Clock Change Tips: Adjusting Your Child’s Sleep Schedule

3rd October 2023 0 Comments

How to Help Your Child Adjust to the End of Daylight Saving Time

At 2 a.m. on Sunday,October 27th, 2024, the clocks in the UK will go back one hour, marking the end of Daylight Saving Time. While many look forward to an extra hour of sleep, parents of young children might find this change a little more challenging. Just when you’ve finally got your little one sleeping until 6 a.m., the clock change can throw off their routine.

So, how can tired parents ensure they also get to enjoy that extra hour in bed? Here are some tried-and-tested strategies to help you manage your child’s body clock during the time change.

How to Help Your Child Adjust to the Clock Change

Tip 1: Gradually adjust bedtime ahead of the clock change

Start preparing your child’s body clock about 10 to 12 days before the clock changes. Shift their bedtime 15 minutes later every three nights. For example, if they normally go to bed at 7:30 p.m., move it to 7:45 p.m. After three days, shift it again to 8:00 p.m. Initially your child may still wake at the same time, but this gradual change will help their body adjust to the new time without sudden disruptions. Don’t forget to adjust naps, meals, and milk feeds along with bedtime.

Tip 2: Use natural light to your advantage

Natural light is one of the biggest influences on our circadian rhythm (body clock). Encourage your child to spend time outdoors, especially in the afternoon. Exposure to natural light will help them stay awake longer, making it easier to adjust to the new bedtime.

Tip 3: Create a calming bedtime wind-down

In the hour leading up to bedtime, it’s important to help your child wind down. Aim for quiet activities like reading a book or singing soft lullabies. Avoid screens during this time—research shows that the blue light from screens can delay melatonin production, making it harder for your child to fall asleep.

Tip 4: Stick to a consistent bedtime routine

Consistency is key for a smooth bedtime. Around 30 minutes before your child’s new bedtime, start a calming routine.

A suggested bedtime routine might include:

A warm bath: Keep it short (about 10 minutes), and avoid playtime to prevent overstimulation.
Dim the bedroom lights: Lower the lights in the room to stimulate melatonin production.
Quiet story time: Read one or two stories or sing a soft lullaby. Afterwards, cuddle your child, kiss them goodnight, and tuck them in with their favourite toy.
Time to sleep: Leave the room when they’re drowsy to encourage independent sleep. Ideally, they should fall asleep within 15 minutes.

Tip 5: Adjust meals and morning feeds gradually

Just as you adjust bedtime, it’s important to delay your child’s meals and morning milk feeds by 15 minutes every few days. This will prevent them from waking up early expecting food and help them adapt to the new schedule.

Tip 6: Set up a visual wake-up cue

To help your child understand when it’s time to wake up, try setting up a lamp on a timer in their bedroom. Set the light to turn on 15 minutes later than their current wake-up time, and explain that they should stay in bed until the light comes on. Praise them for staying in bed, and gradually adjust the light to come on later as bedtime shifts.

By taking these small, gradual steps, you can help make the transition to the end of daylight saving time smoother for both you and your child. Instead of dreading the clock change, you might just be able to enjoy that extra hour of rest!

