Daylight Saving and Baby Sleep, The Summer Edition!
Woohoo, summer is almost here for some parts of the world! That means it's time to change the clocks forward.
That means that your baby's 6 AM wake-up won't be so bad now because it'll be 7 AM, right?!? But will your baby just naturally adjust if you start waking them at the new 7 AM?
Unfortunately it's not quite that simple, as your baby's body clock will still need time to adjust from the old time to the new.
The changeover for summer isn't as hard as the other way heading towards winter. But if you want to be super prepared, we'll explain how you can gradually adjust your little one's day.
In this article:
- Adjusting your baby's day BEFORE daylight saving starts
- Adjusting your baby's day AFTER daylight saving starts
Adjusting your baby's day BEFORE daylight saving starts
The concept here is quite simple; every second day you wake your baby in the morning 15 minutes EARLIER than the usual time. You then continue to run the rest of their day 15 minutes earlier as well - so their feeds, nap times and bedtime will all be 15 minutes earlier.
If you follow this process, by the end of the week, your baby's whole routine will have shifted earlier by one hour.
This is what it would look like if you start to prepare the week before daylight savings starts (assuming you run a 7-7 day normally):
| Morning wake | All naps and feeds/meals | Bed time | |
| Monday & Tuesday | 6.45 AM | 15 minutes earlier than normal | 6.45 PM |
| Wednesday & Thursday | 6.30 AM | 30 minutes earlier than normal | 6.30 PM |
| Friday & Saturday | 6.15 AM | 45 minutes earlier than normal | 6.15 PM |
| Sunday | 7.00 AM!! (the old 6 AM) | Continue as normal | 7.00 PM |
Adjusting your baby's day AFTER daylight saving starts
If the clocks have already changed and you haven't changed your wee one's sleep in preparation, don't worry! You can still gradually adjust your baby's day day over the course of a week.
This is what it would look like (assuming you run a 7-7 day normally):
| Morning wake | All naps and feeds/meals | Bed time | |
| Monday & Tuesday | 7.45 AM (the old 6.45 AM) | 15 minutes earlier than normal | 7.45 PM (the old 6.45 PM) |
| Wednesday & Thursday | 7.30 AM | 30 minutes earlier than normal | 7.30 PM |
| Friday & Saturday | 7.15 AM | 45 minutes earlier than normal | 7.15 PM |
| Sunday | 7.00 AM!! | Continue as normal | 7.00 PM |
This shift in nap and bed times will be a lot easier if your baby or toddler already has an established, predictable pattern to their day.
If you need some help with this, our comprehensive Sleep Programs have evolving, age-appropriate, daily sleep and feed schedules that you can follow to ensure your little one is getting the sleep they need for their growth and development.
