Every evening it happens: the crying that starts in the late afternoon, lasts hours, and gets worse the harder you try. This page has two jobs. First, tell you plainly what published guidance says this is — the four different answers for when it peaks, the duration band indexed by your baby’s age, and the calendar dates the sources give for when it improves and ends. Second, refuse to be the page that tells you everything is fine. The reasons to call today are directly below, before you type anything.
These are the published red flags for a crying or unsettled infant, plus the emergency list this site carries on every page. They are here first on purpose: a page about the normal evening crying pattern is dangerous if it does not put the abnormal picture above the reassurance.
AAP: place your baby in a safe place, such as a crib or playpen without blankets and stuffed animals, “leave the room and let your baby cry alone for about 10 to 15 minutes”. If you have not calmed after 10 to 15 minutes, check on your baby but do not pick them up until you feel you have calmed down. The Period of PURPLE Crying says the same: put your infant in a safe place, walk away, take a break for 5-10 minutes.
Call emergency services for a baby who is unresponsive, struggling to breathe, turning blue, or having a seizure. That is the site-wide rule and it applies here.
Enter the date of birth and the date to count from. The checker works out the age, reports the fuss/cry duration band the published diary studies give for that exact age band, and — if you want — compares a daily total you have observed against it. Every band below is a grouping the sources themselves publish; nothing is interpolated.
This is the single most useful thing on the page, and it is the thing most pages on this query get wrong. They pick one answer. The sources do not agree with each other, and a parent who is told “it peaks at 6 weeks” and is still in it at 10 weeks concludes something is wrong with their baby. Here is what each source actually says.
| Source | Peak | What it says exactly | What that source is |
|---|---|---|---|
| The 2022 cross-country meta-analysis | 3.97 weeks | 95% credible interval 2.64-5.50 weeks | the modelled cry-curve peak, across 17 countries and 57 studies |
| Brazelton and the traditional cry curve | 5-6 weeks | the pooled highest single estimate in the review (126 minutes) | the "infant cry curve" parents and clinicians were taught for 60 years |
| RCH clinical guidance | 6-8 weeks | averaging 2-3 hours a day | the current clinical guideline wording |
| The Period of PURPLE Crying | about 2 months | starts at about 2 weeks, ends by about 4-5 months | the shaken-baby-prevention programme wording |
None of them individually, and that is not a dodge. These are population-level findings: a credible interval of 2.64-5.50 weeks in the meta-analysis means the true peak varies that much between babies. What the sources do agree on is the shape — crying rises from birth, sits high for the first six to eight weeks, and then comes down. The checker above projects all four windows onto your baby’s own calendar so you can see the envelope rather than picking a week.
Different methods, different populations. Brazelton’s 1962 curve came from 80 mothers in one private practice. The 2022 meta-analysis pooled 57 studies across 17 countries and 7,580 infants, and its authors note that studies which included breastfed babies recorded significantly higher fuss/cry durations at 3-4 weeks. The 2017 review found no statistical evidence for a universal 6-week peak. None of them is lying; they are measuring differently.
Talk to your pediatrician if the crying is worrying you. AAP, RCH and the PURPLE programme all route it there rather than to a product. RCH lists “call your doctor if you are worried about the crying” in the messages its programme reinforces to parents, and its management approach is education, reassurance and shared decision making, not medication.
The checker indexes by age into these published groupings. There is deliberately no smooth curve here: interpolating between published band means would produce a number no source states, which is exactly the kind of invented precision this site refuses.
