The clocks spring forward by 1 hour on Sunday 31 March at 1am. Wondering how this may impact your child’s sleep and what to do? Let me help. First off, this tends to be the easiest clock change out of the two that occur each year (hooray!). Here is my approach tailored on what time your child usually wakes at - a plan for your child simplified!

My recommended approach depends on your child’s current wake up time and how sensitive there are to variations in their sleep routine.

I am sharing my top tips on how best to prepare for the upcoming clock change in this blog. There are 3 main options I recommend and I will discuss in this blog how to know which option may be best for your little one.

If your child currently wakes at 6am or before, here is what I recommend;

If you have an early riser, this clock change may help or even resolve this sleep concern. For this approach, ensure to wake your little one by 7/7:30am on Sunday morning.

Try and keep their nap(s) to the new clock time if possible on the Sunday and then put them to bed at their typical time based on the new clock time. Hopefully the following day your child is waking post 6am and you can continue with your typical sleep schedule.

If your child currently wakes between 6am - 7:30am and they aren’t overly sensitive to schedule changes

If your child’s wake time tends to be post 6am, you can simply wake time by 7:30am on the Sunday morning. I recommend waking your little one by 7:30am while still napping to ensure they can maintain their nap schedule.

Try and keep their nap(s) to the new clock time if possible on the Sunday , and then put them to bed at their typical time based on the new clock time.

If your child currently wakes between 6:45am - 7:30am and they are sensitive to schedule changes

If your child’s wake time tends to be close to 7am/7:30am and you find that overtiredness can creep in easily for your little one and disturb their nap/night’s sleep here is a good option that would avoid them losing close to an hour of overnight sleep on the Saturday night.

This involves starting some preparation from the Friday in advance - here is how it would work.

On Friday, bring forward your child’s wake up time by 15 minutes. So wake them 15 minutes earlier than they usually wake, bring each nap forward by 15 minutes and bedtime will also run approximately 15 minutes or so earlier depending on the days naps.

On Saturday, wake them an additional 15 minutes earlier, bringing each nap and bedtime forward by an additional 15 minutes. This means naps and bedtime is 30 minutes or so earlier than usual.

The goal of that approach is that with the clock change, waking your child at 7am/7:30am on the Sunday will mean your child will get more overnight sleep on the Saturday night in place of the doing nothing approach due to preparing in advance. Remember to adjust all milk and solid feeds accordingly. If you child is sensitive to schedule changes and you don’t get time to do this option, you can compensate with bedtime 30 minutes or so earlier than usual on Sunday night.

Don’t panic if your approach hasn’t worked 100% as intended, every child differs and their body clocks will not all respond to these approaches in the exact same manner.

If this happens, stick with the new clock change schedule and if sleep was settled before the clock change, within a matter of days it should be settled again. The key is to remain really consistent, and do not allow any habits to creep in that you do not wish to sustain.

However, if sleep wasn’t settled previously and you had many sleep concerns for your little one, it could be a good time to seek some help and advice. If you want to know more about why your child may be waking at night, this article I wrote may be helpful - click here

I have many free resources for parents and caregivers on my blog and social media channels, if you need more specific advice, contact me here, I have various packages for parents from one off calls to more comprehensive packages.

Best of luck,

Colette

Certified Child Sleep Consultant and Parent Coach of Phoenix Dreams