Comments on: Handling Daylight Saving Time: 3 Ways To Prevent “Springing Forward” From Ruining Your Baby or Toddler’s Sleep Schedule

By: Neosha

Neosha — Sat, 09 Mar 2019 22:15:19 +0000

In reply to Amanda.

@Amanda – Thank you for reading and for sharing with us. The Spring Forward Daylight Saving Time change is usually not quite as “terrible” as the Fall Back time change, however preparing ahead of time for either can make a world of difference. Tweaking bed and wake times before the change as you’re thinking of doing can be a good preemptive or post-change step. It’s going to be up to you how you’d like to handle this – if you’d like support with the best way to approach or recover from the time change, please consider connecting with one of our sleep consultants who can walk you through tweaking your schedule and getting sleep on a good DST track. You can read more about our team here:https://www.babysleepsite.com/about Hang in there, Amanda!

By: Amanda

Amanda — Tue, 05 Mar 2019 18:26:12 +0000

My baby goes to bed at 7:30pm and had recently started waking up at 5:30-5:45 I’m hoping the time change helps him sleep later but I’m wondering if an 8pm bedtime would work for him or if we switch it will he most likely just start waking early again since that’s technically 7? Should we wait a week before starting to put him to bed at 8?

By: Nicole Johnson

Nicole Johnson — Tue, 13 Mar 2018 18:10:13 +0000

In reply to Amanda. @Amanda Yes, our bodies take a few days to adjust to the new time. I hope she keeps waking later for you. Good luck!

By: Amanda

Amanda — Sun, 11 Mar 2018 13:15:23 +0000

My daughter is almost 6 months and currently we were waking her 615 or 639 but she always woke up around 5ish so we left her in her crib until wake time today time changed so we let her get up at 620 to fix early wake times my question though later when it’s bedtime won’t she be thinking it’s too early with a bedtime of 630

By: Emily DeJeu

Emily DeJeu — Thu, 26 Feb 2015 23:28:48 +0000

In reply to Cassie.

@ Cassie – the ‘do nothing’ option is good if you feel like 6 p.m. is too early. What you’d do then is put her to bed at her normal time, and then odds are, she’ll wake an hour later the next morning (because after you spring forward, sleeping the same number of hours will mean she’s actually waking an hour later). From there, you can keep that new wake-time (say it’s 7 a.m. instead of 6 a.m. as the new wake-time, and you’d adjust her naps and bedtime accordingly, pushing them back (so bedtime in this scenario may happen at 7 p.m. the night after the time change).

Does that help? The ‘do nothing’ part may be a bit misleading, in that you do have to ‘do’ something after the time change – you would put her down at a different time. It really just means that you don’t have to do anything to preserve the existing schedule, since you are intending to let the time change run its course and shift her schedule back by an hour.

Hope that’s helpful! Thanks for commenting. 🙂

By: Cassie

Cassie — Wed, 25 Feb 2015 15:10:54 +0000

I’m confused about the “do nothing” option in terms of bedtime. Ours goes to bed now at 6. Would we put her to bed at 6 the night before DST and then at 7 from then on after (so it feels like 6)? Or, do we try to keep her going to bed at 6 (which would feel like 5?)

By: Emily DeJeu

Emily DeJeu — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 13:00:56 +0000

@ Edith — smart move! That’s another slow and gentle approach that makes a lot of sense. Thanks for sharing this tip!

@ Susan Moreland — glad you find the weekly articles so helpful! Feedback like that is so encouraging to our whole team.

And thanks for this insight into naps. You’re right; some babies are highly sensitive to overtiredness. When that’s the case, parents need to be super attuned to sleep cues. Sounds like you’ve figured that out and have things well in hand — good for you! 🙂

By: Susan Moreland

Susan Moreland — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 03:25:19 +0000

First, Thank You Nicole for all the articles and ideas for well rested babies.. Having constant emails and web articles to read is WAY better than one book. It’s easier to keep on track and stay motivated with sleep issues. Our 10 month old has gotten so much more sleep than our 5 year old did. There is one idea I wanted to share that I have noticed this time around. Our daughter is very sensitive to the activity level and length of time in between naps. If it’s more than 90 minutes, a lingering visitor or a few too many errands, she has a terrible nap or won’t nap at all. Sometimes there is only 60 minutes between first nap and second nap. Second nap and bedtime is only a three hour stretch. If it’s more than that she starts to cry before I can get her in a bath to start the bedtime routine. It has made for some super quick grocery trips and a lot more web ordering, but much more giggles during the day. Thanks again!

By: Edith

Edith — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 20:35:34 +0000

We always try to give the kids a week to adjust slowly to the time change by shifting their bed time and wake time each by 5-10 minutes each day. So, for this week, we’ve been starting bedtime routine 5-10 minutes earlier each night and waking the kids that much earlier the next day (also, as much as possible, we’ve been shifting other schedule indicators like meals and naps). So, by Saturday night, we’ll essentially already be on DST.

By: Emily DeJeu

Emily DeJeu — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 17:39:56 +0000

@ Jenn — I’d say you have a good plan, in putting her down at 7 p.m. on Sunday night (since it’ll “feel” like 6 p.m. for your daughter). And yes, she’ll probably sleep later on Sunday morning (more like 6 or 6:30, since it’ll “feel” like 5 or 5:30 to her).

As far as waiting to get her up until 7 — that’s your call. If you want to reinforce 7 a.m. as “rise and shine” time, and if your daughter seems content to sit in her crib and hang out until then, then there’s nothing wrong with doing that.

Keep us posted on how this works out for you, Jenn! And no worries about being thrown off by the time change; you’re certainly not alone in that. While springing forward tends to be easier on most families than falling back, both are frustrating.