| Figure | What the published guidance says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| When the crying peaks | AAP HealthyChildren: the length of this regular fussing “usually peaks at about 3 hours a day by 6 weeks old”. RCH clinical guidance: crying “typically peaks at 6-8 weeks of age, averaging 2-3 hours/day”. The Period of PURPLE Crying: starts at about 2 weeks, “peaks at about two-months”. The 2022 cross-country meta-analysis found “no statistical evidence for a universal crying peak at 6 weeks of age across studies” and modelled the cry-curve peak at 3.97 weeks (95% credible interval 2.64-5.50 weeks). | AAP HealthyChildren; RCH CPG; NCSBS; Child Development 2022 meta-analysis |
| Fuss/cry duration in the first 6 weeks | “the mean fuss/cry duration across studies was stable at 117-133 minutes (SDs: 66-70) in the first 6 weeks”. The pooled highest single estimate sat at 5-6 weeks: 126 minutes (SD 61). | Journal of Pediatrics 2017 (Wolke et al.), 28 diary studies, 8,690 infants |
| Fuss/cry duration by 10-12 weeks | “dropped to a mean of 68 minutes (SD: 46.2) by 10-12 weeks of age”. | Journal of Pediatrics 2017 (Wolke et al.) |
| The decline from 3-4 months | AAP: fussing “then declines to 1 or 2 hours a day by 3 to 4 months of age”. RCH: “improves by 3-4 months”. St James-Roberts: “infants cry around half as much in months 4 to 12”. | AAP HealthyChildren; RCH CPG; Archives of Disease in Childhood 1996 |
| Where the crying sits in the day | AAP: the regular fussy period “tends to happen between 6 p.m. and midnight”. RCH: “Often worse in the late afternoon/evening, may last hours, can be resistant to soothing”. St James-Roberts: “crying between 1800 hours and midnight makes up about 40% of the daily total”. | AAP HealthyChildren; RCH CPG; Archives of Disease in Childhood 1996 |
| The threshold the word “colic” uses | Modified Wessel criteria: the infant has fussed or cried “for more than 3 hours a day, on at least 3 days in any 1 week”. The same meta-analysis reports colic was “much more frequent in the first 6 weeks (17%-25%)” compared with 11% by 8-9 weeks of age and 0.6% by 10-12 weeks of age. | Journal of Pediatrics 2017 (Wolke et al.) |
| How long a normal baby may cry | AAP: “Healthy babies, even those who are well cared for and loved, may cry for 1 to 2 hours every day, and some babies cry even longer.” The Period of PURPLE Crying tells parents “Some normal babies may cry as long as 5 hours a day, some less.” | AAP HealthyChildren; NCSBS Period of PURPLE Crying |
| How long the period lasts | The Period of PURPLE Crying “starts at about 2 weeks, peaks at about two-months, and usually comes to an end by about 4-5 months, and often earlier”. The meta-analysis notes that colic by the modified Wessel criteria is “rare in infants older than 9 weeks”. | NCSBS; Journal of Pediatrics 2017 |
| The word “colic” is now considered unhelpful | RCH: “The term 'infant colic' has traditionally described excessive crying but is now considered unhelpful, as it inaccurately implies an abdominal cause.” | RCH CPG: Unsettled or crying babies |
| Straining and grunting that is not colic | RCH: “Some babies strain, cry, grunt and go red in the face, before passing soft stools (also known as infant dyschezia). This is a common and self-resolving difficulty in coordinating increased intra-abdominal pressure with relaxation of the pelvic floor required to pass stool.” | RCH CPG: Unsettled or crying babies |
| What is not effective, and what can harm | RCH on medication and supplements: “Often these are not indicated, have no evidence and can cause harm.” Simethicone: “Not effective, possibly harmful”. Herbal 'colic' mixtures such as gripe water: “Not effective, possibly harmful”. Acid suppression medication: “Not effective for infants with physiological reflux, irritability or unsettled behaviours”. Spinal manipulation: “Not effective, risk of significant harm”. | RCH CPG: Unsettled or crying babies |
| Crying and the risk it creates | RCH: “Excessive crying is a risk factor for abusive head trauma (previously known as shaken baby syndrome)”, and “the peak period of infant crying is strongly linked to an increased risk of abusive head trauma”. | RCH CPG: Unsettled or crying babies |
| What to do when it gets too much | AAP: place your baby in a safe place, such as a crib or playpen without blankets and stuffed animals, “leave the room and let your baby cry alone for about 10 to 15 minutes”; if you have not calmed after 10 to 15 minutes, check on your baby but do not pick them up until you feel you have calmed down. PURPLE: “If the crying becomes too frustrating, put your infant in a safe place, walk away and take a break for 5-10 minutes.” | AAP HealthyChildren; NCSBS Period of PURPLE Crying |
| The one rule with no exception | AAP: “it is never safe to shake, throw, hit, slam or jerk any child—and it never solves the problem!” | AAP HealthyChildren: Shaken Baby Syndrome |
This section exists because the shelf at the pharmacy suggests otherwise. These are restatements of a clinical guideline, not product opinions, and this page recommends no product and no brand.
