On Sunday March 13, 2022 Daylight Savings Time ends as we “spring forward”. At 2 am our clocks will jump to 3 am resulting in us “losing” an hour of sleep! 

This means if your child normally wakes at 7 am, the clock will now show 8 am (if you do nothing to prepare). This also means when bedtime rolls around Sunday night, their normal 7 pm bedtime will feel like only 6 pm in their body so it may be harder for them to fall asleep.

The good news is that ending Daylight Savings Time to spring forward tends to be a much easier adjustment than the time change in the Fall. Here’s three options for preparing your little one for Daylight Savings Time Spring Forward!

Three Plans for Tackling Spring Forward

The Keep Things As Is Plan

For Spring Forward this is what I do with my kids and is your best option if you have early risers. Consider this: your baby normally wakes at 5:30 am and now that is magically 6:30 am! This change may stick around for a bit or as your kiddo adjusts they may go back to rising early because it’s simply their nature. Either way, enjoy the later wake time for as long as you can. 

For this plan you won’t do anything in advance! Then, Sunday morning get them up by 7am and go by your normal schedule based on the new clock time. Fair warning: Your kiddo might be a bit tired in the morning because you’ve gotten them up at their normal clock time but they did lose out on one hour of sleep because of Spring Forward. Try to push through to the normal nap time. Also, bedtime is going to feel one hour earlier so this could result in some trouble falling asleep or bedtime battles. Our bodies take about a week to adjust. Stay consistent and the adjustment will go smoothly. Well rested kids are more flexible and have a much easier time adjusting.

The Verrrry Gradual Plan

This is a good option for kiddos whose bedtime is too late! Since we don’t want bedtime to push even later after Daylight Savings Time ends you’re going to gradually move their whole schedule earlier during the week leading up to it. You’ll shift earlier by 15 minutes every 2 days. This way when the time change happens, your child will be mostly adjusted and on their normal schedule. 

If your current wake time is 7 am and bedtime is 7 pm then the shift will look something like this:

3/5-3/6: 6:45 am wake time, 6:45 pm bedtime

3/7-3/8: 6:30 am wake time, 6:30 pm bedtime

3/9-3/10: 6:15 am wake time, 6:15 pm bedtime

3/11-3/12: 6am wake time, 6 pm bedtime

DST 3/13: back to 7 pm bedtime on the clock

Remember with this approach, it’s important to shift nap and feeding times as well. For example, if your child is taking a 12 pm nap, you will also shift this nap earlier by 15 minutes every two days until you get to an 11 am nap on the two days prior to the time change. Then after the time change, the nap will be back to 12 pm. 

The Slightly Gradual Plan

This is ideal for parents who don’t have the time or patience to do the very gradual approach but want to do some prep. Starting Thursday 3/10 wake your child and do bedtime 30 minutes earlier than your normal time. So if wake time and bedtime is usually 7 then wake and do bedtime at 6:30 for three days. Then on Sunday go back to your normal schedule and you’ll only have 30 minutes to adjust for versus 1 hour.

More Daylight Savings Tips

“Well rested kids are more flexible and have a much easier time adjusting.”

-Stephanie Quinto, Catching Dreams Founder

1. In the days leading up to the time change, keep your little one well rested. Well rested children are more flexible and adjust more easily to schedule changes.
2. Be patient. It takes about a week for our bodies to fully adjust.
3. Create the ideal sleep environment, especially black out shades. Spring Forward means longer daylight hours so blackout shades are super important. It can be hard to convince a toddler to go to bed when the sun is still up. 
4. Use the sun to your advantage! Get early morning sunlight to reset circadian rhythms and avoid bright light in the evening. 

Wishing you an easy Spring Forward,

Stephanie

PS:  Follow Catching Dreams on Instagram and Facebook for daily sleep tips! Also if other sleep issues are occurring it may be hard to make these changes smoothly. Catching Dreams is always here to help whether it’s a little bump in the sleep road or a bigger challenge. Feel free to contact me or schedule a complimentary Intro Call here to discover how I can help.