It is 6pm. You have just walked through the door, or you have been home all day and thought the hardest part was over. Your baby has been fine. Maybe a bit grumpy, but manageable. And then, like clockwork, the screaming starts. Nothing you do works. Not feeding. Not rocking. Not the dummy. Not the white noise machine that cost more than it should have. Your baby is inconsolable, and you are standing in the middle of the living room wondering what you are doing wrong.
You are not doing anything wrong. This is the witching hour, and nearly every new parent goes through it. The name makes it sound like a single 60-minute problem. In reality, it can last two to three hours. Every evening. For weeks.
Here is what is actually happening, why it happens, when it ends, and the specific tactics that help you get through it without losing your mind.
What the witching hour actually is
The witching hour is a period of intense, often inconsolable fussiness that hits in the late afternoon and evening. It typically runs from about 5pm to 10pm or 11pm, though every baby has their own schedule. Your baby may cry harder than they do at any other point in the day, and the usual soothing methods may not work, or may only work briefly before the crying starts again.
It is not a medical diagnosis. Your GP will not write "witching hour" on a referral letter. But it is a universally recognised pattern that paediatricians, health visitors, and experienced parents all know. If you describe "my baby screams every evening from 5pm and nothing works," they will nod immediately.
This is different from colic, though the two overlap. Colic is defined by the rule of threes: more than 3 hours of crying, more than 3 days a week, for more than 3 weeks in an otherwise healthy baby. The witching hour is typically shorter, more predictable, and resolves sooner. Some babies with a particularly brutal witching hour do cross into colic territory, and if that happens, it is worth speaking to your health visitor.
When it starts, peaks, and ends
Knowing the timeline helps. Not because it makes the crying quieter, but because knowing there is an end date changes how you experience it.
Onset: weeks 2 to 3
Most babies start showing evening fussiness around the end of the second week. It may start mild and build over the next few weeks.
Peak: weeks 6 to 8
This is the worst of it. The crying is loudest, longest, and most resistant to soothing. If you are reading this at week 6, it gets better from here.
Easing: around week 12
By 12 weeks, most babies have significantly reduced evening fussiness. Some still have grumpy evenings, but the intense, hours-long crying has usually passed.
Gone: by 3 to 4 months
By 16 weeks, the witching hour pattern has resolved for the vast majority of babies. You get your evenings back.
Why your baby cries more in the evening
There is no single cause. Researchers believe it is a combination of factors that all converge in the late afternoon:
Sensory overload
A newborn's nervous system is immature. Every sound, every light change, every new face, every nappy change, every feed is a lot of data for a brain that was, very recently, floating in quiet darkness. By the end of the day, that input has accumulated. The baby's system is overwhelmed, and the only way they can express "I have had enough" is by crying. Hard.
Overtiredness
Newborn wake windows are short: 60 to 90 minutes at most in the first few weeks. If your baby has been slightly under-napping all day, missing optimal sleep windows by even 15 or 20 minutes each time, the sleep debt compounds. By evening, they are exhausted but too wired to fall asleep. This is the overtired trap, and it is the single biggest contributor to the witching hour for many babies.
Lower evening milk supply
For breastfed babies, prolactin levels (the hormone that drives milk production) tend to be highest in the early morning and lowest in the late afternoon and evening. This means the milk comes out slower, and the baby has to work harder for less. They respond by cluster feeding: wanting to feed constantly, coming on and off the breast, and getting frustrated. This is not a sign that she is not producing enough milk. It is a normal part of the breastfeeding rhythm. The cluster feeding actually signals the body to increase supply.
Digestive discomfort
A newborn's digestive system is still developing. Gas, mild reflux, and the general discomfort of learning how to process milk can peak in the evening. Some babies swallow air during feeds (especially if they are feeding frantically during cluster feeding), which adds to the discomfort. If you suspect gas is a major factor, our guide to soothing a crying baby covers burping techniques and positions that help.
Cortisol accumulation
Some researchers have suggested that newborns experience a natural rise in cortisol (the stress hormone) in the evening, similar to adults. Combined with the sensory overload and fatigue, this may lower their threshold for coping, making them more reactive to stimuli that they handled fine at 10am.
One thing to understand clearly: the witching hour is not caused by something you are doing wrong. Not your feeding method, not your parenting style, not your household noise levels. Both breastfed and formula-fed babies get it. Calm households and chaotic ones. First babies and fourth babies. It is developmental, not environmental.
