How to Help Your Child Adjust to the Spring Clock Change  

Spring forward...

Most clock changes can worry parents as they aren’t sure how it will affect their little one’s sleep, but this clock change could actually help those early risers!!

You may still want to consider how to manage the clock change so their whole day doesn’t change. This may include waking your little one in the morning (audible gasp!!) of the clock change. Yes, you heard me right, you may want to ​consider waking them. You may not need to or want to, but it’s something to think about. If your little one has a great sleep routine and sleeping late in the morning will disrupt their daytime naps, then it’s something you may wish to do.

5 ways to integrate the clock changes to your baby's bedtime

1. Going cold turkey

Lots of children will manage the change just fine. Simply stick with the new times and put your little one to bed at their “normal” time. You can also put them down an hour earlier on Saturday night before the clock change, so that they wake at their normal time on the first day.

2. A gradual approach

This is a very subtle way of changing their body clocks and may be of use if you have a young child who is on a great daytime nap routine. The gradual approach involves putting your child down 15 minutes earlier every day for four nights starting from the Wednesday, so that when they wake on Sunday, it will be their normal time.

3. Split the difference

Again, this is good for a more sensitive sleeper. Rather than managing the change over four days, simply split the hour in half. On Friday night, pop them down 30 minutes early and again on Saturday night, so Sunday morning becomes their normal wake up time.

Most children will manage just fine on the cold turkey approach and this is much easier to manage for parents. If you do suffer with an early riser, you may wish to cash in on the “extra hour” in the morning and continue with their daily routine from this time. A lot of early rising is caused by overtiredness, so those early nights can really help.

Other things to consider when the clocks go forward:

4. Black out blinds

The mornings will now be a little brighter in your child’s room, so make sure all that lovely spring sunshine is blocked out or you may start seeing those early mornings yourself.

5. Adjust sleep/wake clocks

Modern technology is amazing and most of your phones, TV’s and watches change the time automatically. However, the sleep / wake clock will need to be altered manually to save early mornings.

Claire Louise

hello@clairelouisesleep.co.uk

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