Newborns

It is completely normal for newborns routine’s to be unpredictable between 0-3 months.

So, when it comes to the clock change, simply pop your little one to sleep a little ‘earlier’ on Sunday night when they seem to be getting tired. It may take your little one a
little longer to fall asleep which is expected as they might not be as tired to start with.

Babies

When it comes to older babies, on the Sunday morning after the clock change, try not to rush in as soon as you hear them waking up, because you do not want body clocks to stay on the ‘old time’; but rather adjust to the ‘new time’.

Starting the day at 6am (or even
5am if your little one is already a fairly early riser) is okay now. If s/he normally wakes at 7:00, but is now up at 6:00, especially if s/he is happy, wait 10 minutes before going to him/her on the first day, twenty the next and by the next day it will be 6:30.

By the end of the week your baby’s schedule should be adjusted to the new time and s/he should be waking up at their usual hour.

You’ll need to tweak daytime naps too. Stretch your little one’s awake time by 10-15 minutes on day 1, 20-30 minutes on day 2 until around day 4-5 they should be pretty much back on track.

So, if your little one usually wakes at 7am, their ‘new’ wake up time will be
6am. You would then keep them up 15 minutes longer than you would usually, but this will be around 45 minutes ‘earlier’ on the new time.

When it comes to bedtime on the Sunday, you will put them down 15 minutes later (‘new time’) and you can then get in line with the new time on the 4-5th night so your baby is back to going to bed when it would be their usual bedtime.

Toddlers and older children

With children, our advice is to “split the difference.”

If your little one usually goes to bed around 7pm, put them to bed around 6.30pm for the first three days. This will feel like 7.30pm to your child but should avoid too many overtired tantrums at bedtime.  

After those three days, move bedtime to the ‘usual’ time of 7pm. It will take about a week for your child’s body to get used to this.

This will work for naps too. If, for example, your little one usually takes a morning nap around 9:30, adjust this to 9:00 for the three days after the time change.

It will be a bit of a push for your little one, but not so much that it will cause much damage to his or her schedule. Do the same for the afternoon nap.

If you have children over the age of two, try a ‘gro clock’ and set the sunrise time to half an hour earlier, for those first three days (just remember to set it back to normal again afterwards). Letting them get up a little earlier than normal for a few days won’t cause a problem and just know that by the end of the week they will be back on track and sleeping until their normal wakeup time.

For all little ones

The darkness at night will help melatonin be produced which can be great for little ones who struggle to sleep a little.

Make sure your little ones get plenty of outside time and daylight during the day, especially in the winter months, as this will really help regulate their circadian rhythms!