The official goodbye to summer!
This month, we’re saying goodbye to British summertime, as the clocks go back and we welcome winter, and all of its Christmassy goodness!
But if your young baby or child is an early riser, you may be thinking about helping them sleep through to the ‘right’ time, and not wake an hour early. Let’s face it, the best part about putting the clocks back is that we get an extra hours sleep, right? Unfortunately, if you’re anything like us, you’ll get to the end of the week and have forgotten all about the change!
Here at Amoralia we’ve got a few top tips to share with you – and don’t keep them a secret, it’s all about sharing the love with your mama friends!
- Start putting your little one to bed around 10 minutes later each night in the run up to changing the clocks back. Every other night, increase again by a further ten minutes until they are going to bed roughly around one hour later than normal.
- Keep the same napping frequency and times, but alter the pattern; so if your baby normally wakes up at 7am and naps at 10am and 2pm, change the nap times to 11am and 3pm.
- As the clocks go back in the very early hours of Sunday morning (we really hope you’re not awake at this time but enjoying some ZZZ’s) make sure the Saturday before is a busy day, including lots of fresh air – a country walk would be ideal to really tire everyone out!
- It is probably a good idea to go to bed early yourself on Saturday night, just in case your baby still rises early. Of course, in your head it’ll be 6am, not 7am…
- And finally, do not stress yourself or your baby out by keeping them in their cot till the ‘normal’ time, especially if they are wide awake. It’s far better to get up and enjoy some breakfast, and if you need it, enjoy a nice Sunday afternoon nap together to make up for the earlier than normal start!
Although you may get a few days’ worth of irregularity in sleeping patterns, winter is generally much better for babies and their sleeping habits than summer. Days that are darker by the afternoon and rooms that will be much darker at bedtime will help their brains to recognise that it is time for sleep.
Fun activities in the day like autumn walks in the park and snuggling together on the sofa in the evening really do prove that money can’t buy happiness – so enjoy the autumn and winter together!
The clocks go back on Sunday 26th October at 2am. Making it 1am again!
Image credit: Autumn Park – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Maria_State_Park