavior up to colic. Simply put, baby colic refers to any prolonged, very intense crying (more intense than “standard” crying) that seems to have no real cause. And these episodes of colic almost always begin during (you guessed it) late afternoon or early evening.
It’s estimated that around 20% of babies experience real colic. Unfortunately, there’s no known cause of colic. Lots of people theorize that colic is somehow related to intestinal troubles — gas, indigestion, etc. The theory is that gas and indigestion cause abdominal pain, and that’s what makes our newborns cry so inconsolably. Colicky babies are common but we may never know the true cause.
What If It’s Not Colic? Other Causes of Nighttime Fussiness
But what if your newborn’s fussiness isn’t true colic? What if it’s just plain old regular fussing? There are a few other possible causes of your little one’s evening crankiness…
- Overtiredness If your newborn doesn’t have the best sleep patterns, overtiredness may be the reason for his nighttime fussiness. Over time, as your baby misses more and more sleep, his sleep debt grows. And he eventually gets to a point where he’s so exhausted and overtired that he simply wails or fusses non-stop.
- Overstimulation In most of our homes, daytime is far more stimulating than nighttime. There’s light and noise and loads of activity. And even though your newborn baby isn’t exactly participating in all that activity, she’s certainly witnessing it. All of that can combine to make her feel overstimulated, and that can cause her to fuss.
- Tummy Trouble Gas can cause discomfort (as we mentioned earlier), and that discomfort can lead to some real wailing by your little one. And if you’re nursing, the foods you eat could be contributing to your baby’s tummy issues. It may or may not be a food allergy.
- Needing to “tank up” on milk Some experts have noticed that babies tend to “cluster feed” in the evening. In other words, they have far more frequent feeds in the evening than they normally do throughout the rest of the day, sometimes feeding once every hour (or more!). It seems like once they finish nursing, or taking a bottle, they’re crying for more within 30 or 40 minutes. Of course, this can be frustrating for parents, but experts theorize that babies may need to do this in order to sleep longer stretches at night. Often, babies who cluster feed will have their longest stretch of sleep after their cluster feeds are over. So that evening fussiness may be baby’s way of initiating some cluster feeds. For a more information on cluster feeding, take a look at this KellyMom.com post.
- Getting less attention When you think about what’s happening around your house in the late afternoon and early evening, what comes to mind? Do you have older kids who are coming home from school? Is your partner coming home from work? Are you in the kitchen, working to get food ready and on the table? Let’s face it — for many of us, late afternoon and early evening is a busy time. So busy, in fact, that it’s often hard to find enough time to hold and pay attention to your baby. I’ve heard so many parents lament this — “It seems like she waits to cry until I’ve just started making dinner!” Well, that’s probably no accident; you can’t exactly hold her with both hands and chop those vegetables, after all! And that could be the one of the causes of your baby’s evening fussiness — you might simply have less attention to give her in the evenings. Babies may get lonely, too.
Nicole’s Note
“In the Helpdesk, we are seeing more and more babies with dairy or cow’s milk sensitivity, which can be passed from mom to baby through breastmilk. However, don’t be so quick to blame your milk. As soon as I was about to cut out dairy from my diet, my son got over the hump of his evening fussiness. Give your baby some time before assuming it’s your milk.”
Nicole’s Note
“When I had my second son, I wore him in a sling while my older son ‘chased’ me around the kitchen. That gave both of them the attention they needed at that time of day. A bonus was my younger son would fall asleep in a mere 60 seconds in the sling. :)”
How to Banish Evening Fussiness
There’s no quick fix for The Witching Hour, unfortunately. It’s something that gets better with time (most babies outgrow it after 3 or 4 months), but how are parents (and newborns!) supposed to survive until then?
Here are some simple techniques that can help alleviate your newborn’s evening crankiness…
- Focus on the sleep. If you know your newborn isn’t getting the sleep she needs, work to help her catch up on her rest. Read up on tips to get her sleeping better, and start laying a good foundation now so that she’ll be able to sleep through the night when she’s ready.
- Use White Noise Your baby heard white noise for many months in the womb, so it’s no wonder white noise can be soothing to babies once they’re born. Learn how white noise can help your baby sleep here.
