How to Prepare Your Baby For Daylight Savings: Spring Forward

Spring is on its way, which means daylight savings is just around the corner. Soon, we’ll be setting our clocks forward by an hour - an adjustment that can feel daunting for parents of babies who rely on a consistent sleep schedule. We’ve got good news! With the right preparation, your baby can ease into the time change, maintain a consistent bedtime routine, and keep sleep interruptions to a minimum. In this blog post, you’ll learn simple, stress-free ways to help your baby adjust to daylight savings time so everyone can get as much rest as possible.

Newborn babies aren’t born with a circadium rhythm like adults. A baby’s internal clock is set by the time they’re used to waking around each day and their light exposure. Babies are more sensitive than adults to small shifts in their routine. When you add daylight savings to the mix, “springing forward” by an hour can lead to common sleep interruptions like: 

• Increased night wakings 
• Waking up too early or too late
• Overtiredness which can lead to a fussy baby
• Shorter naps as their wee bodies adjust 
• Difficulty falling asleep 

Because a sudden shift can feel like a lot to a baby’s sleep schedule, we recommend slowly adjusting your baby towards daylight savings to ensure a smoother transition.

This year, Spring Forward happens on Sunday, March 2nd at 2am. To prepare your baby for daylight savings, you can: 

#1: Don’t do anything

Some families choose to not do anything to shift their baby’s schedule and just “spring forward” with the time change. If you choose to forget about the time change, you could put your bub to sleep an hour later to make up for the time difference. For example, if they usually wake up at 6:30am and they had a 6:30pm bedtime, you would wake them up at 7:30am and put them to bed at 7:30pm after the time changes on Sunday. For your baby’s naps, you would put them down an hour later as well. If they napped at 9am then you would put them to nap at 10am on Sunday. 

#2: Adjust gradually 

Start on Thursday, March 4th and adjust their bedtime, wake time, and naps by 15 minutes. Because the time will be moving up by an hour, you’ll need to move their naps and meals 15 minutes back. 

• On Thursday, March 6th, you’ll wake your bub up at 6:15am and put them to bed at 6:15pm. 
• On Friday, March 7th, you’ll wake your baby up at 6:00am and put them to bed at 6:00pm. 
• On Saturday, March 8th, you’ll wake your baby up at 5:45am and put them to bed at 5:45pm. 
• On Sunday, March 9th, when the time changes and “springs forward”, you’ll wake them up at 6:30am (which was 5:30am) and put them to bed at 6:30pm (which was 5:30pm).

Please keep in mind that these are recommendations and that every baby is different. If you’re finding your bub seems overtired, then follow sleep cues and adjust accordingly. 

This transition to the new Daylight Savings time could take 1-2 weeks of your baby’s circadium rhythm to reset. To help your bub, here are some tip:

• Light exposure: Take your bub outside during their wake time as much as you can to help them set their circadium rhythm to the new spring Daylight Savings time. When it’s their nap and bedtime, dim the lights, pull the blackout curtains, and turn off the screens to signal to your baby’s body that it’s time for rest. 

• Maintain a consistent sleep routine: By following the sleep routine (bathtime, bedtime feed, story, pajamas, sleep bag, and good night snuggles) you have with your bub, you’ll be signalling to their brains that it’s bed time is coming and it’s almost time to sleep. Even if they don’t seem tired, start thier bedtime routine at their normal sleep time so they can wind down. Read more about bedtime routines. 

During this adjustment, try to be patient with your baby and yourself. Be flexible and adjust your bub’s sleep schedule according to their sleep cues. 

Changes like the spring Daylight Savings time change can feel intimidating - especially if this is your first time making these adjustments. With consistency, your bub will adapt to the new time and their will sleep - and you will sleep again.