I am sure other mothers are dreading this too? Any thougths on how to change a baby's schedule to meet daylight saving time change? My 10 month old currently goes to bed between 7 & 7:30, wakes up between 4:30-5:30 for a feeding and then back down for bed until 7am. There have been a few times that he has missed the early morning feeding but wakes up at 6 for the morning. I have been moving things 15 mins forward (so going to bed at 7:30-8:00 right now so when time changes it would be 6:30-7:00) to change but he is still waking up the same time. I am dreading this all happening an hour earlier so him waking up at 5am on the mornings he skips the feeding and wakes up for the day!
I remember my other one struggling with this when he was a baby for months! Any help would be much appreciated!
Thank you everyone. I actually woke up at the old "5am" or the new "4am" this morning worrying and fretting about the baby waking up and and the time change. So, even though he had not woke up yet, I was awake. Yes-I too see the "sleeping an hour more" in the spring is the case for me as well. The baby woke up at 6am-right on time! I will try the reverse technique and see how it goes! I second it argh to time change!
I put a big blanket over my son's (1 yr old) window since we only have blinds and the sun always shines directly in my DS room first thing in the morning. I will eventually get some blackout drapes, but for the time being, the "bat cave" thing seems to be working. In fact, he's actually sleeping longer right now than before the time change. Hope I don't jinx it!
Ah, the time change. It affects us all. Really, the babies are the least affected, I think, because they don't have to go to school or work and can change much more gradually. As a kindergarten teacher, I remember the difficulty the kids had adjusting their schedule to the clock-imposed one at school - sluggish for a week on both ends of daylight savings.
I think you found the key - don't stress too much. He'll gradually get used to the new time. You're actually quite lucky to have him on such a schedule, and he should adjust his schedule.
For the record, I think we should do away with the time-change craziness altogether ;)
it is fall (spring forward, fall back), so it will actually be later on the wall clock, it is the spring when this will be more of an issue.
My 2 girls are, almost 3 and 15 months. The way I handled the time change is by allowing them to stay up later for 2 to 3 nights before the time change. It was h*** o* my 15 month old but it worked out well. It was definitely worth her being cranky for a couple of nights to not be up at 4:30-5:00 today. She was up early because she is teething but went back down for a little bit.
Hope this helps.
-M.
15 mintues at a time for two days each for a week or two should do it. I actually did a reverse back to sleep technique with my babies. My line was 6 am. anything before, I went in, patted them, said "it is too early, back to sleep." they'd cry for like two mornings but I would get them up after 15 mintues or so. But by a week, they weren't awaking until after 6am or even 7...Today, as preschoolers, tey woke at 7:15 which was awesome...thanks Halloween for maing them so tired they needed to slep in.
Hi. For the last several nights, I began pushing (14 mths.)Bella's bedtime forward an hour from 630 to 730, so it would be 630 when we turned our clocks back. She usually would sleep at least ten hours before she got up to BF and recently she's been only sleeping nine hours and getting up at the same time in the morning. No matter what time I put her down to bed, she alwaysss gets up around 5-530am for her feeding. Then, she goes back down too until about 7am-715am.
So, I didn't know what to do, if I should just revert back to her original bedtime, but that would mean putting her to bed at 530pm! Then, this afternoon she took an unheard nap of 3 hoursss!!!! Her naps range from 1-1.5 hrs and she only takes one as of a month ago. So, now I'm thinking she's trying to adjust to the new time. I'm going to wait a few days and see how long her naps are and her bedtime as well and see if she's getting enough sleep like she did before the clocks turned back. Basically, I'm going to play it by ear and keep track of her hours of total sleep for the day and take it from there. I just wish we didn't have to deal with the time chaning...grrr..they sure didn't think of us moms when they were doing this! haha.
Good Luck,
P.
I don't have any advice, just sympathy, but I'm up at 5:23 emailing, if that tells you anything about our schedule right now. I was worried about daylight savings throwing us off, but apparently the teething is going to be even more of an issue. :)
Good luck!
I'm sure you realized this, but Anne got it backwards. I am feeling your pain! My baby woke up for the day an hour "earlier" today too! Maybe we will get to church on time today! lol!
Actually when my kids were babies and we went through time changes, it was amazing how little it seemed to affect them. We would start changing bedtime in 15 minute increments as you are doing, and pretty soon they just seem to adjust their waking times. It never ended up being a big deal, and hopefully you'll find the same thing. Good luck!
I feel your pain! I have no advice...just know that the time changes ruin Mom's schedules and sleep patterns and most of us are in the same boat! Everyone is "gaining an hour of sleep"...not me, my kids got up at 5:30a.m., which feels like 6:30a.m. to them. I don't gain an hour until Spring, when everyone else loses an hour. When the time goes forward in the spring, and my kids wake up when their bodies are used to waking up, I will know what time it "feels like" but the clock will say an hour later. I will then say to myself, "Wow, it's 7:30a.m.!!! The kids slept in!!!" when we all know it's really 6:30a.m. Gggrrrr to time changes!
