Conquering Spring Daylight Saving Time
On Sunday, March 12 2023, the clocks change! We are going FORWARD one hour starting at 2AM! This time change isn’t as brutal as the Fall change when you start your morning an hour sooner. Instead, it will feel pretty amazing to wake at 7AM…the old 6AM! In fact, many families use this as an opportunity to push their baby’s schedule forward for the warmer months!
There are approaches used around DST where you begin phasing in subtle changes in your child’s sleep routine starting the week before the time change. I prefer to plan ahead. That’s just my personality. Although, I have seen many people be successful by doing nothing at all. I’ve seen this work just fine with so many of my clients. It’s okay to wait until Sunday morning to start making changes, so don’t put pressure on yourself to do anything beforehand. There is no “right way” to prepare for DST. Keep reading to find out about different approaches and
The Little by Little Approach
The approach works for “springing forward” and “falling back”. However, it is the complete opposite of what you would do during Fall daylight savings. Start by shifting your child’s bedtime a little earlier (10-15 minutes) each night 7 days before DST occurs. This technique will help your child adjust slowly to the time change and prevent their schedule from being thrown off during the weekend of Daylight Saving. Check out the graphic below for a visual schedule of the week leading up to DST.
Some babies aren't affected by time changes like DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME, but if your little one tends to have a hard time adjusting to a different bedtime, this slow transition can be a big help.
2. The Bedtime Focused Approach
For right now, you are actually going to adjust your baby’s nap and bedtime schedule to where they will feel like they are going to sleep thirty minutes sooner than they typically do. About three to four days later, depending on the child, they will go back to their normal bed time. It takes about a week total to totally adjust to this. If you’re looking for a method that is not as tedious as the method mentioned above, but want to help your little one adjust, this is the method for you.
3. The Morning of Approach
When using this method, you simply wake your baby at your desired wake time the morning after daylight saving, even though you might be tempted to let them sleep in. This will help set the tone for the day. Be sure to be consistent with this in the upcoming days.
Remember, there is no right or wrong way to approach DST and plenty of children adjust just fine by doing nothing at all. Whichever method you choose, you got this!