RCH describes this separately from crying: “Some babies strain, cry, grunt and go red in the face, before passing soft stools (also known as infant dyschezia). This is a common and self-resolving difficulty in coordinating increased intra-abdominal pressure with relaxation of the pelvic floor required to pass stool.” It is about passing a stool, not about the evening.
RCH: breastfed infants often engage in cluster feeding during growth spurts, “particularly in the evening (helps regulate breastmilk supply to meet the infant’s changing needs)”. So an evening that looks like constant feeding may be feeding rather than crying — and the response is different.
RCH: night waking is normal for infants under 12 months of age. Waking at night and crying at night are not the same problem as the evening cluster, and treating them as one problem makes both harder to think about.
AAP says that in breastfeeding babies colic is sometimes a sign of sensitivity to something in the nursing parent’s diet, and that less than 5% of colicky crying is caused by food sensitivity. RCH notes maternal dietary or formula changes rarely reduce infant distress except where a non-IgE mediated food allergy is suspected. Either way it is a conversation with your pediatrician, not an elimination diet tried alone.
Print this and fill it in once, then write the dates in from the checker above. The point of putting the end dates on the fridge is that a bad evening is easier to survive when the calendar says it has an end.
| Date of birth | |
|---|---|
| Age today | |
| The published peak envelope for this baby | |
| Published colic criterion rare after (9 weeks) | |
| Crying published to improve by (3-4 months) | |
| Period of PURPLE Crying published to end (4-5 months) | |
| Our pediatrician’s number | |
| Who I can hand the baby to when it peaks | |
| Ask at the next visit |
The evening cluster and the overnight pattern are different problems with different answers. If the hard part of your day is 2 a.m. rather than 7 p.m., that is a different page.
Cluster feeding in the evening is a published explanation that is not crying. If your evening is spent feeding rather than soothing, start with the feeding side.
If you are going to raise the crying with your pediatrician, a week of notes beats a description. That is what the templates are for.
If the frustration is the thing that is hardest right now, that is a real problem with real support, and it is not a character flaw.
It is the name parents use for the cluster of crying that arrives in the late afternoon or evening, usually in the first three months. It is not a diagnosis and it is not a medical term. AAP HealthyChildren describes a regular fussy period that “tends to happen between 6 p.m. and midnight”, and adds that as long as your baby calms within a few hours and is relatively peaceful the rest of the day, there is no reason for alarm. RCH says crying is “often worse in the late afternoon/evening, may last hours, can be resistant to soothing”. St James-Roberts measured the clustering: “crying between 1800 hours and midnight makes up about 40% of the daily total”.
The sources do not agree, and this page reports all four answers rather than picking one. AAP says regular fussing “usually peaks at about 3 hours a day by 6 weeks old”. RCH says crying “typically peaks at 6-8 weeks of age, averaging 2-3 hours/day”. The Period of PURPLE Crying says it peaks at about two months. And the 2022 cross-country meta-analysis found “no statistical evidence for a universal crying peak at 6 weeks of age across studies”, modelling the peak at 3.97 weeks with a credible interval of 2.64-5.50 weeks. That is a spread of about five weeks, which is why a page that gives you one confident answer is guessing.
