Guest blog by Nannie Amies who has been supporting parents for the past 20 years in overcoming various challenges – sleep being one of them! You might have seen her on Channel 5’s Toddlers Behaving (Very)Badly
Nanny Amies (Laura) has recently returned to her hometown of Doncaster and I’m delighted that she is sharing some of her expertise with Doncaster Mumblers as we approach the clock change next week! I’m sure we’ll all find this really useful.
Thanks Laura!
Surely I cannot be alone in wishing that we could just leave the clocks be?! Although even if I am, I must say that I find the clock changes incredibly unnecessary!
For me, losing an hour of sleep on Mother’s Day seems a little bit like a cruel joke! Mother’s need all the sleep they can get, every second counts, so to rob them of an entire 3,600 of them before they’ve even awoken on Mother’s Day….well, can we not just start a petition already?!
For the time being however, I will put my feelings to one side and let the childcare expert within me take the reins in a bid to explain how to deal with Spring Forward from the perspective of your child’s sleeping habits. I guarantee that at least one of the options to follow will appeal to you depending on your character, parenting styles and energy levels!
Before I get to the different ways in which you can approach clock changes, I wanted to mention how common it is for sleep to become a huge stumbling block for so many families, (with or without a clock change)! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, for me sleep deprivation is like an illness. It’s a fog that hovers over you and makes it incredibly difficult to think straight! Because of this I just wanted to mention a few important aspects towards helping to set your little one up for overall sleep success!
Ok, back to the dreaded clock change! The options below are just guides to consider and as mentioned…there is an option for everyone.
If your child is particularly sleep sensitive and requires a firm routine to manage their behaviours and emotions more effectively throughout the day, you may want to take the week before the clock change to help them gradually adjust.
Basically, bring their bedtime routine forward by 10-15 minutes every few days. Ultimately the overall goal is to shift their body clock by an hour, so naps and meal times need to be considered also.
If the thought of readjusting over the course of a week feels a bit too much, you may choose to split the difference and pop them to bed half an hour early on the actual night of the clock change and then readjust over the course of the next few days afterwards.
If you are incredibly relaxed and prefer to take each day as it comes…simply do nothing and figure it out as you go! You don’t have to prepare, some parents like to take things a day at a time and that is entirely your perogative.
Either way, it usually takes 5 to 7 days of consistency to readjust to a new routine or habit. If you got this far and are having some trouble with your child’s sleeping habits, use code SLEEP50 to receive a 50% discount from my ‘Support your Child’s Sleep’ talk available in the webinar section of my website. It covers all important aspects of sleep health and has a section on how to positively impact common struggles such as fighting bedtime, getting in and out of bed, self soothing, early wakes and much more!
For now, hang in there and I really hope you get at least a few minutes peace this Mother’s day.
Laura x
Follow Nanny Amies on social media:
