The clock change can strike fear into the heart of the most confident of parents with the best of sleeping offspring! But it is doesn’t need to be scary, and it also means that we are one step closer to warmer weather and lovely light evenings.
There are 3 main options:
- Slowly move your little one’s routine by 15 minutes per day in the 4 days prior to the clock change. You could also do this even more slowly by doing 15 minutes on day 1 and 2, another 15 minutes on days 3 and 4 etc. By the time the clocks change you are on the new time already.
- Move their routine by 30 minutes the day before the clock change, and then 30 minutes on the day of the change.
- Do nothing! This can work well for older children and if you have an early riser so suddenly 5am becomes 6am without doing anything! However, if there is an underlying cause of the early waking then it’s likely that this will reappear overtime, so drop me a message and we can work through it together.
As always, remember to:
- Stay calm and don’t panic: a relaxing bedtime routine will help your little one when they feel a bit out of sync. They will also take notice of and feed off your calm attitude so although it doesn’t feel quite right, they know they’re okay because you’re happy.
- Be consistent: continue with their usual bedtime routine including bath, reading a book and a little song.
- Check your little one’s sleep environment: mornings and evenings are getting lighter so creating a dark bedroom with black out blinds and curtains will benefit your child’s sleep, by helping produce melatonin. Also keep an eye on room temperature in relation their night-time clothing so that they stay at optimal temperature.
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