Tactics that actually help
You cannot stop the witching hour. You can reduce its intensity and make it more survivable. Not every tactic works for every baby, so try them all and keep what works.
Protect the last nap
The most effective preventive measure. Make sure your baby gets a decent nap in the late afternoon, even if you have to hold them, wear them, push them in the pram, or let them sleep on you. An overtired baby has a worse witching hour. A baby who caught a 30 to 45 minute nap at 4pm is better equipped to handle the evening.
Reduce stimulation from 4pm
Dim the lights. Turn off the TV. Lower your voice. Minimise visitors. Think of the hour before the witching hour as a decompression zone. The less sensory input the baby receives in the lead-up, the less overwhelmed they will be when the fussy period hits.
Skin to skin
Strip the baby down to their nappy, take your shirt off, and hold them against your chest. This is one of the most consistently effective calming techniques. It regulates their heart rate, breathing, and temperature. It works for dads just as well as it works for mums. Do it on the sofa with a blanket over both of you.
Motion: walk, bounce, wear
Movement mimics the womb. Babywearing in a carrier or wrap while walking around the house is one of the best witching hour tactics. The combination of warmth, closeness, and rhythmic motion hits multiple soothing channels at once. If a carrier is not your thing, a bouncing ball (the yoga kind) works for many dads.
Swaddling
A proper swaddle reduces the startle reflex and recreates the snug feeling of the womb. Some babies who are inconsolable when free will settle within minutes once swaddled. Use a muslin or a zip-up swaddle sack. Make sure their hips can move freely (hip-healthy swaddling) and stop swaddling once they show signs of rolling.
White noise
Continuous, low-pitched white noise (not a lullaby, not ocean waves, actual static-style white noise) mimics the sound environment inside the womb, which is surprisingly loud. Play it at a moderate volume near the baby. A dedicated white noise machine is worth the investment, but a phone app works too.
Let them cluster feed
If your partner is breastfeeding and the baby wants to feed constantly in the evening, let them. Cluster feeding is not a sign of insufficient supply. It is the baby's way of loading up before a longer stretch of sleep at night, and it signals the body to produce more milk. Make sure she is comfortable, has water and snacks within reach, and does not feel pressured to stop.
Tag team
This is a two-person job. Take shifts. If one of you has been holding the screaming baby for 30 minutes and feels the frustration rising, hand over. Go to another room. Breathe. Come back in 15 minutes. The most important thing during the witching hour is that neither parent reaches breaking point. It is okay to put the baby down safely in their cot for two minutes while you decompress.
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Get The New Dad PlaybookWhat not to do
A few things that either do not help or actively make things worse:
- Do not keep trying to "fix" the crying. Cycling through every possible intervention (feed, burp, change, rock, bounce, sing, white noise, silence) in rapid succession overstimulates the baby further. Pick one or two tactics and commit to them for at least 5 to 10 minutes before switching.
- Do not take it personally. The baby is not rejecting you. They are not crying because you are bad at this. They are crying because their nervous system is overwhelmed and they are too young to cope in any other way.
- Do not shake the baby. This needs to be said directly. If you feel the frustration building to a point where you might lose control, put the baby down somewhere safe (cot, Moses basket, on the floor on a blanket) and walk away. Two minutes of crying alone is infinitely safer than a parent who is at breaking point. If this happens regularly, talk to someone. It does not make you a bad parent. It makes you human.
- Do not blame the feeding method. Switching from breast to formula will not fix the witching hour. Formula-fed babies get it too. The impulse to "solve" it by changing the feed comes from frustration, not evidence.
Your survival routine: a practical evening plan
Structure helps. When the witching hour hits and your brain is foggy from sleep deprivation, having a default plan saves you from decision fatigue.
- 3:30pm to 4pm: Protect the late nap. Whatever it takes. Carrier, pram, holding. Get 30 to 45 minutes of sleep into the baby.
- 4:30pm: Start the wind-down. Dim lights, reduce noise, keep things calm.
- 5pm onwards: When the fussiness starts, begin with skin to skin or a swaddle. Add white noise.
- If that is not working after 10 minutes: Switch to motion. Carrier or bouncing ball. Walk around the house.
- If she wants to feed: Let her cluster feed. You handle everything else: water, snacks, dinner, the toddler if you have one.
