Daylight Saving survival guide

A guide to baby’s developmental milestones from birth to 12 months Reading Daylight Saving survival guide 3 minutes Next Toddler sleep issues: 5 signs and how to handle them

By Mackenzie Sangster

Daylight Saving tip from Nanit Lab

When the clock “falls back” 1 hour, children tend to wake up earlier. When the clock “springs forward” 1 hour, children tend to have trouble falling asleep. Both of these adjustments can impact your child’s nap and bedtime schedule.

How to adjust your routine before Daylight Saving Time

Update your baby’s schedule in small increments: Try adjusting your baby’s sleep schedule in 15- to 30-minute sections. You can start the adjustment anywhere from five days before to one day before the time change, and continue until they’re all caught up to the new time.
Try to adopt the new clock immediately. As soon as the clock officially changes, we need to work off the new clock right away. Don’t make the mistake of calculating what bedtime or nap time would have been yesterday.

Sample “spring forward” schedule change

Spring Forward Daylight Saving Transition sample schedule

Sample “fall back” schedule change

November fall back daylight saving sample schedule

Tips to make it a more seamless adjustment:

Use a white noise machine: Our research has shown that babies who sleep with white noise machines get an average of 1 hour more sleep per night than babies who don’t. Encourage a more restful and deep sleep by using white noise to help your baby during the time change
Install blackout curtains: During spring forward, you may find that when you put your little one to bed in the evening, it’s still bright outside. During fall back, the light will come earlier in the morning, so using blackout window treatments is an important step to minimize early rising. Too much sunlight in your little one’s room can inhibit how restful their sleep is, and make it harder for them to fall into a deep sleep during the time change. To help them adjust, try installing blackout curtains in your nursery to create the perfect sleep environment during the transition.
Even though you’re changing the times, stick to your regular routine. If you need help creating a routine, check out our other sample bedtime routines or our baby sleep schedules by age.

Nanit is dedicated to delivering high-quality, reliable content for our readers. Our Parent Confidently articles are crafted by experienced parenting contributors and are firmly rooted in data and research. To ensure the accuracy and relevance of the content, all articles undergo a rigorous review process by our team of parenting experts. Additionally, our wellness-related content receives further scrutiny from Nanit Lab, our think tank of scientists, engineers, physicians, academic experts, and thought leaders.

Our primary objective is to furnish readers with the most current, trustworthy, and actionable information concerning a host of parenting topics. We strive to empower our readers to make informed decisions by offering comprehensive and respected insights.

In pursuit of transparency and credibility, our articles incorporate credible third-party sources, peer-reviewed studies, and abstracts. These sources are directly linked within the text or provided at the bottom of the articles to grant readers easy access to the source material.

CONTRIBUTORS

Natalie Barnett, PhD serves as VP of Clinical Research at Nanit. Natalie initiated sleep research collaborations at Nanit and in her current role, Natalie oversees collaborations with researchers at hospitals and universities around the world who use the Nanit camera to better understand pediatric sleep and leads the internal sleep and development research programs at Nanit. Natalie holds a Ph.D. in Genetics from the University of New England in Australia and a Postgraduate Certificate in Pediatric Sleep Science from the University of Western Australia. Natalie was an Assistant Professor in the Neurogenetics Unit at NYU School of Medicine prior to joining Nanit. Natalie is also the voice of Nanit's science-backed, personalized sleep tips delivered to users throughout their baby's first few years.

Kristy Ojala is Nanit’s Digital Content Director. She spends way too much time looking at maps and weather forecasts and pictures of Devon Rex cats and no-cook dinners. A former sleep champion, she strives to share trustworthy somnabulism tips with other parents—praying for that one fine day when no tiny humans wake her up while it’s still dark out. Her kids highly recommend 3 books, approximately 600 stuffies, Chopin’s “Nocturnes,” and the Nanit Sound + Light for bedtime success.

Mackenzie Sangster is on the Brand and Community team at Nanit. She supports content development and editing for Nanit’s Parent Confidently blog as well as other marketing initiatives. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with her friends, cooking, being active, and using the Pro + Flex Duo to keep an eye on her fur-baby, Poppy!

Holly Hays is a contributor and writer for Nanit, channeling her years as a mama and former magazine editor to create fun, useful content for fellow busy, trying-to-do-their-best parents and caregivers. Holly has written for a wide range of brands and media outlets (Ergobaby, HGTV, Manhattan Toy Company, OXO), loves to cook and read mystery novels, and leans heavily on her two daughters to keep her up to date on all the latest slang.