Late afternoons and evening trully blow! Help!

I have no idea how we are going to make it. We have 2 super fussy babies in the evening, late afternoon. And Matthew is the worse, nothing we do helps this guy, he will be quite for few seconds and than screaming starts all over again. We really don't mind holding and carrying them around as long as the screaming ends,on top of it we have a 5 year old daughter and I feel as we are neglecting her. We don't get to see her all day since she is in school and than when she gets home babies start their screaming. Please tell me this is just a phase and it will pass SOON!

 

That time is called the witching hour. It is bad, especially if you don't have two people to care for them during that time. We cluster fed (breastfed) at that time.. mine loved being held and walked around. :hug: It does get better!

 

I do remember it with my daughter but it never was this bad, I was able to sooth her somehow.

 

I promise it will get better! We survived that dreadful colicky stage with: Cocyntal vials, moby wraps, swaddle blankets, a bath tub (placed crying, swaddled baby in a bouncy-type seat in a dark bathroom and turned on the tub water), and plenty of wine!

Hang in there! I hope things get better for you soon!

 

I remember mine got really fussy around 6 weeks....ugh! It was miserable! It is especially hard when there is only one person to try and comfort both of them. It is like they both want to be held and have your undivided attention. We cluster fed around that time...like fed them every 2 hours...it seemed to get better when they were on a better napping schedule. Sometimes during the fussy hour(s) I would take them for a walk or put on some music/dvd that they seemed to like.

It does get better! Hang in there! I thought that stage would never end, and now it seems as though my babies are growing up way too fast!

 

Mine were very fussy at this age. Swaddling and walking around with them helped. It got better when they learned to sit up at 7 months.

 

Thank you for explaining what in the heck a cluster feed is! I've seen that phrase several times over the past couple of weeks and had no idea what people were talking about.

 

OMG, don't tell me I have 5 months of this hell?! My dauther is going to hate me for the rest of her life. I think I need to stuck up on good wine

 

I remeber doing that with Claudia but she was EBF, now the boys are on formula, can I do the same thing or does it only work with BFing?

 

Hopefully your babies won't take that long to get past that stage. Our boys haven't had a bad colicky episode in probably a month, thank goodness! And keep in mind that our boys' adjusted age is 2+ months younger than their actual age. So there is hope!

 

As pp's said, it's unfortunately very normal, and it's probably a touch of colic.

Lots of snuggling, rocking, walking, cluster feeding, paci plugging, bouncing, more snuggling, rocking....etc. It sucks, I totally agree. My dd screamed every night until she was 4-5 months old! My dr gave me gas/colic drops that helped a little bit, called Levsin drops. They are stronger then the over the counter mylicon drops and would work a little bit longer.

Unfortunately it is a stage that you just have to work with to figure out what works for your babies. If you each take a baby is about the best solution since your dh is home.

Your dd is old enough that you can explain to her that some babies have trouble settling down themselves when they are little. Promise her that they won't cry like this forever, and that pretty soon she'll get to start playing with them and they'll smile and laugh back at her. Then, if you can, even if you or dh sneaks away from a crying baby for 20 mins, try to spend some one on one time with her each night. It's not about quantity, it's about qualityl. Yep, it means one parent is left with screaming baby duty, but if you alternate nights you'll each get a 20 min break to spend with your older dd. And she will be fine I promise, she won't even remember this time that was crazy! :hug:

 

Oh, the dreaded "witching hour".....believe me I feel your pain!!! :grouphug:

At 4 months ours have gotten a little bit better but they still go through it. Our ped at 2 months told us it was due to being over stimulated and to try and get them down for a nap...even if it's a very short nap! We would swaddle them and put them anywhere they might sleep. It does get a little bit better with every passing day. I always think, "okay, if I made it through today tomorrow is going to be just a little bit better" and at that time it was hardly noticable but it WILL get better.

We have a 2.5 year old and we made sure we always did something for him on the weekends...even if only 1 parent could do something with him. It seemed to help.

 

I read the title of this post and guessed the age of your babies! My boys went through the "witching hour" (or hours for us) lasted about two weeks when they were 6 weeks actual and 6 weeks adjusted. It was horrible, and many times I rocked them while crying right along with them. It is just a phase though and should be over in a week or two! :youcandoit:

 

Im drinking with you! my twins are a bit over 4 weeks and have been doing this for the last 3 days. I thought something was really wrong with them untill i found this post. the frequent feedings for them does help them, and wine helps me, but 7 months seems to be a lifetime...

 

We are going through the same thing and our girls are EXACTLY the same age. It is a tough time for sure and I certainly hope it doesn't last for longer than a few weeks. I don't think I could deal with 5 more months of this!! I also can't drink because I am pumping so the wine solution is right out. I have tried to have the occasional glass of wine since giving birth and I can never get through more than 1/4 of a glass before I get super sleepy. I am looking forward to the day when the pumping is over (I hope to make it to six months, but it may be more like four) and I can start drinking again!!! I am not going to add anything re: techniques for soothing savage babies because it's all been covered already. I guess the only thing I would add is stock up on Extra Strength Tylenol! :ibiggrin:

 

We have exactly the same thing happening here for the last month! I've talked to my friends and all their babies had the same around 4-5 months and then outgrew it.

I agree that they maybe overstimulated or tired and not able to fall asleep because of that. How many napes do they take and how long? At this age babies should be sleeping 14 hours in 24 hours which I think meas at least 4 hours of "naps" during the day.

Ours got a bit better once we worked on naps. Now they take 1 hour nap at 9am. 2 hour nap 12-2 and then it's very hard but we try to put them down for 4-5 nap. Occasionally when it's really bad I just get them in a stroller, swaddled and walk around. Also, we washed our stroller and use it at home sometimes during those hours. We can watch TV while sliding babies back and forth and they like it.

Hope this helps.

Good lick!

 

Ah yes, the witching hour (except with a lot of babies it's more like witching several hours). It is miserable. :hug: For us it lasted a couple of months & I also clusterfed them during that time. Anything to stop the crying! :hug:

 

They take 3 naps during the day and the last one is during the late afternoon but usually doesn't happen since they are so cranky. I do agree they are overstimulated even though they take two short naps and one long nap prior to that, my daughter gets home from school and she is LOUD. During the day its only me so its so peacful and quiet. Thats why I hate weekends since the house is so loud and they babies are so cranky.

 

Unfortunatelly for us its serveral hours it starts around 4 and last until their bedtime. We had to push it a bit since they were so unhappy so we start bedtime routine around 6.30pm. I would be happy if it only lasted an hour.

 

:lol: Me too.

I remember that time. It has scarred me for life. There is nothing worse than having two screaming babies and nothing helps. I have an older DD too and she watched alot of TV during that time. It sucked. Hang in there. It will get better. :hug: