Any ideas for surviving clocks going back at end of month???

[Lucas & Mum]

Hi, am UK mummy and our clocks go back one hour at end of month - thus making his 7 am usual wake time 6 am and our 7 pm bed time will be more like 8 pm to him - very long day.  Should i start preparing for this now by trying to get him up later & later every few days or should i just go with it and try to put him to bed earlier for a few weeks until his body clock gets used to time change.  Not sure if i should be worried but a mum at baby clinic kept on going on about how horrible it is going to be and I'll admit i started to panic!!!!  Think she is just concerned as her Lo has taken to waking at 5am and wanting to play - that will be 4 am in new time so i understand her worries
Anyway, what do you all think - would also like suggestions from those US mom's who change timezones when moving, visiting etc, how do you get on and how long does it take baby to adjust

Thanks for any advice 

[jacq1101]

I was thinking the same thing myself as our times will change soon (I'm in Oz).  I have a 6 year old as well so have some memory of facing this with him.  You could change his times over gradually (15 minutes or so) but I think I just used to go with the flow and woke him earlier.  For you, it will probably mean putting him to bed later and slowly trying to get him to sleep longer in the morning.  It might have been a little messy for a few days but I think generally my son coped really well and it really only took a day or two to adjust his body clock.  We have also done this when travelling.  I find that at the moment my 4 month old is waking a bit earlier anyway because it is getting lighter earlier so in some ways, it might be a natural change for them. (your LO might sleep longer if it stays dark for longer).  Once when we went to a different state with about a 2 hour difference, I didn't bother changing his body clock because I thought for a week or so, it would be easier just to live with the different bedtimes.  The worse situation is when you live somewhere where they DON'T change times because then dawn comes at 4.30 or 5am and the child wakes up because its getting light then.  we had to get blackout curtains then.  Anyway, am wafting on.  Hope that's been of some use to you.

Jacqui

[Jaime]

hi ladies,

there are some suggestions compiled here:
https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=44509.0

HTH a little

[ks6]

Emma--last year ds was 4 months old for the time change.  We happened to be at a party that night and stayed an hour past his bedtime (it was easy for him to stay up with a lot of people around).  The next morning, he slept an extra hour on his own.  I was really worried, but it turned out to be so easy!  This year we started keeping him up 1/2 hour later in the summer since it's lighter out anyway, so we're halfway there already.  Don't worry too much--it will turn out fine. 

[riuliani]

I tackled this while travelling this summer.  I was two weeks in our normal time zone then 2 weeks in an hour behind time zone.  I did this twice.  I treated it the same way I treat my own jet lag.  As soon as we crossed the time zone line I used the new clock.  This meant that one of the feedings during the day was closer together but it worked.  He only had one day of trying to get sorted then it was back to normal.

[Lucas & Mum]

Thank you all so much for your advice - thought i was probably worrying about nothing, but you know how it is when other mums start wittering, you sort of think, am i wrong to be so unconcerned?  Anyway, think we will just cope with it when it comes, shall get him up early, put him down t new time and hope that he's that tired he sorts himself out quite quickly.  Glad to hear that it should only take a few hairy days for him to adjust.  Good luck to you all 

[maisy]

I was thinking the same thing!! I know a few of our very organised mums on our Birth thread have already switched their LOs routines to 8 -8 but I have n't, I am having such a tough time with sleeping at the mo, I really need no extra pressure, KWIM? I vaguely remember this with DS but it was different as he was 10 1/2 months and had no routine whatsoever. I think I will just have to go with the flow, and just start on the new clock like PP suggested.

Keep me posted on how you all do

x x x x