AAP says fussing “declines to 1 or 2 hours a day by 3 to 4 months of age” and that colicky crying generally stops by 3 to 4 months, though it can last until 6 months. RCH says it “improves by 3-4 months”. The Period of PURPLE Crying says the period starts at about 2 weeks, peaks at about two months, and “usually comes to an end by about 4-5 months, and often earlier”. St James-Roberts found infants cry around half as much in months 4 to 12. Every one of those is a published range with an end date, which is the whole reason the checker on this page projects them onto your baby’s calendar.
Neither this page nor any tool can tell you that, and the word itself is in the middle of a published disagreement. The traditional definition is the modified Wessel criteria: fussing or crying “for more than 3 hours a day, on at least 3 days in any 1 week”. But RCH now says “the term 'infant colic' has traditionally described excessive crying but is now considered unhelpful, as it inaccurately implies an abdominal cause”, and the 2017 meta-analysis recommends defining it as the extreme of the normal fuss/cry distribution rather than as a separate condition. If the crying is worrying you, take it to your pediatrician — that is what the sources say to do, and it is not a failure to ask.
No, and it is built so that it cannot. It reports the fuss/cry duration band the sources publish for your baby’s age, compares a number you typed against that band, and states the published threshold. It does not assess your baby, does not decide whether anything is wrong, and does not tell you the crying is nothing to worry about. The published call-now list appears above the calculator on this page and is never conditional on what you type into it.
RCH frames management as education, reassurance and shared decision making, and its practical strategies include prompt responsiveness to infant cues, babywearing, varied sensory experiences such as going outdoors, music, white noise, swaddling, bathing, skin-to-skin contact, rocking, patting and massage, and self-care for the parent. AAP lists walking with a carrier, rocking, steady rhythmic sound, a pacifier, laying the baby tummy-down across your knees, swaddling, and handing the baby to another adult for an hour. Both sources treat a parent’s own state as part of the plan rather than a luxury.
This page will not recommend a product. What the published guidance says is narrower than the shelf suggests. RCH found herbal 'colic' mixtures such as gripe water and simethicone “not effective, possibly harmful”, acid suppression medication “not effective for infants with physiological reflux, irritability or unsettled behaviours”, and spinal manipulation “not effective, risk of significant harm”. On probiotics, RCH reports emerging evidence for one specific strain in exclusively breastfed babies under 3 months. Anything you give a baby is a decision for your pediatrician, not for a website.
Probably not. RCH describes it separately: “Some babies strain, cry, grunt and go red in the face, before passing soft stools (also known as infant dyschezia). This is a common and self-resolving difficulty in coordinating increased intra-abdominal pressure with relaxation of the pelvic floor required to pass stool.” That is a passing-stool difficulty, not the evening crying cluster, and the sources describe it as self-resolving.
AAP’s instruction, restated whole: place your baby in a safe place, such as a crib or playpen without blankets and stuffed animals, “leave the room and let your baby cry alone for about 10 to 15 minutes”. If you have not calmed after that, check on your baby but do not pick them up until you feel you have calmed down. The Period of PURPLE Crying says the same thing: “If the crying becomes too frustrating, put your infant in a safe place, walk away and take a break for 5-10 minutes.” And the rule with no exception, in AAP’s own words: “it is never safe to shake, throw, hit, slam or jerk any child—and it never solves the problem!”
No. Nothing is saved, nothing is uploaded, there is no account, and the page has no way to send anything anywhere — it does not use network requests, browser storage, or analytics of any kind. Everything is calculated in your browser from the two dates you enter and is gone when you close the tab.
Published by DadYolked · Updated September 23, 2026 · Editorial standards and corrections · Where an evening bath fits into the crying · Evening feeds and the evening cluster · When crying is a reason to call — and who to call · Reflux and spitting up: the published answers. Guidance on this page is restated from the cited sources and is general information, not medical advice for your baby; your care team’s instructions override it. This page is not medically reviewed and does not diagnose anything.