It’s Magic! Using the ‘Spring Ahead’ transition to fix early waking
Is your child awake for the day at a time that most people would consider nighttime? If so, then the spring daylight saving time transition is the perfect time to get back on track. Fixing early waking is one of the hardest problems to solve because the circadian rhythm resets to light exposure each morning and just a little light in the morning can cause your baby or toddler to ‘lock in’ to an early wake time. Although the ‘spring ahead’ transition won’t do a thing to your child’s circadian rhythm, it will lead to a later wake time by the clock and if you are savvy about the transition you can make it stick! When we spring ahead 4:30 AM becomes 5:30 AM, so if you keep your child’s biological sleep schedule, then the clocks will do the hard work for you.
Here’s what you need to do:
If your child wakes too early but is getting enough sleep overall:
Do not make any adjustments for the time change. Simply put your child down an hour later for bedtime and naps the Sunday after the time change (check our age-by-stage chart if you aren't sure your child is getting enough sleep). Here's an example of how it will work:
Imagine that your child sleeps from 7:00 pm to 5:00 am (10 hours of overnight sleep is perfectly normal for a 2-year-old), with a nap from ~11:30 am until 1:30 pm.
On the Sunday after the time change your child’s biological clock will be promoting sleep from 8:00 pm to 6:00 am by the clock.
Do not wake your child in the morning.
Put your child down for his/her nap(s) one hour later at 12:30 pm. Remember, this will be the same time as normal in your child's body.
At bedtime put your child one hour later than normal by the clock. Remember, 8:00 pm on Sunday is the same time as 7:00 pm on Saturday, so nothing is different from your child’s perspective. It is a good idea to get out and get lots of sunshine and bright light in the evening before bed to really keep that later schedule locked in.
Keep all light out of your child's room in the morning until your target time. A tiny bit of light in the morning can reset your child’s clock to an earlier wake time. If you really want to keep the later wake time, then you must not let your child be exposed to light at an earlier hour.
Keep putting your child down one hour later by the clock for naps and bedtime and the later wake time should stick.
If your child is getting enough sleep at night, then you’re done! Enjoy those later mornings!
If your child wakes too early and is not getting enough sleep at night on average:
Check out our age-by-stage sleep chart to see what a normal duration of sleep is for your child’s age. If your child is not getting enough sleep at night, you can move nap time and bedtime an hour later on the Sunday after the time change. On subsequent days, slowly move bedtime earlier in 10-15-minute increments every two days until your child is getting enough sleep. You may not know how much sleep your child actually needs, so it’s essential that you make this change slowly in order to preserve that later wake time. Here's an example of how this works:
Let’s imagine that your child sleeps from 7:00 pm until 5:00 am before the time change, with a nap from ~11:30 am until 1:30 pm. In this case, your child never seems rested during the day and you think that your child needs 10.5 hours of sleep overnight on average.
On the Sunday after the time change your child’s biological clock will be promoting sleep from 8:00 pm to 6:00 am by the clock.
Do not wake your child in the morning.
Put your child down for his/her nap(s) one hour later, at 12:30 pm. Remember this will be the same time as normal in your child's body.
At bedtime put your child one hour later than normal by the clock. Remember, 8:00 pm on Sunday is the same time as 7:00 pm on Saturday, so nothing is different from your child’s perspective.
It is a good idea to get out and get lots of sunshine and bright light in the evening before bed to really keep that later schedule locked in.
On Monday, put your child down at 7:45 pm (15 minutes earlier than the night before). If wake time doesn’t shift earlier, go on to the next step.
If wake time does shift earlier, move bedtime back to 8:00 pm and keep it there. Your child may be getting enough sleep at night and moving bedtime earlier may just lead to an earlier wake time.
On Tuesday, put your child down at 7:45 pm. If wake time doesn’t shift earlier, go on to the next step.
If wake time does shift earlier, move bedtime back to 8:00 pm and keep it there. Your child may be getting enough sleep at night and moving bedtime earlier may just lead to an earlier wake time.
On Wednesday, put your child down at 7:30 pm (15 minutes earlier than the night before). If wake time doesn’t shift earlier, go on to the next step.
If wake time does shift earlier, move bedtime back to 7:45 pm and keep it there. Your child may be getting enough sleep at night and moving bedtime earlier may just lead to an earlier wake time.
On Thursday, put your child down at 7:30 pm. If wake time doesn’t shift earlier, go on to the next step.
If wake time does shift earlier, move bedtime back to 7:45 pm and keep it there. Your child may only need 10.25 hours of sleep and moving bedtime earlier may just lead to an earlier wake time.
On Friday, put your child down at 7:15 pm (15 minutes earlier than the night before).
If wake time does shift earlier, move bedtime back to 7:30 pm and keep it there. Your child may only need 10.5 hours of sleep and moving bedtime earlier may just lead to an earlier wake time.
Keep shifting bedtime earlier until your child's wake time shifts earlier. Once your child's wake time shifts earlier, stop shifting bedtime earlier.
In this scenario, your child only needs 10.5 hours of sleep, so you might see a somewhat earlier wake time on some mornings going forward – don’t panic, keep your child in the dark until at least 6:00 am and go back to the 7:30 pm bedtime on Saturday night. It's also important to note that your child's wake time will not happen at the exact same time every day. A child who needs 10.5 h sleep on average may sleep for ~10.25 hours on some nights and 10.75 hours on other nights and that's perfectly normal. In this scenario, if you felt that 6:00 am was the earliest wake time that you could accept, you would need to maintain bedtime around 7:45 PM to achieve morning waking between 6:00 and 6:30 AM.
This is a very cautious approach, but if you’ve been struggling with a child who wakes too early you know how hard this is to fix, so it’s completely worth taking it slowly to make it stick.
If your child already has a great sleep schedule and you want to keep it through the DST switch, then see our guides on how to manage the transition for babies and toddlers. If your child has other sleep problems, check out our sleep basics and nap blogs for help. If you are feeling stuck and need more help with sleep, check out our self-guided sleep class or book a consultation with us. We're moms who have advanced degrees in sleep and circadian physiology, nursing, and behavior analysis.