On Sunday, March 14 2021, clocks change! We are going FORWARD one hour starting at 2AM! This time change isnât as brutal as the Fall change when you start your morning an hour sooner. Instead, it will feel pretty blissful to wake at 7AM…the old 6AM! In fact, many families use this as an opportunity to push their babyâs schedule forward for the warmer months! If youâd like to do that, itâs totally an option! On the blog, Iâll walk you through how to handle the time transition for your baby, both adjusted schedule and the new âlaterâ schedule! But first…
There are some methods around DST where you begin phasing in subtle changes in your child’s sleep routine starting Wednesday or Thursday before the time change. I don’t prefer all the planning ahead, so Iâd rather just focus on it when it happens. Thatâs just my personality, and Iâve seen this work just fine with so many of my clients. It’s okay to wait until Sunday morning to start making your change, so donât put pressure on yourself to do anything beforehand.Â
Sunday morning when you wake up (and now itâs an hour later), get up, then change your clocks, get your coffee, get started for the day, and finally, slightly adjust your childâs schedule.Â
The way this works for ‘springing forward’ is basically the direct opposite from the fall daylight savings. For right now, we are actually going to adjust your babyâs nap and bedtime schedule to where they will feel like they are going to bed thirty minutes sooner. Then, about three to four days later, depending on the child, weâre going to go back to our normal time. It takes about a week total to really adjust to this. Only about three to four days will you need to actually adjust their schedule before they get in line with it.Â
Letâs look at some example sleep schedules to save on your phoneâŠ
For babies 0-5 months old, weâre still 100% focused on awake windows. Youâre not adjusting their schedule since we havenât landed one yet. Abide strictly by their awake windows, and perhaps cap a nap short at the end of the day so you can have that goal bedtime range! (Bedtime range = bedtime will fall somewhere between ___ and ___ times, depends on the baby’s age! See our free schedule generator here for details!)
On a 2-nap schedule, your child will still take 2 naps, but the naps will feel 30 minutes sooner. We can get away with this easier in the morning because your childâs sleep pressure is the greatest. Have you noticed your child rubbing their eyes or yawning even after 1 hour of being awake? Consider this like a sleep hangover. They slept well all night, wake up and the pressure from the night is still lingering. The morning nap is the easiest one to fall asleep for, so itâs not as much of a fight to get baby down a tad earlier. The rest of the day follows suit with 30 minute âlaterâ naptimes, which feel like 30 minutes earlier.Â
On a 1-nap schedule, your child will still keep their 1 nap, but it will feel 30 minutes sooner. If your toddler did wake up later in the morning, you may want to focus on LOTS of activity time between breakfast and naptime! (This is actually just a good toddler nap tip in general!) That night youâll also adjust bedtime slightly.
Weâre essentially putting them down where they feel like theyâre going to bed thirty minutes early. Itâs going to take about four days to adjust.
Letâs cover some common questions! Many of you have reached out on Instagram through my weekly Q&Aâs asking, âCan I use this time change to adjust my childâs schedule completely?â For that I say, âGo for it!â You might as well give it a shot! Sometimes my clients actually like to adjust their schedules per season. Many families who enjoy being outdoors in the warm weather will use Spring DST to move bedtime and start time later so they can go outside in the evenings. If it works for your family, do it! Make sure youâve got high quality blackout curtains to keep your kiddo sleeping later in the morning! Check out this previous blog for the best options.
However, I canât guarantee that we can get your child into this new bedtime. A childâs body clock can be very sensitive. Even though your child cannot read numbers, their body is very in-tune with their daily rhythms. To help with some of this and if youâre looking to adjust your child from a 6 AM-6 PM to a 7 AM-7 PM, my #1 tip is to get outside! Itâs the same thing I would do if youâre dealing with jet lag or youâre moving to a new time zone. Getting outside allows your child to soak up the ending day’s sunlight. This is a huge way for your body to trigger the production of melatonin. Melatonin is a naturally occurring hormone in our bodies that helps us fall asleep and stay asleep all night long. Letâs make sure we get outside, run around, play, play, play, go inside to get ready for bed, close the blinds and windows, and make the house a little bit darker. You donât have to turn off the lights and get ready with a flashlight, but letâs just block out the natural sunlight so your child’s body is cued to produce the melatonin and help adjust them to this new schedule.Â
Have a child who is not napping? For the most part, you could just jump into the day and either go with normal bedtime or adjust their schedule later if youâd like. Â
If thereâs one thing youâve learned from me, itâs that sleep is complex. It is not black and white! There are lots of little what ifâs and little gaps that have been left between this blog because I donât know how your child sleeps. If your child is still waking up all night long and theyâre 4+ months old, we need to sleep train! Take this quick quiz to find your childâs correct sleep training program and get started! It doesnât even matter if you start the weekend OF time change! Everyone needs sleep! And now you know how to handle the time change anyways! đÂ
Got to the end of this blog and are thinking, “I DONâT KNOW MY CHILDâS SCHEDULE! How are you supposed to change things?!” Gotcha covered, of course!!! Use our free schedule generator to find your childâs schedule! People tell us they use this every month to keep on top of their littleâs sleep! Go for it!Â
Weâre gonna be okay, yaâll! Spring Forward means warm weather!!!Â
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