Daylight Savings with a baby: Fall Back Edition

Disclaimer: It will be helpful to read this post with a glass of wine in-hand. 

Additional disclaimer: The steps to navigating Daylight Savings are different when we Spring Forward, so only follow these steps when we Fall Back. 

Anyone else need to take a brief pause here to ward off the impending panic attack coming on at the words “Daylight Savings”? 

We used to sigh when it was time to “fall back” with Daylight Savings, knowing that it would mean gaining a whole hour of our typical 10-hour sleep. Now we have kids. Enough said. 

To be fair, DS does take a lot out of a parent. 

We have to do the mental math to figure out the new sleep schedule, which is essentially:

2 tired parents + X kids on X schedules - 1 hour of time (divided by) 3 parts over 6 days + 18 cups of coffee = ? (see answer below)

It does not take into consideration the fact that we are in the middle of dropping a nap, cluster feeding, going through a developmental leap, or the 4 month sleep regression. 

Nevermind the fact that we are already trying to stay sane while keeping little humans alive 168 hours a week. Well, this week is only 167 hours, so that’s something (shrug)?

Here’s the good news: We have the steps to successfully transition your kiddos to the new schedule. And trust me, these steps have been quadruple-checked and are rock solid. 

Two days before DS: Put your little one to bed 15 minutes later than usual. If bedtime is typically 7pm, then lay baby down at 7:15pm. Do this again the next night.

On DS: Move bedtime another 15 minutes later. Since clocks have changed, a bedtime that was 7pm two days ago will now be 6:30pm (the old 7:30pm). This is where parents get confused. Just do it. Trust the process.

Two days later: Move bedtime another 15 minutes. A bedtime that was originally 7pm will now be 6:45pm (the old 7:45pm).

Finally after two more days: Move bedtime another 15 minutes. And you have arrived (whew). The bedtime that was once 7pm on the old time is now 7pm on the new time.

You have completed your baby’s bedtime schedule journey by shifting bedtime in 15-minute increments every two days. You deserve an award. Now finish that glass of wine and relax.

Check out the video below for how to bounce back after the time change!

See you in another 6 months,

Anna

Answer: brain death.