Daylight Savings - Spring Forward 1 Hour March 5 2020

​So finally the dark mornings are over and lighter, longer evenings are finally here! “Hooray” I hear you chime, but what does this mean for our little ones and their routine and HOW do we need to prepare them if we need to at all? Here in this blog I will explain how to make the adjustment with ease and explain why it may be necessary to prepare 1 week before the actual clocks change.

Many children are very sensitive to time changes, if we skip a nap, move it to another time or try extend a nap longer when they are used to having a shorter one at that particular time it just does not work. If we push bedtime later we experience a meltdown as the over tiredness takes over with all the cortisol rising in their body.

Why? Well this is because their internal biological clock has set itself with all your hard work working on routine and with the help of food, sleep and social interaction.  Now, when you are in a good routine and possibly worked hard at establishing it you may wonder how to deal with this hour change. You don’t want all your hard work going to pot. Some children are not so sensitive to the time changes and for them you may very well just be able to do nothing, deal with the clock change cold turkey and they adjust accordingly on the day. This often happens for older children over 3 years but still some struggle.

For those children out there who wake early regularly anyway, you will be pleased the clocks go forward an hour as the 5am wake waking’s now become 6am waking’s and in turn this natural clock change has “fixed” your child’s early rising.

Small babies may struggle more with clock changes as their awake windows are so very important to their body clocks and you don’t want to contribute to their over/under tiredness. And remember lighter mornings will contribute to waking early so ensure you have the room blacked out as much as possible. If you can see your hand in front of your face then the room is too light so please invest in some good black outs that don’t let in any light seep in, not even a crack! And of course for your toddlers and older children who have clocks in their room it will just be a case of setting the wake up time to the new time and adjusting the actual time itself on THE night!


For those of you who would like to prepare your little one in advance for this one hour time change and also have the added bonus of being able to wake your child of a morning, for the upcoming clock change here below is a simple guide you can follow (For a 7am-7pm routine. If you are on 6am-6pm routine adjust accordingly)

You will need to start this on Monday 22 march, 1 week BEFORE the clocks change so you are ready on Sunday 22 march to wake at your usual 7am.

Of course if you wish to do nothing and face this 1 hour difference cold turkey you can do that. Be prepared for a couple of days of disrupted sleep and disturbed naps but your child will adjust.

For babies under 5-6 months who are not in any routine yet still keep in tune with their awake windows. Keep the bedtime routine as it always has been. No need to change that.
Ensure you still get outside as much as possible to soak up that sunshine, this will top up levels of serotonin that converts to melatonin and will help with falling asleep.

Please feel free to share this blog to your friends who may be wondering how to prepare for the time change.

HAPPY SPRING EVERYONE!

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Rachael
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