Parents, get ready to ‘spring forward’ as Daylight Savings begins this Sunday. 

This means that the days will be longer allowing for more outdoor playtime in the afternoons. While this is great news for the kids, as parents, you may be worrying about how the time change will affect sleep routines, and rightly so. 

 

How to Manage Sleep During Daylight Saving Time

 

Here are 5 tips to prepare for the daylight savings time change:

 

#1 Gradually prepare your child

 

Try easing into the new bedtime by splitting the hour difference over a few days. Start on Wednesday night and put your child to bed 15 minutes earlier every night until you are on the new time by Saturday night. Wake up on Sunday morning and go about your normal routines.

 

#2 Do nothing

 

If your child isn’t affected too much by a change in their sleep routine and timing, go ahead and put them to bed Saturday night at the normal time. When they wake on Sunday morning go about your normal routines. This also works well for preschoolers and school-aged children.

 

#3 Get some sunshine

 

Take advantage of the extra sunlight and get the kids outside as much as possible the first few days as sunlight is a big driver for our internal sleep clock.  

 

#4 Darken the bedroom

 

On the flip side, because it’s lighter for longer you will need to be mindful to make your child’s bedroom darker for nap time and bed time by using blackout blinds or curtains.

 

#5 Stick to your routine

 

Keep your daily nap and bedtime routines the same so it helps your child go about their day as normal.

 

Try not to sweat this time change as ‘spring forward’ is usually a little easier on everyone’s internal sleep clock. The other nice perk of this time change is that if you have an early riser then they will “sleep in” because of the time change.

Just remember that no matter how to you choose to manage the time change, know that our children are resilient, and they will get through this transition. You’ve got this mamas!

 

 

Continue exploring

 

• What should your baby wear to sleep? See our guide to dressing baby and kids for bed.
• Best-selling author of The Gentle Sleep book and parenting expert, Sarah Ockwell-Smith, shares her tips for understanding and improving baby sleep without tears