Daylight Saving Time

How to handle your baby’s sleep when clocks Spring forward

When we adjust the clocks, whether it’s for Spring forward or Fall back, our sleep seems to be interrupted for a couple days. As adults, we can usually power through by sleeping in, or having an extra cup (or two) of coffee. But what happens when you have a baby that just can’t do either of those things, how can you adjust the clocks without it affecting your baby’s sleep?

You can go about this a couple ways. The first way would be to adjust your baby’s bedtime slowly a few days before you actually adjust the clocks or the second way is not doing anything at all.

With my 3 boys, I personally choose the second option of not doing anything at all. We wake up that morning to a changed clock and go about the day. Yes their nap and bedtime schedules might seem a bit off that day, but we power through and they adjust quicker than I do. But if you want to take it slow then follow the steps below.

1. The Thursday before we adjust the clocks, start waking baby 15 minutes earlier than their normal wake up time, followed by their nap time and bedtime being 15 minutes earlier. For example, If your baby’s typical day is wake up at 7:00, nap 1 at 9:30, nap 2 at 2:00 and a bedtime of 7:30, you will now adjust wake up to 6:45, nap 1 at 9:15, nap 2 at 1:45 and bedtime at 7:15. Make sense? Check out the chart below for a visual.

2. For the next 3 days (Thursday-Saturday) you will continue to adjust their schedule, shifting everything 15 minutes earlier each day. Check out the chart below for a visual.

3. On Sunday, you go right back to their original schedule of waking at 7:00 along with having the same set nap times and bedtime.