- Every 30 minutes: Check in with each other. Swap if needed. The person not holding the baby makes tea, eats something, or sits in silence for a few minutes.
- By 8pm to 9pm: The storm usually passes. Attempt the bedtime routine once the baby has calmed.
When to call the GP or 111. The witching hour is normal fussiness. But call your GP or NHS 111 if the crying sounds different from usual (high-pitched, weak, or continuous without any pauses), if the baby has a fever, is vomiting, refusing all feeds, has a rash that does not fade under pressure, or seems floppy or unusually lethargic. Trust your instinct. If something feels wrong beyond normal fussiness, get it checked.
A note for dads specifically
The witching hour often coincides with the time you get home from work, if you are back at the office. You walk through the door expecting to see your baby and have a nice evening, and instead you are handed a screaming infant by a partner who has been dealing with this since 5pm and is at the end of her rope.
This is the moment that defines your evening. If you react with "what is wrong with the baby?" or "what happened?", you have made it about her failing to manage the situation. If you react by taking the baby and saying "I have got this, go sit down for 20 minutes," you have changed the entire dynamic. The baby will probably keep crying. That is fine. Your job is not to make the crying stop. Your job is to share the load so neither of you breaks.
If you are experiencing anxiety around the witching hour, or if you are dreading coming home because of it, that is worth acknowledging. The witching hour is a temporary phase, but the stress it creates is real. Talk about it with your partner. Talk about it with other dads. It is one of the hardest parts of the early weeks, and it helps to know you are not alone in finding it brutal.
The bottom line
The witching hour is temporary, normal, and not your fault. It starts around 2 to 3 weeks, peaks at 6 to 8 weeks, and is usually gone by 3 to 4 months. The best tactics are preventing overtiredness, reducing stimulation, skin to skin, motion, and swaddling. The most important strategy is teamwork: sharing the load so neither parent reaches breaking point.
It will end. That is not a platitude. It is a biological fact. Your baby's nervous system is maturing every single day, and soon it will be able to handle the end of the day without melting down. Until then, dim the lights, hold them close, and take it in shifts.
FAQ
What is the baby witching hour?
The witching hour is a period of intense, inconsolable crying or fussiness that many babies experience in the late afternoon and evening, typically between 5pm and 11pm. Despite the name, it often lasts two to three hours. It is not a medical condition. It is a normal developmental phase that most babies go through, starting around 2 to 3 weeks of age and peaking at about 6 to 8 weeks. It usually resolves by 3 to 4 months.
When does the witching hour start and end?
The witching hour typically begins when babies are around 2 to 3 weeks old. It peaks in intensity around 6 to 8 weeks. Most babies grow out of it by 3 to 4 months as their nervous system matures and they develop a more predictable sleep pattern. Day to day, the fussy period usually starts in the late afternoon (around 5pm) and can continue until late evening (up to 10pm or 11pm).
Is the witching hour the same as colic?
Not exactly. Colic is defined by the rule of threes: crying for more than 3 hours a day, more than 3 days a week, for more than 3 weeks. The witching hour is a milder version that follows a predictable evening pattern. A baby can have the witching hour without having colic. If your baby cries intensely for 3 or more hours almost every day, speak to your GP or health visitor, as that crosses into colic territory.
Why does my baby cry more in the evening?
Several factors converge in the evening. Sensory overload from a full day of stimulation accumulates. Newborn wake windows are only 60 to 90 minutes, and by evening the baby may be overtired from missed or shortened naps. Breastmilk supply tends to be lower in the evening due to natural prolactin cycles, so the baby may cluster feed. The baby's immature nervous system is also less able to self-regulate as the day wears on.
Does formula feeding prevent the witching hour?
No. Both breastfed and formula-fed babies experience the witching hour. While lower evening milk supply may contribute to cluster feeding in breastfed babies, the primary causes are overstimulation and nervous system immaturity, which affect all newborns regardless of how they are fed. Formula will not prevent or fix the witching hour.
Should I worry if my baby has a witching hour?
No. The witching hour is a normal phase of newborn development. It is stressful for parents but not harmful to the baby. However, if the crying is accompanied by fever, vomiting, refusal to feed, a rash, or seems qualitatively different from the usual fussy pattern, see your GP. And if the crying exceeds 3 hours daily and persists most days, discuss colic with your health visitor.