the 5:30 pm hour...

Discussion in 'The Toddler Years(1-3)' started by Gimena, Apr 18, 2010.

  1. Gimena

    Gimena Well-Known Member

    Why are they so crabby babies at 5:30 or even 5 pm! My lo's sleep 12 hours plus 2 1/2 hour nap in the middle of the day,
    but comes 5 pm and my ds specially would be ready for bed (that would mean 5 am wake up..)...so between dinner and bath
    I push it to 6:30 pm in their crib... I'm lucky that after I put them down and read them a book they are fine and go to
    sleep on their own...but.....
    I just wish the end of the day would end better!
    they would not fall asleep for a 2nd nap and cannot last past 11 am before their nap...
    please tell me I'm not the only one with crabby babies at the end of the day....
     
  2. tiff12080

    tiff12080 Well-Known Member

    Mine definitely used to do that. I can't really remember when it stopped. What worked for me was taking them for a long walk at 5pm followed by a bath at 6. After several months of that we were able to weed out the cranky time. Now they are fine even if we don't have a walk or bath. The walk and bath always curbed the cranks! Good luck!!!
     
  3. trudyhm@att.net

    trudyhm@att.net Well-Known Member

    I have the exact schedule as you do and mine would be happy going to bed at 5pm. We feed them dinner at 4:45 - 5:00 and are done eating at 5:15. We play like crazy until 6pm - chase, hide and seek, wrestle, run around outside if the weather is nice, etc. We put jammies on at 6pm and read in our bed until 6:30, when they get to go to bed. I also started doing baths mid-morning since that seemed to add to the whole "negative vibe" our evenings were taking on. I start cooking after they go to bed so they have our undivided attention for play time and as a result, our evening crabbies have totally gone away. I have no idea how we'll do a family meal for dinner. Right now we all eat breakfast together and that is our family meal.
     
  4. miss_bossy18

    miss_bossy18 Well-Known Member TS Moderator

    have you tried putting them to bed a little bit earlier? my girls have gone through phases where they've slept for 13 hours at night without affecting their naps.

    i've also found sometimes that they get much hungrier than i anticipate between their after nap snack & dinner - usually a second small snack before dinner helps with the crankies here.

    i agree with PPs who suggested lots of activity or distraction between dinner & bedtime - that's also been a good approach here.

    anyway, just some thoughts to throw out there. evening crankies are no fun! especially since you are usually close to the end of your rope by then too. :hug:
     
  5. rebekahj

    rebekahj Well-Known Member

    Mine get very cranky about 5:30 and I've found a snack in their high chair does wonders and gets us to 6:30 for bedtime. Maybe their 'dinner' should be earlier in the day, perhaps they are hungry? Mine have their meals at 6:30am, 10:30am, and 2:30pm. Also a walk almost always helps when they are grumpy.
     
  6. vharrison1969

    vharrison1969 Well-Known Member

    My guys have always had a later bedtime (7:30-8pm), so I know they're not tired at 5, but they do the EXACT SAME THING. DH and I call it the "witching hour". It's almost like a switch was flipped, and at 5pm they become whiny, cranky, clingy, buttheads! :gah: I would think it was the transition between the nanny leaving and DH coming home, but it even happens on weekends! Distraction and dinner are the only cures; of course it's almost impossible to cook with 2 crying toddlers attached to your legs. ;)

    DH will sometimes turn on a Baby Signing Time video to distract them so he can start dinner. Or he'll call me and beg me to get takeout. :lol:

    So don't worry, you're not alone!
     
  7. nateandbrig

    nateandbrig Well-Known Member

    [quote name='Nate and Jack's Mom' date='19 April 2010 - 08:51 AM' timestamp='1271692305' post='1621380']
    My guys have always had a later bedtime (7:30-8pm), so I know they're not tired at 5, but they do the EXACT SAME THING. DH and I call it the "witching hour". It's almost like a switch was flipped, and at 5pm they become whiny, cranky, clingy, buttheads! :gah: [/quote]

    OMG this was so us, and we called it the same thing!!!!! It was funny because you could seriously set your watch to it. Luckily it did pass after about 3 months.
    I'm not sure anything we did helped, just that we knew it was coming so it wasn't so bad. :hug:
     
  8. sruth

    sruth Well-Known Member

    [quote name='Nate and Jack's Mom' date='19 April 2010 - 08:51 AM' timestamp='1271692305' post='1621380']
    My guys have always had a later bedtime (7:30-8pm), so I know they're not tired at 5, but they do the EXACT SAME THING. DH and I call it the "witching hour". It's almost like a switch was flipped, and at 5pm they become whiny, cranky, clingy, buttheads! :gah: I would think it was the transition between the nanny leaving and DH coming home, but it even happens on weekends! Distraction and dinner are the only cures; of course it's almost impossible to cook with 2 crying toddlers attached to your legs. ;)

    DH will sometimes turn on a Baby Signing Time video to distract them so he can start dinner. Or he'll call me and beg me to get takeout. :lol:

    So don't worry, you're not alone!
    [/quote]

    I could've written this post! Baby Signing Time is so helpful. My husband is home before me and has to cook dinner alone with them so he puts in the video to help. I didn't realize this until I noticed everytime he walked in the room one of my DD's said "show, show!" while pointing to the TV.
    I also think giving them some water and a small snack helps.
     
  9. theflyingflamingo

    theflyingflamingo Active Member


    Same thing at our house. My 5 pm I have them in the stroller and ready to roll when daddy gets in the drive way. The only other thing I found that works is playing outside or a play date around 3 then when we get home by 5 they are fine. I wonder if they get bored in addition to starting to get sleepy and cranky.
     
  10. Fossie

    Fossie Well-Known Member

    We don't really deal with that but maybe it's because mine are at daycare until 5:00 and when we get home at 5:30 it is a new environment and we have our routine where they get their milk when they walk in and then they get to play for an while until dinner. So, that makes me think that boredom could really be playing a part. I know my two get bored late afternoon on weekends and that is when we go to the park or outside or do something fun, or else they would be crabby because they are sick of the house! We also endured a couple of weeks of fussiness and them being tired when we kept them up until noon for their nap (when we switched from two to one) - but it was easier for me to deal with trying to keep them awake with lunch and playtime for an hour or so during the transition than it was to deal with tired, grumpy, miserable babies at the end of the day! They are totally used to it now and could probably go even later for their nap that is now at noon and it didn't really take long at all for them to adjust. Mine eat dinner at 6:15 or so, baths at 6:45, bed at 7:30 and that works better for me so I "had" to get their nap later in the day!
     
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