Hacks for the Newborn Witching Hour

The newborn witching hour is hard and frustrating. Especially if their needs have been met and you aren’t sure what to do.

If you aren’t sure what I’m talking about the newborn witching hour (or any age for that matter) is what some parents call the time your child goes absolutely crazy with no real reason.

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This can be an exuberate amount of energy, it can mean they are fussy and won’t settle down. Whatever the case may be, it usually is very frustrating for both parent and child.

This witching hour is probably the hardest part of any parents day. But fear no more I am here with some hacks to handle and get through the newborn witching hour that could work for any age (even my toddlers).

Prepare for it

Prepare for this hour, learn this hour, learn what works and doesn’t work during this hour.

If you know your newborn gets fussy between a certain time then prepare for it by having all the things you may need to get through it.

This way you aren’t rushing around the house looking for a pacifier or warm bottle or favorite toy that helps.

Get Out of the House

Plan things to do to get out of the house during the witching hour. This may even happen to bypass the entire witching hour completely or it may lessen the blow.

Give yourself a window to get out, take a drive or take a walk. This will help give your newborn some fresh air during the witching hour.

Taking them to a change of scenery could help give them something new to look at as oppose to staying indoors.

Sing & Dance

Sometimes fussy newborns just need different things to hear and different stimulating activities. Now I’m not saying put a bunch of noisy toys and start shaking them in their face, that probably wouldn’t work.

What I mean is, put on some upbeat, but soft music and hold them and dance with them.

Sing some nursery rhymes to help them settle down and they will love hearing it because chances are during pregnancy you were singing at some point and they will recognize that sound and it may soothe them.

Rocking, bouncing, swaying while you dance are other ways to give them a different change of pace as well as other calming stimuli to hear.

Also, placing them in their favorite rocker might do the trick too. Place it near the music or if you have the 4moms MamaRoo Rocker which has Bluetooth enabled, you can play the music right from the machine.

Read to Them

Now they might not understand what you are saying, but showing them the pictures and getting age appropriate books could calm them down or distract them from their meltdown.

CrateJoy has some great subscription book boxes that you can choose an age range, and yes they have some for babies!

Not only will reading to them early on help them later in life, it can also be a great way to calm babies down and have that one-on-one time with them in a calming environment.

Go to a Quiet Place

Sometimes the newborn witching hour is because they are overly stimulated and cannot calm down.

If this is the case or you’ve tried everything else, try going into a quiet semi-dark or completely dark area like their nursery or a quiet bedroom and just rock them nice and gently in their calm and dark space.

They may be overly stimulated and just need some help calming down by removing the noise and surroundings.

My youngest needed this.

During her witching hour, I would have to talk her into a quiet room and rock her, hum or sing quiet to get her to calm down with her pacifier. This worked almost instantly. A noise machine also helped drown out surrounding noises also.

Some days she fought harder than others because she was overly stimulated and just couldn’t cope so she fussed harder but just keep it up and eventually they will calm down. Be consistent and give them time too.

I hope these tips help you with that newborn witching hour that every parent dreads!

If nothing helps, just know that this too will pass as they grow up so even if the witching hour is multiple hours, just know you will get through this mama! Keep up the fabulous work!