It's time to spring forward on March 14!

I feel like it was just yesterday that I was blogging about the end of daylight savings time and now it is time to “spring forward”. Parents of young children often dread the time change because the adjustment does not usually happen immediately and it can really throw off our little one’s schedule. The good news is this time change is not as hard as “fall back” because we move our clocks AHEAD one hour. So if you have an early riser, instead of waking at 6am, they will wake at 7am!

Even though this is typically the easier transition of the time change, there are some things you can do to help make it go a little smoother. My recommendation is to leave your clock alone Saturday night. Wake up Sunday morning, have breakfast, then go around your house and change your clocks. Psychologically, it will feel much better for everyone if you wait until Sunday morning to change the time. 

Children

My best advice for children to help them with the change is to split the difference with the old time and the new time. How does that work? If you have a child that does not nap and normally goes to bed at 7:00pm, you would put him to bed at 7:30pm on Sunday night, the first night of the time change. Do this for 3 nights, putting him to bed 30 minutes later than normal, then on the 4th night put him to bed at the normal time, 7:00pm or whatever is normal bedtime for your child. 

Older Babies & Toddlers

If you have an older baby or toddler, I would suggest that on the first day of the time change, you put your child down for their first nap 30 minutes later than normal. So if they normally nap at 9:30am, you would put them down at 10:00am. You would do the same with the afternoon nap if they take an afternoon nap. For bedtime, if your child’s normal bedtime is 7:00pm, you would put them down at 7:30pm. Do this for 3 nights after the time change and then on the 4th night, put your little one to bed at 7:00pm and on 5th day move nap times back to normal time. So if your child naps at 9:30am, put them down at 9:30am and so on with the rest of the day. 

Infants (under 6 months)

If your baby is not yet on a predictable schedule, simply jump into the new time on Sunday using their age-appropriate wake windows. If you’re wanting to push your baby’s bedtime a little later, this is a great opportunity to do that.

Below are some example sample schedules. Please keep in mind that these are just examples. If your child’s schedule is different, simple use these adjustments as guides. Also, if your little one is struggling with early morning wake ups, there is no need to make any adjustments - this time change will help shift the schedule later!