0 Comments

See what parents' say about us

When feeling overwhelmed by tiredness and in need of real sleep help, Millpond’s ‘Teach Your Child to Sleep’ is a much welcomed, well researched resource. This is an easy read with a practical nurturing approach that walks you and your child through to a good night sleep.
Rozanne Hay, UK Representative and Director for Continuing Education IACSC International Association Of Child Sleep consultants
The Millpond approach is non-prescriptive and [their] book offers lots of choices for parents to match their own goals and parenting styles. I would heartily recommend it for anyone already experiencing problems with sleep or to set up good sleep habits proactively.
Melissa Hood, founder of The Parent Practice
This baby and child sleep guide is the perfect combination of accessible science, Mandy’s years of experience and a mother’s warmth. I love the way things fall into place with Mandy’s clear and thorough explanations!
Diana Hill, co founder of Essential Parent
Millpond’s brilliant blend of commonsense, encouragement and understanding – plus a highly logical strategy that is easy to implement – changed hell into heaven literally overnight. My entire family is thus indebted to Mandy and her team.
Freya North, Author
I am a GP and would recommend Millpond to any sleep deprived parents; you cannot put a price on sleep. Thank you so much. I only wish I hadn’t waited 19 months.
Vanessa, GP
We are so happy that we put our trust in you to help us with what has been a huge problem for our family for almost 2 years. We are finding time to relax and time for each other and I did not realise how much we missed this time.
Ben
As a family, we were sleep deprived. The tailored plan for our son made it personal. I am really pleased with what we’ve achieved during the programme and I am thankful to Juliet and Millpond.
Evrim.
We were at rock bottom. Our son has a neurological condition, so I was nervous and and wanted a sleep clinic who had experience of this and would adapt to the needs of our son. Our lives literally changed overnight!
Shurron
Within weeks our son was waking only once a night. The investment we made into Millpond was one of the best we’ve ever made. It gave my son a solid night sleep and consistency. It gave me and my husband our sanity back.
Shurron
I am delighted. I was aiming to go from 6+ wakes at night and feeding to sleep 100% of the time to 1-2 wake ups and some ability to self-settle. After doing the plan for less than 6 weeks my daughter started sleeping through the night.
Katie
My daughter is now having quite a bit more than the average sleep for her age and it’s lovely to see her waking up naturally. I’m also waking up naturally and feeling much more refreshed for having a regular sleep routine myself!
Louise
We are so happy we could jump for joy, we wish we had spoken to you ages ago. Using Millpond has built our confidence and made us feel on top of it at last. You really gave us some life back!
Sarah
I live in Switzerland so it is really quite remarkable that Millpond was able to help me over the phone and by email. When you have slept you can deal with anything!!
Melanie
We still can’t believe that such small changes have made such a difference to us and Alice. She has even slept through while on holiday in a travel cot.
Louise
We are just so sorry we did not get in touch sooner as we went through 18 months of no sleep.
Ann Marie
Thank you, thank you, thank you!! We never thought life could be improved so greatly. You showed us the light. Luka is much happier and loving his sleep now.!
Diane
Alex is sleeping beautifully again and is now quite happy to lay in his cot singing until 7.30/745 am ( Godsend!) and sleeps very happily through the night again. Thank you so much!
Sandy
Very happy to say that Joshua, who you helped us with, is now sleeping a regular 11 hours a night uninterrupted. In fact, getting him up some mornings is a real challenge!
John
Mandy has been an absolute saviour at a time which was starting to feel quite bleak in terms of our little one’s sleep. The personalised advice and guidance has been invaluable.
Mary
“My husband and I reached out to the Millpond Sleep Clinic when our son was 10 months old. We had spent months in vain trying a variety of sleep training tips that we had picked up online, in a desperate attempt to get our son to sleep for more than 2 hour stretches! Nothing seemed to work. I remember crying whilst breastfeeding for the 5th time one evening, desperately begging my little one to sleep. We felt like we had been failing for a long time, as my circle of mum friends had all got their babies sleeping through so much earlier. I needed to get more sleep, with the return to work looming ever closer.

When we called Millpond, we were quickly introduced to Juliet who immediately took the pressure off us by providing a detailed “plan of action” based on what she had heard about our son’s sleep routine. After just a few nights, we already started to see big sleep improvements, and we worked confidently towards reducing our son’s night wakings and the duration of his night feeds. After a couple of weeks we had gone from 4-5 night wakings to just 1… and a few weeks later, our son started to sleep through! The biggest relief ever.

Throughout the whole process Juliet had been knowledgeable, kind, reassuring and made herself available to answer our questions over email between our sessions. Her experience as a mother herself, and highly trained sleep professional shone through. We can’t thank you enough for helping us through a rough time – and seeing us through to better days (and importantly, nights!!)
Cheryl