[J-Wren]

My baby is only 4 weeks old, but every night from 6pm we reach what others have described as the Witching or Arsenic Hour where he wants to feed pretty much non-stop for about 3 hours straight before we put him to bed about 9:30pm.
I can't really even put him down for me to quickly eat my dinner without him getting upset.
The rest of the day he is perfect and during the night he only wakes at 2am and then 6am so that's wonderful.
But the witching hour is very tiring and full on.
Just wondering what others have experienced with this and how long it lasts for?
Thanks

[Mumsyto2]

With DS ours used to be from 4pm to 6pm from around 8 weeks to 6 months. Pretty much cried for 2 hours and there was nothing you could do - just accept it really. At 6pm he seemed to flag and fall asleep then I would wake him at about 11pm for a feed then he would sleep through until 5am (when 8 weeks) to about 7amish when 6 months.

I think it is just something you ride out.

[EBeditor]

Just have to ride it out unfortunately.

DD would cluster feed for about 3-4 hours every night until 4 months old.

My husband would take her and try to settle her while I ate dinner. Or I would eat when my 2 yr old ate (at 5.30pm).

We gradually made her bedtime earlier and earlier.

[Mianta]

You may see it lift at around 3 to 4 months old. I understand how revolting it is, all of my three daughters did it. You have to ride it through though, not a lot you can do except feed and feed.

[Lokum]

Lasted until around 5 months for us, although the period got shorter, so I was doing 3 x 15 minute feeds, one hour apart.

Even at 8 months, he still has a quick BF at 5.30pm and then his food dinner at 6 or 6.30pm and then his going-to-bed BF at 7.30pm. I figure he's stocking up for a long sleep.

We just planned around it. I actually found it quite relaxing to stay glued to the couch watching tv, provided I was not hanging out for dinner. Just made sure I had a late lunch.

I also found that the cluster feeding was linked to longer stretches of sleep, so that's a good thing!!

If you want to try to 'do' something about it, you could focus on day sleeps, making sure your baby has enough so is not so crazy tired and cranky at night. Put him down promptly after an hour awake, and try to resettle if he wakes in under an hour. Might not make any difference though, so don't kill yourself over it.

[NatMummyTo2]

Ah, I remember it so well!! I found winding every 3 mins on the breast (or 3 mins if bottle) for ALL feeds really helped cure the afternoon/early evening fusiness. I increased the time every few days until I was only winding twice per feed. Prior to that we had 2 hours of screaming from 4pm-6pm every single night.

I also found my supply was lower at the end of the day so I started expressing for 5-10 mins after every feed to boost my supply and also to use for top ups.

She may have just grown out of it naturally and it may have just a coincidence but I did this from birth with DD2 and we've only ever had a handful of arsenic hour afternoons and those were because she was overtired. Again, she may just be a different bubs.

[lucky 2]

It peaks around 6-8 weeks, often up to 5 hours of crying each 24 hours. The link below is full of information about this type of normal infant behaviour with tips on soothing, sleeping and crying.
All the best.
http://www.purplecrying.info/

[Bellazeus]

Ours is normally from 9pm till 2 am

[ollies~girl]

Hi,

Oh I remember it well. With our little one, it started around 6 weeks and until around 9 or 10 weeks, the sessions were daily and could run anytime between 5 and 8 in the evening, it wasn't so much a feeding issue with him but non-stop crying and general fussiness, but once we got him to sleep he was out for the night.

Things that go us through were walks wit the baby Bjorn (this was the best), a warm bath, rocking, singing to him, during this time that we introduced the dummy, though he wasn't a huge fan (nor am I go be honest - but you got to do what you got to do), it did work on a few occasions. Lucky my partner used to get home from work around 4 - 5, so we were able to swap baby over every 15 mins or so when the crying was bad, that really helped as it could get very overwhelming.

At the time I worried that we were starting bad habits, what if he relied on these methods to get to sleep, but when I mentioned it to the ECN at my 7wks mother group meeting, she said do whatever works, it is just a phase that most babies have outgrown by 12 weeks. Have you got a bjorn or sling? Based on what you described and him not wanting to be put down, I would suggest this, at least you will get to eat !!

[sophiasmum]

Around 4 mths for us.