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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

Newborn cries constantly 4-6:30pm - need help to stay sane!

19 replies

glamourbadger · 28/06/2006 17:53

My 6 week old baby cries constantly from after her 4pm feed through to bathtime at 6:30. She gets completely hysterical and nothing seems to calm her - she won't take a dummy, be rocked or cuddled and wiggles out of the tightest swaddle. Once she is in the bath she stops crying, feeds well, then I put her down in her cot (awake) and she settles herself off to sleep. I thought this might be the onset of the dreaded colic but the symptoms don't sound the same - her cry isn't high pitched or intermittent, just a constant grumpy grizzle.

Does anyone have experience of this and any suggestions to make life easier? It comes at the time of day when I am at my lowest ebb - all I want is a quiet half hour to eat dinner and have a glass of wine!

Many thanks for your help!

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

notsogummyanymore · 28/06/2006 18:07

That time of day really is the witching hour. My ds was the same and all we could do was try to ride it through until it was over. The more stressed we got about it the worse it got for all of us. Can you try to have a snack mid afternoon to see you through til she goes to sleep? Sorry that's all the help I can offer and as everyone always says, it does get better.

vitomum · 28/06/2006 18:12

can totally relate to this. with my ds i think he was just sooooooo tired by that point in the day and actually cuddling him made it all worse - he just wanted peace! As soon as he went into his bath and bed routine he calmed down. Basically bath time just kept creeping forward more and more. Often i would start it at 5'ish and he would be in bed fast asleep by 6pm. As he has got older (2 today!!) he can stay up later - bedtime usually 7.30 now. Sounds like your dd is happy to go to her bed, which is great, maybe she just needs to go there a bit earlier.

moondog · 28/06/2006 18:17

Er,I had a baby that cried every night from 12 until 6 in the morning from 3 weeks to 10 weeks.
(I am not joking,and am accurate as I have kept a daily diary for years.)

It was a BLOODY nightmare and nothing worked (although cranial osteopathy helped,as did some sugar water in a bottle which the NCT stated could reduce pain..She was b/fed though.)

In the end,I used to put her down and write letters,iron,watch tv and do housework.

Yours doesn't sound colicky thoguh.Unfortunately,babies do this and will do for some time yet.Is there someone else around?
Take it in turns to eat dinner in peace with a drink-at the bottom of the garden if necessary.

moondog · 28/06/2006 18:18

Ah,happy birthday Vitoboy!
My babe is two next week.

sparklemagic · 28/06/2006 18:19

yep, my DS was the same for a while when very young, and it was this that made us go for an early bedtime for him - he was just exhausted and ready for bed so the night time routine got earlier so that he could be asleep by 6pm!

He has always woken around 6am, it just seems hard-wired into him, even if put in bed at 7 or 8pm he will still be up at six, so I think it's better all round to go for an early bed as it also ensures they are getting their necessary amount of sleep!

Do you bath her every night? Giving yourself every other night off from bathing can also make life a bit easier, I had friends who did this as their DD just didn't seem to enjoy her bath when tired...

HTH!

Twiglett · 28/06/2006 18:20

um feed her .. and feed her again

babies tank up in the late afternoon / early evening .. they really do .. its primeval to help them make it through the night

I'd feed her again

sparklemagic · 28/06/2006 18:20

have to say, BLIMEY moondog, how you got through that I will never know.....respec!

vitomum · 28/06/2006 18:21

ta moondoq! same to you and yours x

teabags · 28/06/2006 18:26

typical grizzle time

My DS is 1 and is still prone to get an attack of the grizzles late afternoon

Could she need a small nap do you think? My DS as a newborn had a small 20 ish min nap around 4pm and that revived him enough til bedtime

moondog · 28/06/2006 18:27

It was dreadful SM,combined with horrendous thrush and six agonising weeks getting b/feeding esablished,as well as bad back, and hideous episiotomy.

Nothing else is hard in comparison.

Actually I think we do sometimes overstimulate babies.Sometimes they just need to be left alone.

sparklemagic · 28/06/2006 18:36

pphhhhhhheeeeeewwwwww. No wonder nothing seems hard after that!

did you have another child?

I agree btw, quite often people do overstimulate babies, thinking that every waking second there must be a toy or picking them up, sticking them in seats, etc....my MIL was astounded one day when she came round, I got up, made a cup of tea for her and we chatted for a couple of minutes, and she realised that DS (a few weeks old) had been awake all this time in his moses basket! I think she thought I was terribly neglectful to leave him lying there unstimulated....but he used to lie there so happily. He soon spoke up if he wasn't happy so I saw it as 'down' time that his body needed.

Overrun · 28/06/2006 19:24

~god this all brings back memories that I thought I had suppressed. I think it is a mixture of over stimulation and tiredness, as some one said it is the witching hour! I used to have this all evening from 4pm onwards until we would eventually manage to settle them between midnight and one, god knows what we could have done different, we tried so many different things.
this continued until they were about 4 months, I was so desperate for them to go to bed so we could! Still, it doesn't last forever. ~Sorry that is all I can think of to say

Overrun · 28/06/2006 19:24

the "they" refers to twin boys"

Original poster

glamourbadger · 28/06/2006 19:45

Thanks for all the ideas. I might try to bring bathtime forward and see if this helps.

I have identical twins and they couldn't be less alike - while one screams through this period the other lies calmly in her rocker chair and naps on and off until bathtime - oblivious to all the noise!

OP posts:

chocolatemummy · 28/06/2006 20:11

yep, My daughter almost drove me to the edge when she was this age, she creid (very loudly) everyday from around 5pm till around 8pm and some days it was just all day on and off.
I spent a fortune on all the colic remedies and god knows what and nothing worked and then I went to a cranial ostoeopath and paid £28 and within 3 days she was 90% better it is a miracle!

moondog · 28/06/2006 20:28

SM,yes I did!
A little boy who was (and still is) a dream baby!!It was sooooo easy by comparison.

nicnack2 · 28/06/2006 20:31

ds2 whi is 4 months was the same. i just bathed him and feed him and put to bed even if this was 530. gradually i have moved bath time later now 6-630.

CADS · 28/06/2006 20:57

We dad the same problem with our dd, she would cry from 5pm till 8pm.

I found the hoover settled dd and use to send her to sleep. I don't know how our hoover didn't pack in, I use to have it on from 5pm till dh got home at 6pm, for 8wks.

Eventually, bought a "sleepy head" cd which we still use at nap and bedtimes to help her switch off and go to sleep.

moondog · 28/06/2006 20:57

You should write and tell the company CADS.
They love that sort of thing!

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