Witching hour!

[Gobletoffire]

I’m a first time mum and my DS is 5 weeks old. In the daytime he is a lovely baby. I’ve been going with the flow with him and letting him nap or breastfeed whenever he shows cues for this.
Then around 7pm he’s like a different baby - he becomes very fussy, unsettled and cries. This goes on until around 21:30. I don’t think it’s colic as he doesn’t cry non stop, it’s like he is hungry but when I try and feed him he sucks for a few seconds then pulls away and kicks/bangs his head against my boob in frustration.I know there is milk flow as it’s coming out after he pulls away. A dummy seems to help and walking around with him but eventually he cries again. Sometimes his eyes start to close like he is tired but then he wakes himself up and carries on crying.
Is this just classic witching hour that we need to just ride out??? He is combi fed and has one bottle of formula a day, we usually give this to him around 9pm which settles him and he goes off to sleep shortly after. Should I try and give him the bottle earlier on around the time that witching hour would usually start (7pm) to try and settle him? As my breast doesn’t settle him when he’s like this, it just frustrates him. And if we try and give him the bottle during his witching hour then this also just makes him cry. Any advice?

Forgot to add that he isn’t like this every night, but most nights for the past two weeks. On the odd occasion he has napped through the time he would usually be crying/agitated. But both times this happened he woke up numerous times in the night!

How many naps does your little one take during the nap?

Do you have a bedtime routine and a time to aim for bedtime?

My DD is now 8 months. She would cluster feed between 5pm and 8pm every evening until around 10 weeks. She is breastfed and I used to pump in the night so my hubby could do a few nightfeeds.

I think you have to ride some of it out but the fact your Bub is fussy during feeds - could be overtired?

I think witching hour is just a difficult phase that you have to survive to be honest. My DD would cry from 5pm to 9pm every night and grew out of it between 8 and 9 weeks. I remember speaking to the HV and my MW about it and they dismissed it as normal. Hell when you're going through it. Just do your best to cope and know it will pass.

He has 5-6 naps during the day and these can range from 15 mins to 2 hours. I never put him down for a nap at particular times but he is quite consistent each day when he falls asleep and wants feeding, at certain times in the morning/afternoon there seems to be a similar pattern each day. Ideally I want him down in his crib for the night by 19:30, with bath/massage/cuddle and feed beforehand but it’s impossible because witching hour is already in full force and nothing pacifies him so I don’t know if I need to just ride it out like Clare has said. Or start the routine much earlier to try and get him to sleep before ‘witching hour’ begins but been unsuccessful with that so far. But yeah it’s a nightmare when it’s happening. Feel sorry for DH because when he finishes work all he sees is DS crying!

I don't think you can do much to be honest, in a way when I was told that it made it easier to bear as everyone reassured me DD would grow out of it and she did. It was awful while it lasted though. Now she is 14 weeks and has just gone to bed. She reliably goes to bed between 630 and 7pm every day (I'm aware this may change) and has done since week 10 or 11. If someone had shown me at your stage what she would be like now I would have cried with relief.

Basically it's nothing you're doing wrong. It's to do with babies' brains developing and at the end of the day they're trying to process so much information they have a bit of a meltdown. It will get easier soon.

Thank you @ClareSleepy it’s reassuring to know there is light at the end of the tunnel! He had a bottle earlier than usual last night and it seemed to send him off to sleep earlier so I think this helped a little