The clocks ‘Spring’ forward on 26 March, and with Little Dreams consulting, we're here to help...
The time has come for the evenings to finally get lighter – yay! We know that all you adventurous Toddle Born Wild fans will be loving this prospect – more hours in the day to get out and explore!
That said, some of you may also be wondering how on earth to manage it without disrupting your little one’s sleep? The good news is, if your little one is naturally an early riser then you don’t have to change anything, as the clocks will do everything for you!
However, if you feel the clock change will mess up your little one’s good sleeping routine, in that you might have to wake them an hour earlier for nursery, school etc, here are some tips for you:
Older children:
Our best advice here is to ‘split the difference’ between the old time and the new time. Start on Sunday night (first night of the change), for children who no longer nap and normally go to bed at 7pm you would put them to bed at 7.30pm instead. Do this for 3 nights and then on the 4th night put them to bed at the normal time – 7pm.
Toddlers (over 1 and older):
On Sunday put them down for their first nap 30 minutes later than normal. For example, if they usually nap at 9.30am you would put them down at 10am instead, and do the same for the afternoon nap. Little ones might become a little grumpy and need a little more entertainment than normal whilst they are ‘pushed’ to their new nap time, but Toddle kids will enjoy that extra adventure time. Then at bedtime if you usually put them down at 7pm, move this by 30mins and put them down at 7.30pm. Do this for 3 nights after the time change and then on the 4th night put them to bed at the normal time of 7pm and on the 5th day move nap times back to normal.
Infants:
For babies over 4 months you can change their internal clock gradually. For example, if their bedtime is normally 7pm then move bedtime 15 minutes earlier each night until you reach their normal time. So, on Sunday night you would put them down at 7.45pm, next night at 7.30pm and so on. By the fourth night you should be back to their ‘normal’ time of 7pm.
Newborns:
If your little one’s bedtime is not predictable, which is totally normal for those aged 0 to 4 months, simply just jump to the new time on Sunday night as if you were traveling to a new time zone. It may take your little one a little longer to fall asleep which is expected as they might not be as tired to start with.
No matter how old your child is, or how well they usually sleep, one thing is for sure – it is going to be much lighter in their bedrooms at bedtime after the clock change! With this in mind, we recommend you make your child’s bedroom as dark as possible to limit any sunlight coming into their room which could make it difficult for them to fall/stay asleep. Using something like a blackout blind or even blackout card/material over the window can be really helpful to block any residual light.
It's also important to remember that even though it’s tempting to be outside soaking in the extra daylight hours, we all (children included) need a little time to ‘decompress’ at the end of the day, so having 10-15 minutes of quiet play time inside in a nice, dimly lit, relaxed environment can really help our bodies to start to produce our sleepy hormone, melatonin, ready for bedtime.
It can take about a week for children and babies to completely adjust to a new time, some children can take up to a month. Be patient and remain consistent and it will happen!
If you are having any trouble with any aspect of your child’s sleep, please do get in touch with us, we would love to help you all get a better night’s sleep! Visit www.littledreamsconsulting.com to book a free, and no obligation, 15 minute call with one of us!
