Adjusting to Daylight Savings Time Change

The leaves are starting to fall from the trees and our days are getting shorter. This beautiful time of year also brings for us the end of Daylight Savings.

On Sunday, 4th of April at 3.00am our clocks will move BACK by one hour.

This will affect many states in Australia. I know many of you are interested to know what to do about your baby’s naps and nighttime sleep timings and how to handle the time adjustment. So, I’ve put together a couple of options for you as well as handy tables that can guide you through the days. I have the solutions for you!

There are some benefits to this time change. If you have a baby who is an early riser (wakes up somewhere between 5.30 am and 6.30 am for example), you may feel a little worried because suddenly that 5.30 am wake up might become a 4.30 am wake up!

Yikes, that’s the middle of the night! However, I like to look on the positive side here and consider that now you actually have plenty of time to work on some consistent firm resettling and get them back to sleep.

Essentially, there are two ways to approach the time adjustment for this time of year.

Slow adjustment before

Seven days ahead of our daylight saving change you slowly start to adjust their wakeup times and bedtime. Super easy.

- Shift your baby or child’s schedule later by 15 minutes every two days.
- For the first two days wake them up 15 minutes later than their normal wake up time (i.e. 7.15 am instead of 7.00 am).
- Put them down for naps 15 minutes later than their normal nap time (i.e. 12.45 pm instead of 12.30 pm).
- Wake them 15 minutes later than they would normally wake up from a nap (i.e.12.45 pm instead of 2.30 pm).
- Put them to bed 15 minutes later than when they would normally go to bed (i.e. 7.15 pm instead of 7.00 pm).
- Then the next two days you will shift it later again by another 15 minutes, and two days after that shift again by a further 15 minutes and so on. Therefore, across the week you will be at the new adjusted time of 8.00 pm for bedtime (knowing that the next day 8.00 pm will be 7.00 pm).

Sometimes pushing tired babies and toddlers to wait that bit longer for their naps and bedtime can be tricky. I find just using distraction or quiet cuddles the way to go here.

Our baby’s daily rhythms are regulated by when they feed and sleep and also when they are exposed to light and darkness. Even if it’s cooling down now it’s a good idea to try and distract babies by taking them outside for some sun light first thing in the morning and late in the afternoon.

Or you could try the alternative method:

Slow adjustment after

- This method is also easy. If you don’t want to change anything before daylight savings, you can slowly adjust to the new time over the week in 15-minute increments every couple of days.
- You simply bring things backwards by 15 minutes. So, yes, on that first day they may wake up earlier and go to bed at 6.00 pm but the next day just wake them at 6.15 am and pop them to bed at 6.15 pm. Continue to slowly adjust in 15-minute increments every two days over the week.

And remember, when you practice good sleep hygiene with your little ones, time change transitions don’t take long to adjust to at all!

Do you have any further questions relating to daylight savings that I can help with? Let me know in the comments below and I will give you my best tips for a smooth transition.