How to Spring Ahead: Daylight Savings Spring 2021
If you have a Type A personality, like me, you might worry about the uncertainty that comes with daylight savings, and having to make a change to your child’s circadian rhythm. And if you aren’t Type A, yay! You’re just going to go with the flow over these next few weeks as we spring ahead.
There are two ways we can navigate the time change:
Leave it be and let it happen.
Split the difference.
Let’s get into it!
I think it’s important to consider your child’s personality and how they might respond to either of these methods, and then go with whichever you feel would work best for them. There are also a few other factors to consider, for example, daycare schedules, older siblings’ school schedules, evening activities schedules, the parent work- or stay-at-home situation, etc.
If you choose to leave it be and let it happen, you simply let the clocks change and don’t do anything differently. If your baby napped at 10:00 and 2:00 before the time change, they’re still going to nap at 10:00 and 2:00 after the time change. This will feel like a full hour earlier to your child, so it may be a bit more difficult for them to fall asleep the first few days following the time change. With time and consistency however, their circadian rhythm will adjust. They should be back to normal within 7-10 days.
You might want to consider this method if you’re more Type B than Type A, or if your child is more Type B than Type A. If it’s easy for you or your baby to go with the flow, this often works well. If you already have solid daily routines in place, it will go even more smoothly.
That’s it! Simple, right??
Your other option is to split the difference. This isn’t as much of a shock to the circadian rhythm since we are essentially going to split that hour we’ve lost in half, and then use a more gradual approach with your baby’s schedule than a full hour right off the bat.
So, let’s say your baby is waking at 7:00 a.m., napping at 9:30 a.m. and 2:00 p.m., and going to bed at 7:00 p.m. When the clocks change on March 14th, you’re going to start with a soft adjustment and essentially tweak your child’s schedule by 30 minutes. You should get them up whenever they naturally awaken (or your desired wake time if they sleep until that time) on day one, Sunday, and then we start with the schedule tweaks!
If nap one is normally at 9:30, you are going to lay your baby down at 10:00 (remember, to your child this will feel like 9:00 because we lost an hour). Do the same thing for nap two. If your baby normally naps at 2:30, you lay your baby down at 3:00, which to them feels like 2:00. It’s the same concept for bedtime. If they normally go to bed at 7:00, you lay them down at 7:30, which to them feels like 6:30. You follow this “adjustment” for 3-4 days. After that, you implement their normal schedule and move on as usual with waking for the day at 7:00, naps at 9:30 and 2:00, and bedtime at 7:00. It might take a full 7-10 days for them to fully adjust once they’re on the regular schedule again.
Splitting the difference is definitely more do-able for parents with a more flexible schedule or childcare situation.
You use this same concept according to your child’s schedule, regardless of how many naps they take in a day. If your child isn’t yet on a set schedule and follows awake windows, you still follow their windows, but adjust their start and end times of the day so everything shifts “earlier” over the course of a week or two.
See some sample adjustment schedules below:
It’s also important to mention that if your child is currently on an earlier than ideal schedule, let’s say 5:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. or 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., but they’re getting a solid 11-12 hours at night and taking solid naps, then Spring Ahead may actually help you naturally shift their schedule later. Don’t do a thing and when the clocks change, your child won’t need to adjust their rhythm at all!
If you’re over here like, “Shanel. Hold on. My baby isn’t even on a schedule yet.” Or, “What are awake windows?” Pause. We have some work to do, and I can help! Start by subscribing here and getting my free guide, “3 Steps to Creating Your Baby’s Ideal Schedule” - you’ll be on my email list and get all the goodies that go along with it!
Oh, and if your little one has been waking earlier than you like, Spring Ahead might help “fix” the issue temporarily, as wake up time will be shifted by about an hour, until baby naturally adjusts and then early mornings may return. If early mornings are a thing right now and you’d like to fix it so it stays fixed, let’s chat! There are a few things we can do to troubleshoot early mornings. You can book a free Discovery Call with me to learn more about my services and how I can help you.
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