Managing the Witching Hour with Your Newborn
Ohhh the witching hour. Not much is more frightening during the newborn stage than this period of time each day where your baby absolutely loses their mind! And who named it the witching “hour” anyway? In most cases, it’s “hours”- plural.
If you’re ready to read up on this phenomena and gather all the tools necessary to get through it, then you’re in the right place. In this blog I’ll walk you through what the witching hour is, when you should expect, what could be causing it, and my best tips for getting you through it with your sanity intact.
What is the witching hour?
The witching hour is usually pretty easy to identify. It’s marked by increased fussiness in your newborn. They may seem completely unable to be soothed- no matter what you try or offer them. They may seem extremely clingy and require you to be holding them and constantly bouncing, rocking, or standing. Even then, you may not feel like it makes much of a difference to help calm your newborn down. There may also be significant periods of cluster-feeding during the witching hour even when you feel like they can’t possibly still be hungry.
The witching hour doesn’t occur for every single newborn but it a fairly common phase with newborns so chances are you will go through it to some extent, at some point.
When does the witching hour occur?
The witching hour usually rears its ugly head after the first few weeks of life. Your newborn will likely be very sleepy at first and do little else than eat and sleep. But after those first few weeks when your newborn seems to “wake up” more to the world, that’s usually when we see the witching hour start. This can then last for a few weeks or a few months but most babies are done with the witching hour by 4 months of age.
During a typical day, you can expect the witching hour to start in the late afternoon or early evening around 4-5pm. This “hour” then typically lasts until right before bedtime which may be anywhere from 8-11pm depending on the newborn. Basically, the witching hour tends to end when your newborn is finally settled to sleep for the night. Whew!
One of the very frustrating parts about the witching hour is that, for the parent(s) that works all day and looks forward to spending time with their newborn after work, this can often be a big let down when they return home and their baby is inconsolable. Another downfall is that if the baby is going through the witching hour, they will likely be craving their primary caregiver (often mom) during this time. However, it’s often mom who has been home all day with the newborn and desperately ready for a break by the time their partner returns home from work. Therefore this period of the witching hour can be frustrating for both parents.
What causes the witching hour?
While we don’t know for sure what causes the witching hour, let’s talk through some potential culprits:
Overtiredness: Since the witching hour happens at the end of the day, it’s highly likely that your newborn has been compounding tiredness all day. A short nap here, difficulty falling asleep there, and before you know it, your newborn is overtired and upset. Since this can build as the day goes on, it could just be that it’s reached a tipping point for your newborn. It’s also common for your little one to have an even harder time falling asleep if they are too tired. You’d think that if they were really tired, they’d fall asleep easily, but it’s actually the opposite. So witching hour could just mean that your newborn really needs a nap but isn’t able to settle and take one.
You can help them with this by prioritizing daytime naps and watching their wake windows throughout the day. Newborns can really only handle being awake for 45-60 minutes at a time before they need to nap again. By staying on top of this all day, you can help mitigate the witching hour symptoms in the evening.
Overstimulation: As I mentioned above, the witching hour tends to start after the first few weeks of life when your newborn starts to become more alert during the day. This could be connected to all the stimulation they are receiving during the day that their brain just isn’t ready to process and handle yet. If you think about how little stimulation there was in the womb versus all the stimulation of day to day life on earth- that’s a big difference!
If you notice that you are hit especially hard by the witching hour after a long day of appointments, outings, and visitors, you might want to slow things down a bit for your baby. That doesn’t mean you can’t go anywhere or do anything though! Just that you may need to be more strategic about how long you are out and having limited visitors over until your newborn has more time to adapt to our big world.
Gas: Newborns have immature digestive systems so some tummy trouble is typical. There is a line between what is considered normal and age-appropriate and what is considered problematic though, so be sure to talk with your pediatrician if you have concerns. For normal trapped gas, you can see why a newborn could become extremely uncomfortable and upset if their little tummy just doesn’t feel good.
Doing bicycle legs, tummy massage, and burping can go a long way to help get trapped gas out. Some families use gripe water or the Frida Baby Windi but these options should be okayed by your pediatrician.
Reflux: This one goes along with the culprit above. Some reflux is a normal part of being a newborn. But it becomes a problem when your baby is not gaining weight sufficiently or is often in pain because of the reflux. Undiagnosed reflux could be why many babies go through a witching hour. As your newborn baby grows and develops, their lower esophageal sphincter (between their stomach and their esophagus) strengthens until the back flow of milk doesn’t come up. During those early months, a newborn simply hasn’t developed the muscle in the sphincter enough to stop reflux from happening occasionally. However, if this is happening too frequently and causing pain, this could mean your baby has reflux and could be a culprit for the witching hour.
Of course talk to your pediatrician about this. They may suggest that you offer smaller and more frequent feedings to help with reflux. They also may recommend holding your baby upright for about 15-20 minutes after feeds in the evening.
Hunger: With how much your newborn is growing right now, it’s also possible that they are just extra hungry after a full day and the witching hour is their body’s way of taking in more calories and fueling their tank. That desire to continue cluster-feeding for most of the evening makes a lot of sense if the witching hour is caused by increased hunger.
Low milk supply: Simultaneously, if you are exclusively breastfeeding and your supply is struggling to keep up, the witching hour could be caused by a hungry baby trying to eat and unable to get as much breastmilk as they want. On the positive side though, the cluster-feeding in the evening is a great way to send your body the message to make more milk and boost your supply! Don’t be afraid to lean into that!
Tips for easing the witching hour
I wish I had a surefire way for you to avoid the witching hour altogether, but unfortunately, I don’t! However, I do have several tips to offer that can help ease the witching hour and help you survive it. Many of these tricks are ones that I’ve used myself with my own daughters:
Take your newborn out for a walk. This could be a stroller walk or, I find, going for a walk around the block while babywearing works the best! The fresh air will do you both good and it can feel less intense when you aren’t stuck inside the house with a screaming baby.
Lean into the cluster-feeding. Unless your newborn is often overeating and then vomiting it all up, then don’t be afraid to keep offering the breast or bottle if it helps. If your baby takes a bottle, hand baby off to your partner so you can get a break.
Offer the pacifier. The pacifier is a great tool for the newborn stage because sucking is a reflex in those early months and it’s soothing. Don’t be shy about offering the pacifier. Some babies may not seem interested at first, but keep trying each day and see if they change their minds.
Go in a dark room and turn on the white noise. Rock your baby as you remain in this low stimulation environment and see if that helps them. Don’t forget your headphones and audiobook so that you aren’t bored as you rock your baby!
Swaddle your baby. Swaddling is another extremely effective tool for soothing. It makes your newborn feel secure and snug, like they felt in the womb.
Take shifts with your partner. This is huge. Even if your newborn seems to prefer one parent over the other, that does not mean that the preferred parent should be shouldering all the newborn caretaking. Take turns. Work out a rotation that works for the family and that gets everyone a break. This is possible, I promise! Yes- even if you are a breastfeeding mom. Communicate with your partner and find a solution that works for you both.
I know the witching hour can feel so hard when you are in the thick of it but my hope is that this blog helped you feel a little less alone and a little more prepared. This too shall pass. Hang in there!
Looking for more newborn sleep resources? Check out my free newborn guide:
