Daylight Savings Time and Your Baby’s Sleep

Daylight Savings Time (Spring Ahead) is just around the corner. On March 10th, 2024 we set our clocks ahead an hour and loose an hour of sleep. This also means possible sleep troubles are ahead for your little one. Read on to learn how to get through this time change with ease.

Fix early rising!

If you have been dealing with your little one rising early each morning and would like a quick fix to this, you don’t have to do anything. For example, if you baby is waking in the morning at 5:30am, when the clock moves ahead an hour 5:30am becomes 6:30am! This will also mean nap times will move an hour later and bedtime an hour later as well. If you do not wish to change your child’s current schedule, read on.

Is your baby really sensitive to schedule changes?

If you baby or child is really sensitive to changes in their schedule, then you may want to take a gradual approach to this time change. 7 days prior to the time change, start slowly moving their schedule back by 10 minutes each day until the full hour is reached. For example, if your baby goes to bed at 7pm follow this schedule.

Day Bedtime
Day 1 7:00pm
Day 2 6:50pm
Day 3 6:40pm
Day 4 6:30pm
Day 5 6:20pm
Day 6 6:10pm
Day 7 6:00pm

Keep in mind that you will also need to shift morning wake time and nap times back by 10 minutes as well.

Is your baby not too sensitive to schedule changes?

If your baby or child isn’t all that sensitive to changes, you can do a sped up version of the above schedule. Instead of moving back by 10 minutes each day, you can move back by 15 minutes to 20 minutes each day. Here are examples of both of these.

Day Bedtime
Day 1 7:00pm
Day 2 6:45pm
Day 3 6:30pm
Day 4 6:15pm
Day 5 6:00pm

Day Bedtime
Day 1 7:00pm
Day 2 6:40pm
Day 3 6:20pm
Day 4 6:00pm

Keep in mind that you will also need to shift morning wake time and nap times back by 15-20 minutes as well.

On Daylight Savings, 6pm will become 7pm once again. After this your baby may need about a week or two to adjust, especially if they have a really set internal clock.

If you you haven’t had enough time to prepare for the time change, read ahead for how to help your child with the time change starting the day of the time change.

Haven’t prepared in advance but also don’t want your schedule to change?

When you wake up Sunday morning, it’s now an hour later. Change your clocks and start the day. Then you can slightly adjust your child’s sleep schedule.

You have a few options on adjusting to this time change if you haven’t done anything in advance.

1) Do nothing and just go with the flow for the next few days as your child adjusts.

Your baby’s internal clock is already set to go to bed at a certain time, so not preparing in advance, your little one will need about a week to adjust. Remember that even when the clock says it’s their 7pm bedtime, this is the new time and to your baby it feels like 6pm. Your baby most likely will have a hard time falling asleep at bedtime initially, but they will eventually adjust if you stay consistent with your schedule and bedtime routine. Be sure to dim the lights and do calm and quiet activities in the hour before bedtime.

It will take about a week for your baby’s internal clock to reset to the new schedule after the time change. Be sure to get lots of outdoor time and activities to help them fall asleep for naps and bedtime.

2) Wake them up at their normal time after changing the clock. So if they normally wake up at 7am, wake them up at 7am on the new clock. It will feel like 6am to your them. Then keep your same schedule for the day.

3) Split the difference. This means you will be adjusting your baby’s nap and bedtime schedule to where you will put them down for their naps and bedtime 30 minutes later but to them it will feel like they are going to bed 30 minute earlier! Continue to do this for about 3 or 4 days, at which time you will go back to your normal naptime and bedtime schedule. As mentioned before, it can take about a week for your child to adjust to the time change but you only need to adjust the schedule for 3-4 days.

Here are a few examples of using this method:

Infants aged 0-5 months

No schedule changes are needed as you should be closely following wake windows versus a strict schedule. Babies this age don’t usually have a set schedule.

2 Nap Schedule Babies

Keep your 2 naps, but put your child down for those naps 30 minutes later. It will feel 30 minutes earlier to them.

You will generally find that the morning nap is easier to get them down for, as sleep pressure is always greater in the morning.

To ensure they fall asleep easily for nap 2, make sure to get outside and gets in lots of activity before the second nap. At bedtime, you will also put them down 30 minutes later.

Example Schedule:

Current Schedule Adjusted Schedule
Wake 7am Wake 8am
Nap 1 9:30am Nap 1 10am
Nap 2 2pm Nap 2 2:30pm
Bedtime 7pm Bedtime 7:30pm

1 Nap Schedule Babies

Keep their 1 nap, but put your child down for that nap 30 minutes later. It will feel 30 minutes earlier to them.

If your child woke up later than usual on Sunday morning, make sure to have a lot of activity between breakfast and naptime. You generally want to ensure a lot of activity for your child during the day anyway, as it will always help with sleep and is great for their development. You also went to ensure they get outside for lots of sunlight.

At bedtime, you will also put them down 30 minutes later.

Example Schedule:

Current Schedule Adjusted Schedule
Wake 7am Wake 8am
Nap 1 12pm Nap 2 12:30pm
Bedtime 7pm Bedtime 7:30pm

Children Who No Longer Take a Nap

If your child no longer naps, you can just jump right into the new time. You can either keep their usual bedtime (example: 7pm) or you can choose to change their bedtime an hour later (example: change to 8pm and it will feel like 7pm).

If you choose to shift their bedtime to an hour later for the spring and summer months, make sure to stick with it but also monitor how your child responds to it in the coming weeks.

You might find you like to shift your sleep schedule to a later wake up time and later bedtime during these seasons, especially if you really like to be outdoors in the warmer weather. It will give you more time to be outdoors as a family. If it works out for you, go for it!

Just keep in mind that there is no guarantee that your child will fall into the new bedtime schedule, because some children have a very sensitive internal clock. Their internal clock may be very in tune with the time, so if you are really wanting to make this later change work, your best bet to success is getting outside. Your child needs the end of day sunlight to trigger the body to produce melatonin, which is the hormone that us fall asleep and stay asleep all night.

So getting outside, getting that sunlight and allowing your child to run around and play, will help them feel tired at bedtime and help them sleep well.

Have a good wind down routine

Once you all come inside after getting that end of day sun, it’s time to get ready for bed.

Close the blinds on your windows and dim your lights, if possible. Find ways to make your home a bit darker. The main thing is to block out sunlight, so your child’s body starts to produce melatonin.

Wind down with quiet activities such as puzzles, colouring or a relaxing bath. Stop screentime 45 minutes to an hour before your child’s bedtime.

Then follow you usual bedtime routine which should include things like getting pjs on, reading books, putting on a sound machine and having black out curtains in their room.

Make sure you have black out curtains

With Daylight Savings Time, the sun will be out longer in the evenings. If you don’t already have good black out curtains in your baby’s room, now is the time to invest in some. The slightest bit of light coming into your baby’s window can inhibit the production of melatonin, which is the hormone that helps your baby sleep. This can make it harder for your baby to fall asleep. Making sure the room is dark enough will help them fall asleep faster and get the right amount of overnight sleep, which is very important. Black out curtains can also help with early bedtimes and naps! During the day the sun is especially bright which can also inhibit your baby’s naps. I always recommend black out curtains all year round for your baby’s room as it is makes for a great sleep environment for all sleeps. Here are my favourite black out curtains. These do not permit any light to come through and there is no hardware needed to install them!

Daylight savings time is not as stressful in the Spring as it in the Fall when you get the clocks back. Some babies may still have a bit of hard time in the Spring. Preparing ahead of time, gradually shifting the sleep schedule , and having really good black out blinds, will help make the transition go smoothly.

If you find you are still struggling with sleep well after the time change and looking for one on one help, book a free sleep assessment call with me today.

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