We are all looking forward to the lighter evenings that the clock change brings us, however for some babies and children the transition is not always smooth. Below are some tips to help you with the change.
Firstly for some children making the transition gradual can really help, although you may find that when the clocks go forward the transition is much easier even without a gradual change.
The second thing to take into consideration is that one of the key factors in changing the body clock to be ready for sleep and to wake up at a certain time is LIGHT! So using light to help your child adjust can be the key. With the evenings becoming lighter you may find that you need to invest in heavy curtains or black out blinds to help keep the room nice and cosy and dimly lit HOWEVER you can also use TINFOIL! If you wipe the window with a damp cloth then tinfoil (aluminium foil) sticks really well to the window and blocks out all light coming through.
One great benefit of the clocks going forward comes if you are experiencing issues with your child waking very early in the morning as 5.30am ‘old time’ becomes 6.30am ‘new time’! If this is the case immediately move to the time you would like them to wake ‘new’ time.
The loss of an hour may mean that your child is a bit out of sorts for a day or too try and push through with the usual naps rather than over compensating and letting them nap a little longer as I find this helps them to transition more quickly.
If your child struggles with the change consistency is key, and with a consistent approach and the help of LIGHT then your child should soon adjust.
One final point is that some parents find they can use the clock change to help reset a child’s schedule, so if a baby is naturally going to bed early and waking early but the parents prefer to shift things a little later then this can be the perfect opportunity for this to happen naturally, just put baby to bed at their normal time and move them immediately an hour later as of the next morning... if they naturally wake at 6am this will be 7am on the ‘new’ time and as such they can be put to bed at 7pm the following evening and the adjustment is made (hopefully!)