If the impending time change makes you nervous for your child’s sleep, never fear! You have options for adjusting her sleep and keeping the nice, predictable schedule you’ve worked so hard to obtain. Below you’ll find detailed information about how to adjust the schedule overnight or over the course of a week, and if you’d like a printable sheet with times for each day, I have a free Spring DST guide!
Additionally, if your child currently struggles with early morning wake-ups, you can use this time change to try to shift the schedule later. Simply allow everything in their schedule to shift one hour later!
When it comes to adjusting Baby’s schedule for DST, you can choose a fast, medium, or slow transition option, and they’ll all work out just fine eventually. Keep in mind that we can’t force Baby to sleep when she won’t; we can only enforce Crib60 and the times we get her out of her crib. So even if she doesn’t follow the schedule of the day the way it’s laid out, that’s okay — YOU are the one to help Baby acclimate to the schedule.
Younger babies (4-18 months) tend to do better with slower transitions, while older children (18+ months) can handle the quicker change. Whichever method you choose, make sure to expose Baby to plenty of sunlight and even artificial light to help re-set her biological clock to the new schedule. Also try to adjust other aspects of the schedule, like mealtimes, to fit with the schedule the way you’re adjusting it!
Fast
The simplest way to deal with DST is to do Baby’s normal schedule both the day before DST and the day after, using a training method you’re comfortable with to enforce the schedule on the day after.
For babies 6+ months, I recommend the following schedule parameters:
Wake-up time no earlier than 6am, no later than 8am
Nap 1 at 9am - Use Crib60
Nap 2 at 1pm - Use Crib60
Nap 3/bedtime after a designated amount of waketime (based on age)
You can see more details of my scheduling recommendations in my free scheduling guide.
If Baby typically wakes up at 6:30am, naps at 9:00-10:30am and 1:00-3:00pm, and goes to bed around 6:30pm, you’ll follow that schedule the day before DST and the day after, despite the fact that the times have all shifted.
The day after DST, Baby may want to sleep until 7:30am, but instead you’ll wake her at her usual 6:30am. Since she will have gotten a shorter night of sleep, she may seem ready for her nap before 9am, but she may also do just fine getting there. Either way, put her down for her nap at the new 9:00am. Use Crib60 for the nap, and wake Baby from this nap after she’s slept the normal amount of time.
Medium
If you want to ease into DST a little bit slower, you can adjust the schedule by 20 or 30 minutes over a few days.
To adjust by 30 minutes: Two days before DST, Baby wakes up at 6:30am, naps at 9am and 1pm, and goes to bed at 6:30pm — her normal schedule. The next day (Saturday), you’ll shift everything 30 minutes earlier than usual, so you’ll wake her up at 6:00am. Then you’ll put her down for nap 1 at 8:30am, nap 2 at 12:30pm, and bed at 6:00pm. On the day of the time change, you’ll wake Baby at (new) 6:30am and put her down for her naps at (new) 9am and 1pm, and for bed at (new) 6:30pm.
To adjust by 20 minutes: Three days before DST, Baby wakes up at 6:30am, naps at 9am and 1pm, and goes to bed at 6:30pm — her normal schedule. The next day (Friday), you’ll shift everything 20 minutes earlier than usual, so you’ll wake her at 6:10am. Then you’ll put her down for nap 1 at 8:40am, nap 2 at 12:40pm, and bed at 6:10pm. The following day (Saturday), you’ll shift everything 20 minutes earlier again (5:50am, 8:20am, 12:42pm, 5:50pm). On the day of the time change, you’ll wake Baby at (new) 6:30am, put her down for naps at (new) 9am and 1pm, and for bed at (new) 6:30pm.
Slow
If you’re catching this blog post far enough in advance of DST, you can do a slower option. A week before DST, begin shifting Baby’s schedule 10 minutes earlier each day.
On day 1, Baby’s schedule will be: 6:30am wake, 9:00am nap, 1:00pm nap, 6:30pm bedtime.
On day 2, Baby’s schedule will be: 6:20am wake, 8:50am nap, 12:50pm nap, 6:20pm bedtime.
On day 3, Baby’s schedule will be: 6:10am wake, 8:40am nap, 12:40pm nap, 6:10pm bedtime.
And so on, until the day before DST, Baby’s schedule will be: 5:40am wake, 8:10am nap, 12:10pm nap, 5:40pm bedtime.
Then on the day of DST, you’ll use your normal timing again.
If Baby is 4-6 months and you’re not yet using a circadian schedule, just cut back on the last waketime by 10 minutes so that it pulls Baby’s schedule slightly earlier each day, until she’s back to waking and sleeping when she usually does. So if, for instance, Baby usually goes to bed around 7pm and her waketime has her going to bed at 7:05pm that night, try putting her down at 6:55pm instead. Hopefully she’ll wake 10 minutes earlier the next morning so that the whole schedule will shift (or you can wake her 10 minutes early). Then continue to shift her bedtime each night (using her waketime - 10 minutes or so) to continue to shift her morning wakeups and subsequent naps.
If Baby is under 4 months, you likely don’t even have to worry about DST since their schedules are so irregular anyway!
So don’t fret too much about the time change — Baby will adjust just fine as long as you consistently stick to your plan of action. Remember that Baby may be a little bit off the normal schedule, and it can take a few days or even a couple weeks for Baby to fully acclimate. Think of it like normal sleep training, when babies’ schedules are drastically changed and they then have to adjust to the new, age-appropriate schedule. Just as with normal sleep training, consistency and proper scheduling will be key ingredients to your success!
Grab that free DST guide here to help remind you exactly how to shift each day.
And if you find that Baby’s schedule simply isn’t returning to normal — or if Baby was never on a predictable schedule to begin with — don’t hesitate to schedule a discovery call or book a full consultation to get things on track.