Could Spring really be just around the corner?
After a particularly brutal winter, locked inside for what seemed like years..which in reality has been a whole year…
The only prospect of Spring comes in the form of a baby schedule destroying bad joke? More light, less sleep?
For those mamas who just got your baby’s sleeping on a good schedule and are now scrambling to prevent the destruction of all that hard work, it’s going to be okay. I promise.
On Sunday March 14th at 2am the clocks spring forward an hour, so 6am will be the new 7am.
I have included below 3 strategies on how you can handle daylight savings that will help you and baby adjust nicely to the time change.
Plan ahead: One week before the time change, start adjusting your baby’s schedule slowly. 15 minutes at a time. Each day move the entire schedule (including naps) just 10-15 minutes earlier. This might mean waking baby up 15 minutes earlier each morning and putting baby down to bed 15 minutes earlier (same with naps). I would even move lunch time or feeds by 10-15 each day (meal time is a sleep cue). Within the week your schedule will be ready for the time change and you’ll breeze through it, unaffected.
I forgot to plan ahead: If you’re like me, I usually don’t realize we have to change our clocks until the night before and then panic sets in. No worries, babies don’t know that their world is now an hour ahead. On the Sunday morning after the time change, wake baby 30 minutes earlier and adjust schedule by 30 minutes for the entire day, then put baby down 30 minutes earlier for bed. It might take a few days, but by the second day you should be on the new time.
What? let’s just pretend nothing happened: You might also choose to cold turkey move the schedule. Wake baby up an hour before and put baby down an hour early, adjust naps and meals accordingly. This strategy works well for some babies and they don’t even realize anything happened however, watch baby closely. The risk here is that you’ll have an overtired baby that won’t go down for bedtime because he’s caught that “second wind”, their little bodies have gone through the sleepy stage and are now producing hormones to keep them awake. This can also cause night wakings and early morning wakings. If you see baby getting overtired (rubbing eyes, getting fussy, crying, making fists) get them to bed right away and go back to 15 to 30 minute increments.
If you wake up on Sunday morning and forget the clocks changed ie. you “slept in” one hour. That’s okay, wake baby up and just cut a nap a little short, pull up bedtime by 30 minutes to make up for that and voila! Voila might be deceiving, it might not be instant magic but we can always troubleshoot our days! That’s the beauty of having a well rested baby, they adjust so much easier.
https://www.lilbabysleep.ca/freeschedules
If you want to keep your bedtime later for the summer or you’re struggling with early mornings…don’t. change. a. thing.
Along with moving your schedule you want to make sure the conditions are ideal for sleep and that you are cuing sleep, especially with the extra sunlight.
Light is a very powerful sleep tool. Light helps regulate sleep wake cycles for all of us. If you expose baby to light in the morning their body will know that it is time to be awake, the opposite approach before bed (at least an hour). Dimming all lights, turning off the tv and electronics can signal to the body that it is time for sleep and help it prepare, putting your baby down will be easier if they are prepared for it. If you haven’t already done so, this is the best time to invest in black out blinds or dark construction paper pasted to the window will also work. Even a small bit of light coming into baby’s room in the morning when their sleep is the lightest can make a huge difference.
Keep routines consistent. This will also help cue sleep. Bedtime and nap time routines should be done before sleep (adjust the time). If you do it often enough, baby will know its bedtime just by your actions and won’t even notice that it’s being done early. The only ones that run by a clock is us the parents, baby’s function through routines and their environments.
The key to surviving daylight savings time is flexibility. Watch for sleepy cues, adjust schedules and if you need to sneak in an extra catnap to make it to bedtime, do it. Stay calm and spring will come - eventually.
Reach out if:
1) your baby is not sleeping well and you are dreading any change because you know they are not well rested to begin with.
2) You want to sleep well (the entire family) so you can be on ANY schedule and thrive!
3) you need help with the new schedule and naps for your little one because you’re already struggling with short naps or non-existent naps.
Book a free 30 minute call with me and let’s chat!
Lil. xx
