Falling Back Asleep with Daylight Savings
“Yayy - Daylight Savings time is coming up,” said no parent ever!
If it was up to me, I’d definitely get rid of this whole system. The changes it leads to is HARD on us, and especially on our babies whose biological clocks need to be ‘rewired’ as a result. Their days and nights are much more structured and routine, and they tend to do a lot of their day-to-day activities according to the time on the clocks. So a time change does not sit well with them.
And although it happens two times a year, each time, I have to think about what we’ll be doing to the clocks, what it means for my sleep, and now that I’m a parent – what it means for my son. I’ve heard of “fall back” and “spring forward” but it’s still so confusing... Tell me I’m not the only one!!!
Let’s try to break it down so that it actually makes sense – at least in how it will pertain to our little ones’ sleep.
In November, we turn the clocks back 1 hour. So if your baby normally wakes up at 8 am, when they wake up the Sunday morning of time change, it’ll actually be 7 am (but 8 am to them!).
And this is why parents dread this time change – however early your baby was waking up, they’re now going to be waking an hour earlier – exciting, no ;)?
All jokes aside – there are a few ways to handle this change, but before you decide on which strategy you’ll go with, here are 2 things to be aware of:
Make sure your little one already has a desired wake time/set schedule/set routine. If your baby consistently has early morning wake up or their sleep/routine is all over the place, time change will not run very smoothly! (If you are already struggling with your little one’s sleep, consider reaching out to me to get it on track!)
This year, daylight savings occurs the day after Halloween. While it normally wouldn’t be a big deal to eat a couple pieces of candy, be sure to not let your little one eat too much this year because increased glucose leads to increased sleep fragmentation (broken sleep, or more overnight wakings).
Keeping this in mind, here are your options for how to deal with time change.
1. DO NOTHING. This will obviously be the easiest of all your options. If baby normally slept from 7 pm to 7 am, their new schedule will now be 6 pm to 6 am. This may not work for everyone though, so there’s always…
2. MAKE a GRADUAL SHIFT. This is ideal if you KNOW your baby is more sensitive in general to changes in their schedule. Starting at least a week before the time change allows you to come into Sunday’s daylight savings already prepped and ready, without baby ever having woken up 1 hour earlier than their standard wake time. You can also technically make this gradual change beginning that Sunday to push the new schedule forward 1 hour.
The way you go about this is by pushing baby’s entire schedule (all wake times, meal times, nap times, bedtime) forward by 10-15 minutes each day. This means that by the time Sunday’s time change rolls around, baby will wake up at their usual time.
What will this look like?
3. A MORE SUDDEN CHANGE. Rather than fiddling around with a 10 minute shift every day, you can make a 30 minute shift every 3 days. It will be a bit of a push for your little one, but not too much that it will cause much damage to their schedule.
What will this look like?
Regardless of which strategy you choose to go with, it’s important to remember:
Any change made to their schedule is HARD on baby. It can take 1-2 weeks for baby to adjust. So don’t be too concerned if they don’t adapt right away.
Don’t fall back into any old props if baby is struggling or has a hard time falling asleep. Babies can get used to props pretty quickly, so try to stay as consistent as possible with how you’re putting them down to sleep.
A couple other points I want to add:
If you are sleep training during daylight savings, try not to do anything different! Just stick to the same wake windows/clock times you’ve been using. Let your little one’s body clock settle into a schedule and then later on, you can adjust it to better suit the timing you need it to be at.
For newborns: if they are not in a “predictable” schedule, your best bet would be to add in an extra nap before bedtime, pushing bedtime a little later. Baby may wake early for a couple days, but they’ll be back to “normal” soon. Remember that newborns are SO SO flexible!
At the end of the day, try not to sweat it too much (though that’s definitely easier said than done!), I’m here to hold your hand every step of the way (so don’t be shy about reaching out!).