Getting your little one into a good sleep routine is one of the biggest struggles for new parents. Add some Daylight Savings into the mix and your whole routine can be thrown completely off. Many new parents report feeling anxious in the lead up to the changing time. This is completely normal as you worry about how your family will be affected, if you will lose more sleep than normal and what should you do if things go pear shaped? Sometimes just a few tips on what to do in the lead up and what to do from the onset can relieve this anxiety and help you gain some confidence on this uncertain time of year.
Teeny Tinies
If you are parent to a newborn under three months then you can exhale. Newborns aren’t in tune with the 24 hours cycle so they won’t be affected by any time change. So keep on going with any routine you may have in place.
All About Routine
Little ones thrive on the predictability of routine. At night you want to be setting a good wind down routine so they get to know it is coming to end of their day and working towards bedtime. A good routine is dinner followed by a warm bath, then reading then bed. If you don’t have one in place at this stage, try and get one happening over the next few days. Then when the clocks change you still keep going with that same routine regardless
Tools
When the clocks go back the sun will be up earlier and if your little one wakes up with the sun then a good blockout blind can prevent them waking up an hour earlier. We love the Tommee Tippee ones as they come in two different sizes and attach with suction cups to the window making them adjustable as well as transportable so if you go away they can come with you.
Another great tool for sleep is white noise and red light therapy. These two combined can help your little one feel calm & secure enough to drop off to sleep and stay that way. If they do wake up in the morning you can then start up the sound and light therapy so they can drop back to sleep. Check out the Aroma Snooze Sleep aid that has all that and a bag of chips when it comes to sleep aids.
Break it Up
Many parents find moving the routine back an hour with the clocks can be a bit too much for the family to deal with so they start early and do it in stages. It is a good time to start now with commencing your night time routine 10 – 15 minutes earlier so that when the time comes to move the clocks back they are already adjusted.
Toddlers can be a whole different story. Many tend to get up and out of bed at the crack of dawn. It is not an easy task to learn to tell the time so you can’t just tell them to ‘wait until 7am please’. To solve this problem Tommee Tippee have it sorted with the Groclock Sleep Trainer. This is not just any clock! It uses visual aids to tell your toddler when it is sleep time, when it is not time to get out of bed, and when it is ok to get out of bed. Amazing stuff!