Spring is in the air! Yes, that’s right, we are almost at the official start of British Summer Time! Standing between us and the warmer days and lighter evenings, is the first clock-change of this year. Whilst springing forward is often met with far more enthusiasm than the falling-back of autumn, (after all, surely there isn’t anyone who would rather see their 6am start magically morph into a 7am one than slip back to an altogether inhumane 5am?!), it is actually the trickier of the two to master from a biological perspective. But, no matter how sensitive your mini-mumbler is when it comes to their sleep, my definitive guide has you covered.
The end goal
As the clocks move forward, a usual 7pm bedtime and 6am wake up, will transform, literally overnight, to 8pm and 7am respectively. This means that, if we want to keep our little one on their usual end-to-end sleep timings, we need to start having them fall asleep earlier.
Option 1: do nothing
We only need to take advance action if it matters whether our little one’s day starts and finishes at the current time. For some families, a 7am to 8pm day will be much the same as a 6am to 7pm one – especially amid the current restrictions. If you have some flexibility regarding nursery drop-off times etc in the week following the clock-change, you could take no advance action whatsoever, putting your child down at their usual time on Saturday night and letting them settle into the “new” time over the following few days. They’ll be up a little “late” initially but are likely to right themselves within a few days.
Option 2: split the difference
If the opportunity presents itself, getting your little one down to bed earlier on Saturday night will be helpful, as it takes you a chunk of the way towards them waking at the “right” time (according to the clock), on Sunday morning. If your child still naps, you could try to settle them for their afternoon sleep just 15 minutes earlier than usual and then bring bedtime forward 30 minutes from its usual time. With this option, I would serve up dinner 15-20 minutes earlier than usual too, so that the pattern feels pretty normal to your little one.
Remember that young children cannot tell the time, they are driven by what time it feels like – which is actually an advantage here. With some gentle manoeuvring, you can make 6 or 6:30pm feel like 7pm. The body-clock is anchored around variables such as meal and nap times. So, by edging these forward, and running through your usual, familiar bedtime routine in full, most little ones can be encouraged to settle off to sleep a little earlier than usual.
My top tip for achieving earlier sleep is to get outside in the fresh air as early as possible on Saturday morning. If the weather hasn’t received the “Spring is coming” memo, consider indoor energy-burning activities such as sofa-cushion obstacle courses, hula-hooping and games like musical bumps.
For sensitive sleepers
For babies, and for those children who are sensitive around their sleep timings, trying for a bedtime that is 30 minutes early may feel a big ask, in which case, try my gradual shift option. Beginning on Wednesday, move bedtime 15 minutes earlier than usual. Your little one is likely to wake either at their usual time or a little earlier. If you can, adjust meal and nap times to 15 minutes earlier on Thursday and then bring bedtime forward by an additional 15 minutes on Thursday night. Repeat the pattern on Friday, Friday night and then again on Saturday. This will mean bedtime (as well as the daytime schedule) has moved a whole hour by Saturday night, but only by 15 minutes on the day itself. Almost all body-clocks can mange a one-hour change split across four days.
Keep them in the dark
Remember that as of Sunday, the mornings will be lighter. Any light creeping into your child’s room will drive them to wake so avoid this by ensuring you have taken the necessary steps to keep the room dark – a portable blackout blind that sticks directly onto the window can be one of the best investments a parent ever makes!
No matter what happens, within a few days, your little one will almost certainly have adapted to the change. Just in case it’s bumpy for a day or two though, do try to get yourself to bed a little earlier on Saturday night so that you don’t feel the lost hour of sleep too acutely!
With special thanks to the lovely Lauren at Little Sleep Stars for another super blog
