A mother-of-two has revealed her top recommendations on how to help your toddlers and babies adapt to the time change, as the clocks spring forward one hour.

As the clock springs forward and we embrace longer days, parents across the UK face the annual challenge of helping their little ones adjust to the time change. With the clocks set to move forward an hour at 1 am on the last Sunday of March, this transition can disrupt even the best-laid sleep routines for toddlers and babies.

On Sunday, March 29th, as we awaken, most of our digital devices—such as phones and tablets—will have automatically updated to reflect the new time. However, it remains the responsibility of parents to manually adjust clocks on devices like watches, ovens, and microwaves, pushing them forward by an hour. This seemingly small change can have a significant impact on the sleep patterns of young children, often leading to overtiredness and crankiness.

Recognizing this challenge, Daisy Woods, a mother of two known online as Muddle Through Mummy, offers valuable insights drawn from her own experiences. Her advice has been a beacon for many parents seeking to ease their children into the new sleep schedule smoothly.

In a video shared with her audience, Woods begins with a simple promise: “Here’s how to adjust your baby or little one’s sleep routine when the clocks go forward.” With her practical tips, she aims to help other parents navigate this biannual hurdle with greater ease, ensuring that both children and parents can adapt without too much disruption.

“Here’s how to adjust your baby or little one’s sleep routine when the clocks go forward,” she stated at the beginning of her video.

She went on to explain she initially received the advice from a sleep consultant when her children were babies, but noted it still worked equally well as they’d developed into toddlers and younger children.

“On the night that the clocks go forward, […] you would put your child to bed at a normal time, and they’ll just magically sleep for 12 hours and wake up at the normal time, which will technically be an hour later,” she explained.

She continued to clarify that if your children typically wake up at 7, they would now be waking up at 8, despite having slept for the identical amount of time.

For the first day of British Summer Time, the sleep consultant had then outlined the youngsters won’t notice a half an hour difference, so you should schedule your child’s nap time half an hour later, and then have bedtime occur half an hour later as well.

“Do that for Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, and come Wednesday, go back to your usual time settings,” Daisy said.

CBeebies have also provided additional guidance on how to help your children adapt to the new time, which includes ensuring you stick to your same familiar ‘wind-down’ routine every evening, as this will help them to settle down for the night.

If the extra hours of daylight are a problem in the mornings (during early autumn) or evenings (in spring and summer), they also suggest installing blackout blinds in your little one’s bedroom can help to make it feel like night time.