Daylight Savings TIme (DST) is fast approaching meaning the clocks will be changing soon here in the UK and will be moving forward by 1 hour.

On the last sunday in March every year our clocks ‘spring forward’ an hour at 1 am ( making it 2am) marking the start of British Summer time. This year the clocks change on Sunday March  25th.

This means we lose an hour of sleep but  great news for parents of little ones who like to wake up ready to party at the butt crack of dawn!

So in anticipation of Spring forward should you plan ahead for the time change?

That all depends on you & your little one, your little ones personality and ability to cope with overtiredness and slight change will determine how you might  decide to prepare for the clock change.

 If Your Little One is Laid Back & Easy Going.....

If your little one is a laid back easy going kid who can be flexible, and copes with small  changes & overtiredness fairly well, you may not need to do anything different to help them adjust sleepwise- all you’'ll need to do is follow the clock and they’re usual routine as normal. However you may want to bare in mind they may get cranky & become slightly more challenging behaviour wise because they've lost an hour of sleep ( as have you!)

Maintain their daily routines as usual and after a couple of days they should be fine.

If your little one is an early bird and wakes up at 6 am usually they will now be waking up at 7am!! ( wooo hooo! result!)

If your little one is a grumpy or  touchy personality type .....

If your little one is a grumpy, touchy  personality type  who needs their structure and  strict routine kept in place because they don’t deal well with change and can get overwhelmed or overtired quite easily planning ahead will help you and them adjust to the clock changes better.

 

Around 4 days or so ahead of the clock change ( wed 21st March) start bringing forward the times of their daily routine by 10/15min per day. So start the day and do everything from that point onwards 10/15 mins earlier than you normally do.

 

So if nap time is usually at 10am  bring it forward by 15 mins to 9.45 on wednesday. On  thursday bring it forward another 15 mins to 9.30. Friday bring it forward again to  9.15 & the  saturday to 9am. On sunday morning after the clocks have changed it will be back to 10am, (which is really 11 am because we have lost an hour) 

Remember to push everything in your daily routine forward by 15 mins the above is an example (dont just bring forward nap times)

It will make sense once the clocks change and your little one is not too cranky and overtired, due to losing an hour.

 

If your child is kind of inbetween the two about personality temperament types above

Perhaps you have a  spirited/text book kid, who copes well with changes and can be flexible but your worried about how well they will cope with being more tired or overwhelmed. You could just change things by 30 mins over the weekend instead of the 15 min increments over 4 days as suggested for kids dont cope so well with overtiredness.

So on friday and saturday bring your routine timings forward by 30 mins, so that come sunday they are back onto their schedules. For example  i.e bedtime at 6.30pm instead of 7pm, nap times at 9,30 am instead of 10 am so that come sunday they are back to normal timing and you have a less cranky tired little one.

Again remember to bring everything in your daily routine forward by 30 mins the above is an example 

Remember we are losing an hour of sleep so it may take a few days for you and your little ones to adjust or they may just slot into the new times no trouble. You won’t really know til the clocks change but you know your little ones better than anyone so if you know they don’t cope well with being overtired it is best to shift timings back in advance of the clock changes to avoid too much upset when it does happen.

Lots of luck and start the the time shifting on Wednesday the 21st of March if your little one does not deal well with change and overtiredness!!!

 If you have any questions for me just ask away in the comments below and dont forget to #sharethiswithyourmumfriends!