- Hold your baby and walk/bounce/rock/dance/etc. For most babies, being held close to their parents and gently rocked (or bounced, or swung, or swayed, or some variation therein) is enough to calm them right down.
- Wear your baby. This works the same way as the previous tip, but it provides the added bonus of leaving your hands free for other things.
- Burp, burp, burp. If you do suspect that gas is the culprit in your newborn’s evening crying, be diligent about burping after feeds.
- Change your diet. If you’re nursing, think about what you’re eating that could be triggering tummy trouble for your baby. Spicy foods, caffeine, and carbonated drinks may be culprits.
- Recite your mantra. Repeat to yourself, “This too shall pass.” Write it on your bathroom mirror, if you have to — just keep reminding yourself that eventually, this will get better! Because it will. It always does. A few months from now, the fog will most likely lift, and those evening crying sessions will be a thing of the past. And thank goodness. A parent’s eardrums can only take so much!
For more help with your newborn, you may be interested in these newborn sleep resources:
- Essential Keys To Your Newborn’s Sleep
- Mastering Naps and Schedules
- 10 Tips to Help Your Newborn Sleep
- Newborn Sleep and Feeding Schedule
- Newborn Sleep Schedules By Week
Divya Saraf says
My lo gets very very cranky every evening around 6pm.
She has her last feed before that in between 4-5pm, seems content. However at 6pm she goes crazy and cries her head off… the dr has told me that she should last at least 3hours between 2 feeds.
Have tried ruling out all the things that we do at that time like sponge, bath, stroll in the garden in her pram, ultimately we have to give her milk sometimes even in an hour, and then she goes to bed at around 7pm. I have even tried giving gas drops but dr said colic goes by this age. And this has been going on since she was about 2.5 months.
Just can’t understand what bothers her so much, she is otherwise a happy content baby.
Any idea ?
Janelle Reid says
Hi @Divya Saraf, thanks for writing. I am so sorry to hear your little one has been so fussy in the evenings! Fussiness can be the result of many things so it can be hard for me to say without seeing her full schedule as well as knowing her age. It could be dietary related, what her nap schedule looks like, etc. If you’d want a deeper look into the cause I am confident our consultants can help as they would look at a full history and be able to take it from there. If you want to do a little more trouble shooting, here is a link to our sample schedules so you can find the appropriate age and get an idea for feeding and sleeping requirements for her age: https://www.babysleepsite.com/baby-sleep-feeding-schedules/
I hope this helps! If you need more help, let us know and we are here for you!
Leon Mupanduki says
Hello everyone I have a 10day old baby
Bex says
Please don’t feed any child under 1 year old honey (as suggested above) it can kill them.
Cynthia says
My granddaughter is just a month old. She eats and burps sleeps good all day until 11 pm and BANG she up and fussing I mean crying till about 5 am ..my daughter has a hard time …neither of them sleep …baby crying doesn’t want bouncy or swing or crib …I kepted her one night and was up all night with her .help what can we do
Neosha says
@Cynthia – Thank you for stopping by our sleepy little village! I know how exhausted your daughter must be – these long periods of crying can be stressful and exhausting for all members of the family, for sure. If your daughter has checked in with your granddaughter’s healthcare provider to rule out medical reasons such as reflux, digestive upset, or other issues, and she is otherwise healthy and growing well, it is quite likely that nothing is wrong with your precious granddaughter. All babies go through a period of intense crying that can’t really be soothed and it seems everlasting as it can last for hours and hours starting around 2 weeks – 1 month of age and this can last up to 3-4 months. Some babies’ crying is more intense and lasts longer than other babies, but all babies go through this period. If this is the case for your granddaughter, the best you all can do is to try to stay calm and to support each other as she goes through this developmental phase. You can read more about this phase here: http://purplecrying.info/
It’s important to, along with following the tips in this article, remember that if her crying gets to the point where you are finding yourselves upset or frustrated, it’s very okay to put her down in a safe place, like her free-from-toys-and-blankets crib/bassinet, and take a 10-15 minute break to keep calm. If you’d like more helpful information about infant sleep, you can consider our e-Book on just this topic here: https://www.babysleepsite.com/essential-keys-to-your-newborns-sleep/
You all hang in there, Cynthia, and please stop in to see us again.
