Daylight savings time is coming up – so how can you help your baby adjust to the new time?
Most of us used to love to “fall back” and get that extra hour of sleep on the weekend. As parents, I think most of us prefer to “spring forward” because our 5am riser will now be waking at “6am” (that makes it a little better right?).
Daylight savings time is coming up – so how can you help your baby adjust to the new time? You have two options:
Adjust your clock and your schedule all at once:
With this method, you will change your clocks before you go to bed on Saturday and then wake up with the new clock. Wake your baby at their regular time in the morning on the new clock. For example, if your baby wakes at 6:30am then wake them at 6:30am on the new clock (yes, 5:30am is now 6:30am so you are waking them one hour earlier than they are used to – but you will be doing everything one hour earlier now) You might find your baby takes a little longer to fall asleep at nap and bedtime because “technically” it is one hour earlier than they are used to – but they will adjust in a few days.
Adjust your schedule before the time change:
3 days before the time change (Thursday) you will move your little one’s schedule back by 15 minutes. You will wake him up 15 minutes earlier than your regular wake up time, put him for his nap or naps 15 minutes earlier (and wake him 15 minutes earlier from the naps) and then bedtime will also be 15 minutes earlier. The goal is to get them closer to the schedule as it will be when you spring forward. When you spring forward nap time will feel like it’s an hour early to your child but by adjusting slowly for a few days, your baby will have started to move towards the new schedule.
2 days before the time change you will increase that to 30 minutes earlier than the usual wake up, nap and bedtime and finally 1 day before 45 minutes earlier. On the day of the change, go with your regular schedule for example, wake up at 6:30am, nap and noon and bedtime at 7:00pm.
Remember that all of us are different and we will all respond to daylight savings time differently. The key is to be consistent with your schedule and your little one will adjust.
BIO: This blog was written by Jamie Contarini, Certified Sleep Consultant with Good Night Sleep Site Halton and Proud Mama of two boys.
