It’s almost time for the Daylight Saving time change again where the clocks will spring ahead! This year, it will happen on Sunday March 12, 2023. Does anyone else feel like it just happened? With this time change, we lose an hour of sleep, but we also get more sunlight later in the day, which is something I personally enjoy.
If you are worried about this time change affecting your child’s sleep, keep reading for some ideas and tips to help manage the change.
Everyone will eventually adjust to the time change, so don’t worry if you don’t have time or just don’t want to do anything to prepare. If you don’t prepare ahead of time, your family will adjust to the time change after it happens.
If you want to prepare ahead of time to spring ahead, there are options
Taking a gradual approach
If you like to prepare ahead of time, you can take a gradual approach. Starting a week before the the clocks spring ahead, start shifting the schedule back by ten minutes. This will include bedtime, wakeup time, naps, and meals. The idea is with this that by the day before the time change bedtime will be an hour later than usual, and then with the time change it will be right back to the usual bedtime. I know this can be confusing, especially if you are following awake windows. I suggest just starting with wakeup time, that way the day will naturally shift earlier.
Preparing with less time
If you have less time to prepare, or if starting a week ahead just sounds like too much, you can still make adjustments to the schedule. Instead of 10 minute increments, you can shift the schedule back by 20-30 minutes over the course of a few days. Again, you’ll want to shift everything in the routine to help adjust to the new bedtimes, and starting by waking up earlier can help shift the day.
Use the time change to your advantage
If your child’s bedtime/wakeup times have been earlier than you’d like, you can use this as an opportunity to shift everything later without having to actually change the routine. In my house, we aren’t planning on changing anything with our daughter’s sleep schedule and are just going to shift things so bedtime and wakeup are both (hopefully!) later. If your child already has a later wakeup and you have to keep things on schedule so you are getting to daycare, school, or work on time, I realize this may not be an option, but I always like to mention this as a possibility.
Tips to help everyone adjust when we spring ahead
- If you have a newborn, Don’t worry about adjusting things. Their circadian rhythms aren’t fully established and their sleep isn’t following a schedule so they will adjust to the time change without you making any changes.
- Keep your routine consistent! If your child is used to their bedtime routine, this will help them with knowing that it is time for sleep.
- Expose your child to light upon waking up to help their circadian rhythm adjust (this helps us too!).
- Make sure to get lots of physical activity during the day, this helps everyone sleep better.
- Dim any bright lights and turn off screens 1-2 hours before bedtime.
- Keep the sleep environment consistent with blackout shades and white noise to help prevent any changes from outside interfering with sleep
- I especially recommend blackout shades to help with this time of year where, at least where I live, it’s getting lighter earlier in the morning and staying lighter out later.
And remember, these time changes can be hard, but we will all adjust in a few days! You’ve got this!
If you want all of this information in a pdf guide that you can download and take with you wherever you are, just click here!
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