Hidayatullah says
Hello,
My son is 40 days young he sleeps the whole day and just wake-up for breast feeding for some minutes but during night he is crying and do not sleep
What you think what could be the reason
Neosha says
@Hidayatullah – Thank you for stopping by our sleepy little village and congratulations on your new baby! A newborn generally sleeps the vast majority of the day, which is very common, and into the night with brief spells of wakefulness to eat and watch scattered throughout. It’s also fairly common for babies your little guy’s age to cry more than you’d expect – this crying could be due to a variety of reasons such as gas, reflux, being too tired, stimulated, etc. If he is sleeping most of the day and not nursing too much during the day, he could be pretty hungry and is waking to get more calories as well. This article will give you more information on how much to expect your little guy to eat and sleep right now. If the crying is concerning to you or you’ve run through all the reasons for his crying and can’t figure it out, I’d encourage you to contact his healthcare provider to get his/her feedback as well.
I hope this is helpful – please stop back in to see us again soon!
Shannon says
I have a 6 week old little girl she can be extremely happy during the day but when 8 oclock hits she starts getting extremely fussy and it is impossible to settle her, i have given her infants friends drops and this doesnt settle her either. I am formula feeding her and it seems like at 8 shes wants an extra 30 mls every 10 minutes or so until about 10 oclock. She doesnt seem to get sick or unwell im just wondering if i could be feeding her too much? she gets settled after 10 and will sleep for sometime between 5-7 hours does this sound like shes cluster feeding ?
Danielle says
Hi Shannon,
Thank you very much for your comment! I’m sorry to hear that you’re dealing with the evening fussiness, but what you describe does sound like textbook cluster feeding to me. If you have any concerns at all about your baby’s eating habits or health, it’s always best to check in with her pediatrician, though, if only for your own peace of mind. Please keep reading The Baby Sleep Site, and let us know if we can ever be of further help!
Emily DeJeu says
@ Menikda — triplets!! Wow!! Congratulations to you! 🙂 I’d say that at 2 months, your babies are still too young for any real sleep training. Therefore, the best thing for you to be doing is the thing that keeps you and your babies happy and rested. It sounds like that’s happening for you now, so I say carry on!
If you start to notice sleep issues down the road, however, you can start to do some real sleep training after 4 months.
Thanks for commenting!
Menikda says
I have 2 months old triplets.
We have a very good night routine. I sponge them and literally bath them in eir bath at 6 pm. They have their milk and are in longs levied body suit type pjs and they sleep like angels at the end of their milk ( bottle fed)
I make the next two Feds ( 9 pm and 1 am ) respectively and fed them in their sleep . Tis way I get to the, and meet their needs befor they wake and cry. They don’t wake up till 5 am unless there is a nappy change with the3 am feed.
I don’t know whether feeding intheri slep is good or ad but we have a very good nights rest and the barstool.
Come 5 am they fed lustily ( I guess this is what you call cluster feeding) every hour till about 9 am when they finally settle downt oabout 2 hrs sleep until their bath at 11 am.
Would like comments pls. This is my routine having read a couple of books and of course motherly instinct!
Lenny says
Why are you bathing them twice a day???
Twice a week should be enough at 2 months
Emily DeJeu says
@ Suzie McGill — thanks for mentioning what worked and what didn’t; that’s going to be really helpful for moms who find this post and are struggling with their own newborns’ fussiness.
So glad to hear you all survived that phase, and that things turned out well in the end! 🙂
Suzie McGill says
My son had colic from 6 weeks old until exactly 4 months. My hubby and I have no family nearby so we just dealt with his fussiness by taking turns walking and burping him. Sometimes a little massage on his tummy worked. Cluster feeds would last from 6pm until midnight or 1am some nights. I tried dropping wheat, milk and dairy products altogether and only drank mint or ginger tea, nothing worked. Eventually we used gripe water and it was like an instant off switch! 5 nights of a tsp a night and he ate at 6pm and fell asleep for 3 hours. We didn’t know what to do with ourselves! A little later, he was singing himself to sleep for a solid 8 hour sleep at 7 pm. Blissful!
Mehro says
I was handling the same with my newborn untill i find one thing. Mix half teaspoon honey with one drop each of castor, almond and olive oil. It worked wonders for my baby.hope this will help you
Rita says
Never give an infant honey. Castor oil too? Honey given to infants can cause botulism.