Daylight Savings Baby Sleep Routine - Helping Your Child Adjust to The Time Change

I’ve always disliked “Springing Forward” and losing an hour but would look forward to “Falling Back” and gaining an hour since I was a little girl in school. Then I had a baby, can we all just admit the phrase "time change" puts most of us mamas in panic mode.

Depending on your child’s temperament and adaptability to change you can start off by asking yourself, "will my baby be affected by the time change"? Generally, easy going babies will find the time change an easy transition with their usual wake up time that day and adjusting themselves as they day goes on and you don't need to do anything. If you know your little one is not the "easy going" type and are more spirited or sensitive to change like my little man, it might throw them off track for a few days or even a few weeks if slight adjustments are not made the week before or the week after. Let's face it, sometimes we forget and have to do the adjustments after the fact.

If you know your little one might need support adjusting to the new time, there are a few things you can do to help them along the way. Every child is different so what works for one may not work for another. Use your mama instincts and watch for signs your little one is or isn’t adjusting to what you are doing (e.g. overtired, false starts, extremely early wake times) You know your baby better than anyone and the last thing we want to do is stress either of you.

If your little one hasn’t established a consistent sleep pattern, you can still try implementing small changes but don’t beat yourself up if it doesn’t make a huge difference. Those days are coming, however if you feel like this is something you're struggling with. I would love to chat!

Things that worked for us

I usually start a week prior to the time change, if you think your little one needs a bit more time to adjust start sooner.

1) Push back bedtime by 15 minutes every day or every 2 – 3 days if your little one needs more time to adjust. (this can be done the week after, you would just base everything off of the old time and be prepared for a week of earlier wake ups)

2) Push back naps by 15 minutes a day or every 2 – 3 days if your little one needs more time. This can be tricky because we don’t want them getting overtired. Sometimes this process can lead to shorter naps, if you are able to support their naps this week with contact, movement or babywearing do what is needed to get them a full nap (what ever that looks like for your child) if they are still doing 2 – 3 naps a day.

3) Push back their daily routines by 15 minutes a day or every 2 – 3 days including meals. offering a “snack” (breast, bottle or solids) in-between is a great little boost and will hold them that extra 15 minutes which is better than a hangry baby.

e.g. If you usually go for a walk every morning from 8:30am – 9:30am and have lunch at 11:30am move their walk and lunch by 15 minutes every few days and offer a snack during or right after the walk. Gradually adjusting their entire rhythm and flow of the day protects sleep pressure and will help with the hour adjustment.

Sample of our week before daylight savings Fall Back (Toddler edition, 1 nap)

Regular Bedtime is around 8:00pm with 1 hour bedtime routine

Sunday Bath 7:15 pm & Bed 8:15 pm

Monday Bath 7:15 pm & Bed 8:15 pm

Tuesday Bath 7:30 pm & Bed 8:30 pm

Wednesday Bath 7:30 pm & Bed 8:30 pm

Thursday Bath 7:45 pm & Bed 8:45 pm

Friday Bath 7:45 pm & Bed 8:45 pm

Saturday (fall back at 2:00am) Bath 8:00 pm & Bed 9:00 pm

Sunday after the time change Bath 7:00 pm & Bed 8:00 pm

Once the time change takes place our bedtime goes back to 8:00pm

If you know your child is sensitive to change and wait to see what happens, it could just lead to a spiral of early wake ups and tough bedtimes. A later bedtime does not mean a later wake up, transitioning them slowly helps you avoid the overtired phase which tends to happen after “falling back” an hour. If you can help them gradually get to that later bedtime, then the change won’t be as drastic. We want to avoid them waking up at 4:30am & 5:00am for one or two weeks after the change. Depending on your child, this might still be the case but don’t worry mama, everything is temporary. The change can be hard on a lot of us, your little one is no different.

"Falling Back" can also be a great way to shift a bedtime earlier if your little one has been falling into a later pattern and it's no longer working for your family. You would do smaller shifts of 5 – 10 mins a few days prior, up to your new desired bedtime. You’re still putting them to bed “later” but not as late as you would to adjust to the time change. I will probably be doing this myself to get our little man back to his previous 7:30 pm bedtime before teething took over our routine.