The Witching Hour

Baby K is 15 weeks old. Last week I thought we've got a routine down. But no, this week the rules changed on us again.

Behold, the Witching Hour!

Sometimes after the 6pm feeding, Baby K, for no apparent reason (fed, burped, new diaper, happy as a clam the second before), will go into full on, at the top of his lung, body parts stiff as boards, screaming bloody murder. The first time we were caught unaware. He screamed for 20 minutes. zDog bounced him, I rocked him, zDog bounced him again, we woke up Grandma to rock him, then another round of musical chair bouncing/rocking. He finally tired himself out and snoozed for 3 hours.

Today, zdog and I had a plan. After the 6pm feeding, zdog held him until he fell sleep. Not going to worry about spoiling baby. All was good until he woke himself up around 7:30pm. No problem. I was ready. Soothing bath time. Baby K loved bath. All was good until towards the end, Baby K decided he had enough. Before we know it. Full on screaming session. Quickly we toweled him dry, then zDog was on him. Deep bouncy bounce downstairs on the yoga ball in the nice cool dark living room. Did it work? Well, Baby K is now sleeping. And it is past 8pm. Cutie Baby K, it is time to come back and give that cranky self the boot!

I found this excerpt on The Witch Hour by Dr. Michel Cohen

Every night at the stroke of seven, Lucy puts on the same show. She dons her black dress, pointy hat, and crooked warty nose and commences shrieking long witchy shrieks. At first you think she's hungry, so you feed her, but instead of calming down, she hisses at you. You wonder if she wants a cuddle, so your rock her gently. She calms down a bit until she scratches your back with her witch's long nails. So you feed her again, and this time she spits out green witch's spit until her face turns red. You got back to rocking until you hear the clock strike twelve eerie chimes... Lucy's trick ain't no treat.

Repeat to self 100 times. This too shall pass...