While “the witching hour” sounds like something out of a spooky campfire story, it’s really just a naturally occurring phenomenon or phase that occurs with many babies. It can be stressful, but it is perfectly normal. The challenge comes with both knowing what it is and then knowing how to deal with it successfully. In today’s article, we’re going to dive into the witching hour and what you can do to help soothe your baby to sleep during this “spooky” time. If you have any tips or experiences with this, please let us know and give us a shout out over social or in the comments!
What Is The Witching Hour In Babies?
The witching hour refers to a period of time each day that the baby, typically a newborn under 5 months of age, becomes unusually fussy or agitated and otherwise difficult to soothe or even put down for naps. This stretch of fussiness can last between 1 and 4 hours or more, depending on the baby. This happens because a baby can get easily overstimulated at this time due to the rapid development of its neurological system compounded with fatigue.
Soothing Strategy Part 1: Developing a Routine
Since one of the contributing factors to witching hour behavior is overstimulation, you can help combat that or at least take the edge off by forming a soothing nap time routine that will help them be less stimulated or at least present an environment absent of constant stimulations.
- Create a dark, quiet place for their nap
- Make sure the temperature in the nap area is slightly above normal for the rest of the house if possible
- Add multiple parts to the routine like taking a gentle, soothing warm bath and then changing them and putting them into comfortable and warm pajamas. Then feed them in the darkened room and read to them and then start soothing them as you put them down to sleep.
- For example:
- Get room ready
- Give them a bath
- Change into sleeping clothes
- Breastfeed them or give them a bottle
- Read them a book
- Sing them a lullaby
- Start the white noise machine
- Rock them as you put them down
Soothing Strategy Part 2: The Feeding Component
Another reason for witching hour behavior is related to their feeding habits or changes. They may be getting extra fussy during the witching hour period due to lack of food. If you notice that your baby is exhibiting witching hour behavior, then you may want to consider cluster feeding them in the early to mid afternoon to help curb or prevent witching hour fussiness.
Before You Go
We hope you enjoyed learning about managing the witching hour with your baby. If you would like to know more about this, our sleep learning, consulting or training programs or any of our excellent newborn care services, we are happy to help. Just contact us and we can go over your options and help you find the best path for your little one.
We hope these tips have helped you along your journey. If you have any questions about helping your baby to sleep better, or about your baby in general, please reach out to us HERE. We are experts in all things baby and sleep and would love to help!
Katie B.
Expertise You Need:
- Certified Master Pediatric Sleep Consultant
- Certified Advanced Newborn Care Specialist (2016-2022)
- Board Certified Holistic Healthcare Practitioner
- 16 years professional childcare experience
- Certified Postpartum Doula (2015-2022)
- Travel & ROTA Nanny
Katie has over 16 years experience working with children of all ages. As a Pediatric Sleep Consultant and Newborn Care Specialist, she has professionally supported families and babies worldwide over the last 10 years. Her mission is to help the entire family unit get better sleep, utilizing a holistic approach that supports the baby or child’s natural biologic drive to sleep. She has personally served hundreds of families, holds 20,000+ hours exclusively caring for infants & babies and has 69+ 5-⭐️ Google reviews.
