Newborn Evening Crying: Our Solution to a Happy Baby

Notes on Evening Crying for our kid at one month old:

There seems to be a few minutes to hours every evening when the kid completely can’t be consoled.
One thing that seems to work is to pull out the toys. It’s my contention that the early evening is the time of day that kids have their most energy, and the newborn toys seem to help kids get this energy out.
Another thing we’ve tried with great success is to stand him up on our laps. Stacey and I wrap our hands around his chest and back, so our fingers can support his neck. Then we raise him up for a few minutes and bounce him so he is on his feet sort of. This helps him build strength and coordination with his feet and legs, and also he appears to like to have this sense of control over his body.
After a few minutes, we usually get tired of holding him up, so we can kind of drop him a bit where his knees touch our laps and get the same response.

Please let me know if anyone gets a similar response.

Tags: Advice · Calming a Child

1 Laura // Dec 19, 2007 at 4:44 pm

Madeleine came equipped with a highly accurate inner clock which would switch her from contented baby to shrieking infant of despair once the clock ticked over to 5 p.m. Nothing would comfort her aside from wailing herself off to sleep - only to awake with a start minutes later to wail some more. Her screaming mechanism switched off at about six weeks and she reset more or less permanently to contented baby mode. As you await this event, I recommend holding Lawrence, telling him you love him, and turning up the evening news.
2 freida // Dec 21, 2007 at 2:37 am

We made up something we call “baby curls”– hold the baby with one hand under her head/neck/shoulders (they’re so little!) and one under her bottom and do bicep curls… for hours. Matt is really toned now! but it almost always works for us. I think its a variation of “swing” from the 5 S’s.
3 Nana // Dec 22, 2007 at 2:34 am

I love the videos-keep them coming! It’s like a visit with Lawrence!
Love, Nana
4 Cousin Jen in Indiana // Dec 28, 2007 at 9:47 pm

Love your updates! Try “white noise” when Lawrence gets into his evening crying fits. For example, running water, oven fan, vacuum, etc. Sometimes even just stepping outside to distract him could break the crying fit (at least to give you a breather before it starts again). Sometimes they worked for me, sometimes they didn’t!

Love, Jen

We Made This Baby!