Witching Hour
If you have already heard of the witching hour then it needs to introduction, and if you haven’t then I’ll give you a brief overview.
A witching hour, traditionally, is an hour where crazy, supernatural things happen. Ghosts, witches, demons, devils, sorcery, all of those kinds of things ‘come out to play’ and are set wild and are on the loose for a brief amount of time, typically, as the sun sets. Somehow, someone decided that a baby’s fussy time reminded them of this witching hour, so here we are.
If you’re watching this video before the baby is born then hopefully you’ll find some helpful hints that you’ll be able to remember if and when your baby has this ‘witching’ hour and if baby is already here then you’re in the thick of it and hopefully you can find some relief too.
First off, a witching hour with demons and ghosts might not be real, but a baby’s witching hour is absolutely real. So if you’re going through it and second-guessing whether or not this is a thing or is real or is happening, then please hear me when I tell you that this is real and it is happening.
Secondly, although we call it a witching hour, it might not be an hour. It might be half an hour, it might be two hours, it might vary from one day to the next, so know that it absolutely could still be a witching hour even if it’s shorter or longer than an hour.
Thirdly, although traditionally the witching hour happens in the evening, it doesn’t mean that your baby’s witching hour happens in the evening. It could literally be any time of the day, but most often it falls somewhere between 2pm and 2am. So, again, the sun might be far from setting or might have set long ago but it doesn’t mean it’s not a witching hour.
Lastly, the witching hour might have come out of the blue. Often the witching hour comes on during week 2, week 3, sometimes even week 4 of the baby’s life. It might happen one day, not happen the next, it might ramp up to be longer and longer each day, who knows. Just know that inconsistency doesn’t mean it is not a witching hour.
So now that that’s out of the way, what is a witching hour? Baby might have gone from a routined, clock-work, not cry-baby baby, to an top-of-their-lung screamer who just can’t seem to be soothed. Lots of inconsolable crying, or finally getting baby to a nice calm place, just to have them upset again for no understandable reason. Baby might not respond to any of your tricks that normally they love; no amount of rocking, swaddling, shushing, swinging, even feeding seems to help. Cluster-feeding is a characteristic of the witching hour but doesn’t seem to necessarily help or soothe. Baby is on and off the breast, wants to feed, doesn’t want to, maybe gassy, fussy, still crying when the breast is offered. That’s witching hour. Comfortless, difficult, distressing, arduous, unpredictable. Parenthood.
So what’s a parent to do? First off, know that it won’t last forever. Know that you’re not doing anything wrong and it’s not that you’re not good enough. Witching hours happen, and babies cry.
However, there are a few things I can suggest as measures that might help in some way, even if it’s little.
The first is to be mindful of what happens in the hours leading up to the witching hour. Sometimes when babies get overstimulated or overtired they respond by being generally cranky and that can either create a witching hour or contribute to making one worse. Often we as adults want to get things done in the morning and afternoon which might involve carting the baby along with us. This might compromise their sleep quality or mess with their wake windows so it’s definitely worth keeping a little mental journey about your day and see if what you do or their napping patterns are in any way correlated with the witching hour.
Another suspected reason for witching hour *if* baby is breastfed is that sometimes supply can slow down or drop off in the late afternoon or early evening period so baby isn’t get as much hindmilk as they get at other feeds. Hindmilk is the milk that is produced after foremilk and is richer in fats. This is the milk that helps keep babies feel full for longer so the crankiness might be attributed to that; but hear me when I saw that this isn’t your fault. Your body is designed perfectly to respond to your baby’s needs and the only thing you should focus on doing more of is doing less. Sometimes by late afternoon or early evening we’re tired, exhausted, having done this and that, running around, trying to clean and tidy and cook and laundry, and all of that stress and fatigue absolutely can affect milk supply. So if your baby seems to be experiencing some witching hours, maybe try doing less during the days, or doing things more slowly, pulling back a little bit, and see if that’s at all helpful.
My third tip for witching hour is baby-wearing. Baby-wearing is a solution I love to give because it works. Grab your Moby or Boba or K’Tan or whatever soft wrap you’ve decided to use and throw baby in. If they’re going to be screaming while they’re in your arms or screaming in the wrap, you might as well have your hands free to pour yourself a glass of water, give them little back rubs or even be on the phone with someone you love for some emotional support. Although your baby probably wasn’t in the womb right-side-up, it’s still super comforting for them to be that close to someone; body heat, heartbeat, tight, dark, enclosed space. Even if it cuts your witching hour time down in half or prevents it from getting to a full-blown top-of-their-lungs meltdown then it’s worth doing!
And that’s it! Other than, of course, reminding you that this too shall pass. Witching hours are not forever and the crying will get better. Babies cry the most they ever will during month two and will gradually cry less and less during months three, four and five. Be gentle with yourself, lots of self-care, recognize that your baby crying like this can absolutely affect your nervous system so you’ll need time and space and support to unwind too. If you have any questions about witching hour pre-baby, shoot me a message and if you’re in the thick of it, please please reach out so I can remind you you’re not alone and perhaps even plan one of our postpartum visits during the witching hour so I can take over and you can have an hour or two off if you think that’d be helpful.
Big hug to you, chat soon.
