Hi I’m Lucy and I’m the owner of the Benfleet, Rayleigh and Rochford Basking Babies franchise. The topic of baby's sleep is a popular discussion amongst mums in my classes. I am also a qualified sleep consultant, so I wanted address the upcoming clock change and what you can do to make the transition a little easier.
How often do clock changes throw you out as a grown adult? And we can tell the time. Just imagine how confusing it is to our little ones and their sleep routine.
There are many ways in which we can help our children but young babies are most definitely more sensitive to time, so a gradual approach may work best. This works by adjusting your child’s bedtime by 15 minutes over four days before the clock change.
The clocks will go forward by one hour at 1am on the last Sunday of March (and go back by one hour at 2am on the last Sunday in October).
If your baby’s bedtime is 7pm, in the week leading up to the spring clock change:
The clocks will then change overnight, so Sunday night's bedtime is 'normal' at 7pm.
There is most likely to be some disruption, but this is the way I find the most effective. If using this method, I would also adjust the other daily timings, so meal times, nap times and feeds.
For older children or those that are less sensitive to time then I would go for the immediate switch.
On Saturday night, I would try to keep them up a little later than normal but be aware, if you end up with a grumpy, overtired toddler or child then it can lead to night wakings or struggles in getting to sleep (but just go for it).
If your child still has an afternoon nap, it may be worth adjusting that nap slightly later that day, to prevent overtiredness.
There is always the chance that they are going to wake up at their normal time, which is an hour earlier than normal on the Sunday but it shouldn’t take too long before they get back into the routine.
If you think it would work to do the gradual approach with your older child, that is fine too.
There is another approach that you could use which is the ‘half it’ method.
The night before the change happens, on the Saturday evening, put your child or baby to bed 30 minutes later. This does not necessarily mean they will wake up half an hour later but it will give a little tweak in preparation.
Getting regular fresh air and exercise is very important and will have an impact on getting you and your little ones to adapt.
The one thing to always remember is to keep everything else the same in terms of your child's normal bedtime routine. A child’s way of telling the time is routine, which is why it is important to have a basic routine in your little one’s life.