Clock changes: two ways to handle them
The clocks change this weekend and you are wondering how much damage is coming. For most babies the honest answer is not much - and for the sensitive ones there is a week-long version that avoids it entirely.
3 min read
An hour is a small shift, and most children absorb it within two or three days without any intervention. It is worth knowing which direction hurts, though, because they are not symmetrical.
In autumn, when the clocks go back, a baby who woke at six now wakes at five. That is the difficult one. In spring, when they go forward, a five o’clock riser becomes a six o’clock riser, which most families are delighted by - the difficulty in spring is bedtime, which now falls an hour earlier by the body’s reckoning.
Method one: do nothing
Switch to the new time on the day. Meals, naps and bedtime all on the new clock from Sunday morning.
Get outside in the morning. Daylight does the adjusting. This is the active ingredient.
Expect two or three odd days. Then it settles by itself.
Best for most babies. And for anyone who does not want to think about it, which is a legitimate preference.
Method two: shift gradually
Starting four days before, move everything - bedtime, naps, meals - by fifteen minutes a day, in the direction of the change. By the day the clocks move, your baby is already on the new time and nothing happens.
This is worth doing for babies who are genuinely sensitive to timing - the ones for whom a twenty-minute variation shows up that night - and for anyone already struggling with early waking who cannot afford to lose another hour in October.
Autumn is the one that costs you. Spring mostly hands you an hour back.
Autumn specifically
If early waking is already a problem, prepare for the October change rather than absorbing it. Check the blackout before the change rather than after - a room that was dark enough in October may not be, and mornings get lighter again quickly in spring.
Whatever you decide counts as morning, hold it. If 5:15 becomes the start of the day on the first Monday, that becomes the new normal within a week.
How long
Two to four days with the do-nothing approach. Effectively none with the gradual one. If it has not settled after a fortnight, the clock change is no longer the cause and it is worth looking at the schedule.
What to do about naps
Move them with everything else rather than treating them separately. If you are using the gradual method, naps shift by the same fifteen minutes a day as bedtime. If you are switching straight over, naps go onto the new clock immediately, which means one day of a slightly odd-feeling schedule and then it is done.
The one thing to avoid is splitting the difference - bedtime on the new time and naps on the old one. That produces wake windows that fit nothing and is usually why a clock change appears to cause a fortnight of trouble rather than three days.
The week before October
If early waking is already a problem, October is worth preparing for rather than absorbing. Check the blackout at five in the morning rather than in the afternoon, and fix any light leaks before the change rather than after - a room that was adequate in September is being asked to do more once the mornings shift.
It is also the moment to be firm about what counts as morning. Whatever time you decide, hold it from the first day. If 5:15 becomes the start of the day on the first Monday because everyone is disoriented, that becomes the new normal within a week and takes considerably longer to undo.
When to stop troubleshooting
Persistent early waking or disrupted sleep lasting weeks after a clock change is not about the clock. Look at wake windows, light and total sleep - and speak to your health visitor if there is snoring, noisy breathing or daytime exhaustion.
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