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Surviving Daylight Savings with Your Baby
Starting daylight savings time can cause even the most orderly homes to fall apart. That extra hour of sunlight in the evening suddenly seems fantastic until your baby’s sleeping pattern can be off! While everyone finds it difficult to adjust to daylight savings, having a newborn calls for some extra preparation and tolerance.
This blog will coach you through some basic actions to help you endure the change and keep your baby—and yourself—well-rested.
To maximize daylight during the warmer months, clocks move forward one hour during daylight savings time (DST). This usually means losing an hour of sleep, and this adjustment can be challenging for babies who depend on regularity and habit. Babies cannot grasp why the sun is still shining at bedtime or why bedtime is suddenly later.
Babies—especially infants and toddlers—rely on a regular sleep schedule to control their internal clock or circadian rhythm. When daylight savings begins, the outward cues of light and dark and the feeding and nap routine abruptly change, upsetting that rhythm.
For instance, following the time change, 7 p.m. on the clock would feel like 6 p.m. to their body if your infant usually goes to bed at 7 p.m. This makes nighttime more challenging as kids might not feel tired when it comes time for sleep.
Helping your child cope with the changes in time mostly depends on preparation.
These few top tips will help you adjust to the new schedule:
a. Beginning early, Start Adjusting
Starting the change a few days before the clocks change will help your baby acclimate to daylight savings. Change your baby’s schedule gradually, ten to fifteen minutes daily.
If your typical bedtime is 7 p.m., consider putting your infant to bed at 6:45 p.m. four days before the time change, 6:30 p.m. the following evening, and so on. Their bodies will be closer to the new schedule by the time daylight savings starts.
b. Keep Regular Routine: Surviving Daylight Savings with Your Baby
Babies thrive on routines. During daylight savings, try to follow your regular evening schedule, whether a bath, reading a story, or dimming the lights before bed. Maintaining these familiar behaviours will tell your baby when it’s time for bed.
c. Gradually change the nap times
Like bedtime, naps can present a challenging component of the change. Start adjusting nap periods each day leading up to the time change of ten to fifteen minutes. This will help guarantee that your baby is not overtired when it comes time for bed at night.
Once daylight savings officially begins, you may find your baby appears a little weird or restless. This is quite natural! Their entire adjustment could take a few days—or perhaps a week.
Here are some pointers to support over those first few days:
a. Leverage Natural Light to Your Benefit
Sunlight plays a significant role in regulating our body’s sleep-wake cycle, which also applies to babies. Ensure your baby gets plenty of natural light exposure during the day, especially in the morning. This helps signal to their body that it’s time to be awake.
On the other hand, as the day winds down, dim the lights and close the blinds or curtains to create a dark, cozy environment. This will encourage your baby to produce melatonin, which helps with sleep.
b. Be Patient: Surviving Daylight Savings with Your Baby
With bedtime following a time shift, moms and dads should be patient. Your infant may battle sleep since their internal clock is still adapting, or they may not be as weary as usual. Maintaining your schedule is essential, yet be adaptive. If they seem wide awake, give them extra time to calm down.
c. Encourage Your Child to Self-Soothe
Now is a beautiful time to reinforce the self-soothing skills your infant has acquired. Allow them to calm themselves back to sleep if they wake up throughout the night or struggle to fall asleep. Provide comfort, but try not to rush in immediately since this could cause the adjustment to take longer. This will help in the long term as well.
Baby Struggling With Daylight Savings!
The good news is that most newborns will settle into daylight savings in a week. Every young child is unique, though. Some may take more time, particularly if they have a more sensitive sleeping schedule or are young.
Try to be constant but also adaptable during this moment of change. Let your child rest if they appear tired. If they are not ready for bed, let them relax slightly. We want to steer them back into their usual schedule gently.
There are a few things you want to avoid changing to daylight savings:
Skipping naps can backfire even if it would seem like a quick answer to make your kid more tired in bed. Often, it’s more difficult to calm an overtired infant as they may wake up more often at night.
Keep nighttime activities quiet and low-key to assist your infant relax.
Overstimulation: Stay clear of bright lights, loud noises, or stimulating play just before bed.
Unneeded Changes: Avoid adding new adjustments to your baby’s schedule during this period. Daylight savings are already a significant disruption. Two examples are weaning off a pacifier or switching to a crib.
See a pediatrician or sleep consultant if your infant still has trouble adjusting after one week or two weeks. They can provide customized advice and additional resources for your baby within your parenting style. You can reach out to family members for support.
For both parents and children, daylight savings time can be challenging, but you can get through it with planning and tolerance. Start progressively changing your baby’s time before the actual change. Keep to your bedtime rituals, and be adaptable as your child gets used to the new time.
Though your baby’s internal clock takes a few days to adjust, these ideas may help ease the change. Don’t overlook your own needs, either! Parents may find losing an hour of sleep difficult, so try to sneak in some rest whenever you can.
Parenting Genie provides Parenting Live Expert consultations and 24-hour support through Genie Chat for more individualised sleep and baby care guidance. It can assist with parenting challenges, from pregnancy to raising a 5-year-old.
Raising Children website has additional tips on surviving the DST.
