Approved by the What’s Up Moms Medical Advisory Board
Remember a few weeks ago when you worried that baby was sleeping too much? Yeah. Around this time, baby is “waking up.” It’s really fun to see her becoming more alert and able to engage a bit more – watching, reacting, listening to your voice, staring rapt at fascinating things like you sticking your tongue out or opening and closing your eyes.
But. (And you knew there’d be a but.)
Baby’s awakeness has a flip side, and that’s the infamous “Witching Hour”– that period of time each day when baby is flat out DONE and enters a prolonged and often noisy meltdown mode, fussing and crying and refusing to be soothed. Sometimes for hours. For many babies, Witching Hour descends in the late afternoon or early evening when they’re overstimulated and tired. Surely all of us can relate to that; after all, Happy Hour was invented for a reason. Still, though, all that fussing pierces your heart. And your eardrums. And your nerves.
The good news is this phase won’t last forever; fussiness peaks around six weeks. But in the meantime, check out these ideas for how to soothe baby and help you ride out the Witching Hour like a proper Zen master.
And by the way: if none of this sounds familiar to you because you have a super easy baby, well, you just go ahead and enjoy your relaxing evenings, you lucky duck. And don’t brag.