If you have already heard of the witching hour then it needs to introduction, and if you haven’t then I’ll give you a brief overview.
A witching hour, traditionally, is an hour where crazy, supernatural things happen. Ghosts, witches, demons, devils, sorcery, all of those kinds of things ‘come out to play’ and are set wild and are on the loose for a brief amount of time, typically, as the sun sets. Somehow, someone decided that a baby’s fussy time reminded them of this witching hour, so here we are.
If you’re watching this video before the baby is born then hopefully you’ll find some helpful hints that you’ll be able to remember if and when your baby has this ‘witching’ hour and if baby is already here then you’re in the thick of it and hopefully you can find some relief too.
First off, a witching hour with demons and ghosts might not be real, but a baby’s witching hour is absolutely real. So if you’re going through it and second-guessing whether or not this is a thing or is real or is happening, then please hear me when I tell you that this is real and it is happening.
Secondly, although we call it a witching hour, it might not be an hour. It might be half an hour, it might be two hours, it might vary from one day to the next, so know that it absolutely could still be a witching hour even if it’s shorter or longer than an hour.
Thirdly, although traditionally the witching hour happens in the evening, it doesn’t mean that your baby’s witching hour happens in the evening. It could literally be any time of the day, but most often it falls somewhere between 2pm and 2am. So, again, the sun might be far from setting or might have set long ago but it doesn’t mean it’s not a witching hour.
Lastly, the witching hour might have come out of the blue. Often the witching hour comes on during week 2, week 3, sometimes even week 4 of the baby’s life. It might happen one day, not happen the next, it might ramp up to be longer and longer each day, who knows. Just know that inconsistency doesn’t mean it is not a witching hour.
So now that that’s out of the way, what is a witching hour? Baby might have gone from a routined, clock-work, not cry-baby baby, to an top-of-their-lung screamer who just can’t seem to be soothed. Lots of inconsolable crying, or finally getting baby to a nice calm place, just to have them upset again for no understandable reason. Baby might not respond to any of your tricks that normally they love; no amount of rocking, swaddling, shushing, swinging, even feeding seems to help. Cluster-feeding is a characteristic of the witching hour but doesn’t seem to necessarily help or soothe. Baby is on and off the breast, wants to feed, doesn’t want to, maybe gassy, fussy, still crying when the breast is offered. That’s witching hour. Comfortless, difficult, distressing, arduous, unpredictable. Parenthood.
So what’s a parent to do? First off, know that it won’t last forever. Know that you’re not doing anything wrong and it’s not that you’re not good enough. Witching hours happen, and babies cry.
However, there are a few things I can suggest as measures that might help in some way, even if it’s little.
The first is to be mindful of what happens in the hours leading up to the witching hour. Sometimes when babies get overstimulated or overtired they respond by being generally cranky and that can either create a witching hour or contribute to making one worse. Often we as adults want to get things done in the morning and afternoon which might involve carting the baby along with us. This might compromise their sleep quality or mess with their wake windows so it’s definitely worth keeping a little mental journey about your day and see if what you do or their napping patterns are in any way correlated with the witching hour.
Another suspected reason for witching hour *if* baby is breastfed is that sometimes supply can slow down or drop off in the late afternoon or early evening period so baby isn’t get as much hindmilk as they get at other feeds. Hindmilk is the milk that is produced after foremilk and is richer in fats. This is the milk that helps keep babies feel full for longer so the crankiness might be attributed to that; but hear me when I saw that this isn’t your fault. Your body is designed perfectly to respond to your baby’s needs and the only thing you should focus on doing more of is doing less. Sometimes by late afternoon or early evening we’re tired, exhausted, having done this and that, running around, trying to clean and tidy and cook and laundry, and all of that stress and fatigue absolutely can affect milk supply. So if your baby seems to be experiencing some witching hours, maybe try doing less during the days, or doing things more slowly, pulling back a little bit, and see if that’s at all helpful.
My third tip for witching hour is baby-wearing. Baby-wearing is a solution I love to give because it works. Grab your Moby or Boba or K’Tan or whatever soft wrap you’ve decided to use and throw baby in. If they’re going to be screaming while they’re in your arms or screaming in the wrap, you might as well have your hands free to pour yourself a glass of water, give them little back rubs or even be on the phone with someone you love for some emotional support. Although your baby probably wasn’t in the womb right-side-up, it’s still super comforting for them to be that close to someone; body heat, heartbeat, tight, dark, enclosed space. Even if it cuts your witching hour time down in half or prevents it from getting to a full-blown top-of-their-lungs meltdown then it’s worth doing!
And that’s it! Other than, of course, reminding you that this too shall pass. Witching hours are not forever and the crying will get better. Babies cry the most they ever will during month two and will gradually cry less and less during months three, four and five. Be gentle with yourself, lots of self-care, recognize that your baby crying like this can absolutely affect your nervous system so you’ll need time and space and support to unwind too. If you have any questions about witching hour pre-baby, shoot me a message and if you’re in the thick of it, please please reach out so I can remind you you’re not alone and perhaps even plan one of our postpartum visits during the witching hour so I can take over and you can have an hour or two off if you think that’d be helpful.
Big hug to you, chat soon.