What Every Parent Should Know About The Start Of Daylight Savings With a Baby!

This post features Australian daylight saving dates and times, the same strategies will work internationally with a baby!

This year daylight saving time starts on Sunday 6th October 2024 at 2am in Victoria, South Australia, New South Wales, ACT and Tasmania. We need to move our clocks forward by 1 hour, so that 2am becomes 3am. Of course, many of us either do this the night before or first thing the next morning. Let’s face it no one wants to get up at 2am? These practical strategies will help you to survive daylight savings with your baby.

Even though we gain an extra hour of sunshine we also lose an hour of sleep. Some babies and children are more effected by this shift in time than others. Some don’t seem to notice as long as the rest of their routine is the same. And for newborn’s not yet in any sort of a routine this is unlikely to be a problem.

Can we avoid sleep problems with daylight savings?

If you are in a good routine or if you have been working on your baby or toddlers sleep the thought of daylight savings time changing is worrying.

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Luckily there are some easy strategies that you can implement before the change to smooth this out a little.

Start 3-4 days before and make the switch gradual. You could even try setting one clock in your home to the new time each day moving 15mins at a time. This helps us to make the gradual shift.

If they usually go to bed at around 7pm, on the Wednesday before the official change put them to bed at 6.45pm. Thursday at 6.30pm, Friday at 6.15pm and Saturday at 6pm (the following evening this same time will be 7pm). The hope is that by doing this they start to sleep a little earlier each day as well. This is where circadian rhythms and sunrise really makes a difference to some babies.

Tips for managing the start of daylight saving with your baby:

you can gradually make the evening routine earlier in 15 minute increments. Don’t forget to include – dinner, bath time, getting dressed for bed, story time, brushing teeth.
move nap times slowly backwards as well.
in the evening turn lights down and use lamps to help reduce stimulation.
black out blinds can be helpful to reduce the light getting in.
white noise machines can help.
avoid electronic devices and TV before bedtime to reduce stimulation (this helps all year round)
keep plans quieter than usual for that week in case you all take a little while to settle into it and are all tired.
try to keep your home dark in evening and in morning open up blinds and sit near a window for breakfast to help body to adjust.
If your baby sleeps later it is best to wake them around their usual time to help them get used to it (it is however likely they will wake earlier due to the earlier bedtime).