fussiness during the evening wake time

[Brandonsmom]

Hello all. I've been having an issue with my lo lately concerning fussiness in the evenings. I've heard several times that sometimes babies can have a fussy time of day, particularly in the evenings. Well, we've never had this problem until about a month ago. It started on and off and now it seems like everyday during his last waketime/activity time during the day my lo gets very cranky and whiney. Everything I try doesn't work. It starts soon after dinner time and continues till bedtime. Brandon is on a 4 hour easy with 2 naps during the day. Our day usually starts around 7am. Just after dinner which is usually around 4pm all heck breaks loose. We've tried changing activities to something low key, feeding a little more thinking he was hungry, feeding a little less thinking he wasn't so hungry, going to bed early which didn't work, and even just holding him. Nothing seems to work, not even baths. So my question is to the ladies out there who have a simular problem with their lo's, what do you do during this stretch of time before bed?

What has been working for us and it's usually once or twice a week, is during this stretch I'll put Brandon in his room with the lamp on and turn on some soft music. But if I happen to walk into the room or he hears me he fusses. Any advice would be great. Thank you! O, and he's 10 months old.

Here's our EASY
7am wake, bottle
8am breakfast
9/9:30-11 - nap
11am wake, bottle
12pm lunch
1/1:30-3 nap
3pm wake, bottle
4pm dinner
7/8pm bottle then bed

[Grace's Mom]

With talking to a few other mom's who have lo's who stay up that long in the evening, maybe he needs to be up just a bit more for the first two A times so that he has a bit less A time in the evening and just adjust your EASY accordingly.  Maybe it is just a bit too much A time for him to handle especially since it is a time where some babies are naturally fussy.  Just a thought.

Maybe go for a walk so that he can still look around but isn't being overstimulated by toys, etc. 
Or go for a drive or just sit outside and have some quiet time.  I know being outside always changes my dd's mood.

Melissa

[Wei]

Does he take a catnap between second last feed and bedtime?  I had to figure out when would be a good time without getting her too well rested...so I find after almost 2 hrs from her 4pm feed she has a catnap she is not so bad.  Still a bit fussy but we last till 8.

Wei

[Erin M]

I found that being outside, going for a walk, going for a drive, or just a general change of scenery helped the fussy time.  Also, I realized that she would be fussier later in the day if we hadn't gotten out of the house all day, so I generally made sure that we were out and about earlier in the day to avoid late-day meltdowns.

[Brandonsmom]

Hi girls.
Well, the past couple of weeks have been better. I have increased his A time in the afternoon so he gets a longer nap in the evening. What I've started doing is after he finishes his dinner around 5 is put him in his room for some quiet time. We used to do this for the evening catnap, but he stopped catnaping around 6 months old. But this allows him the quiet time without and additional naptime. It's working so far, and the good thing is I can fix dinner for hubby and me while Brandon is in his room.

Thank you ever so much for the advice. I don't know where I'd be without this forum!

[lilysmommie]

HI,

I had a couple of ideas for you.

1) Try adding a snack when he wakes up at 3pm with his bottle. Then bump his dinner to 5:30pm or so. My DD was hungry by 3pm for solids at 10 months. 
2) or try shortening that morning nap a bit. 1.5 hrs may be too much. Then the pm nap may lengthen to 2 hrs which may get  him through to bedtime. 

Good luck.

lilysmommie