What time do I put my child or children to bed when the clocks go back?
There is much confusion around when to put your child to bed the night before the clocks go back. In the UK, the clocks usually go back by an hour at the end of October, this may differ depending where you are in the world.
I see many parents suggest by not changing their baby or toddler’s sleep times, that they hope that they will wake later. The bad news is that the probability of your child waking up earlier is higher than lower.
What does the clock change mean for you as a parent?
When the clocks go back, it means the time falls back by an hour. Before becoming a parent, this would mean you would get an extra hour in bed, but unfortunately now this is no longer the case. If you put your child to bed at 7pm the night before the clocks change, and your child usually wakes at 6am, it is highly probable they will wake at 5am (new time). Not good news if you already have an early riser waking at 4 or 5am.
What can you do to prevent early rising and extra wake ups?
· You choose to do absolutely nothing, aka wing it and hope for the best. The benefit of this is that you don’t need to adjust anything and go with the flow. The downside is that if your child’s sleep is disturbed, then it may take 10-14 days to settle down. You may experience overtiredness, extra night wakings and further early rising.
· You start to adjust your child’s sleep times, on the Monday before the clock change. This is a super gentle approach, where you can push meal times, nap times and bedtime later in increments, so that by the night before the clock change your baby or toddler is going to bed an hour later than normal. E.g. If they usually go to bed at 7pm they will go back to bed at 8pm.
· You start to adjust your child’s sleep times, on the Wednesday or Thursday before the clock change. This is a in the middle approach, where you push meal times, nap times and bedtime later by 15 minute increments per day.
· It is too late, you didn’t remember it was the clock change or your baby or toddler messed up the “plan”. Don’t panic, you can follow any one of the 3 options above to amend your child’s sleep times after the clock change has happened.
What else can I do to minimise sleep disruption ahead of the clock change?
Your Sleep
It maybe teaching you to suck eggs but I know what it is like being a sleep deprived parent. Your evenings may be your only time for you and therefore you end up going to bed later than you need to. Do try to bring your own bedtime earlier by 15 minutes a day in the next few days so that you get yourself a little more sleep in preparation for potential disturbed sleep.
Daylight
Make sure child is outside in daylight as much as possible. The daylight helps to regulate our sleep and awake cycles, which is key for the clock change and overall sleep quality
Meal times
Don’t forget to also amend the timing of meals. Sleep and meal times are hugely interlinked, when we eat meals this (hormonally) triggers when we sleep. For example, if your child usually eats dinner at 5pm, start to slowly push this later so that your child is eating 90 minutes-2 hours before bedtime.
No pressure
As a working parent, it may not be possible to change times drastically. You can only do what you can do, so take my advice and make it your own so that it fits in your working day.
There are my tips on how to manage the clock change and your child’s sleep.
