It’s nearly that time of the year again. When everything feels in transition as the seasons change. On top of that, Daylight Savings Time is coming up, much to the frustration of parents everywhere who have just gotten their little ones on a solid sleep schedule. Light that manages to peek its way through curtains can be just enough to wake even the best of wee sleepers.

If your minis are like ours, they’ve gone through their troubled wake-sleep-wake-sleep schedule and come out the other end with a relatively healthy handle on the entire thing. Bedtime is good, night time is heavenly…but mornings…mornings are catastrophic. Why and how do our miniature sleeping cherubs seemingly bound out of bed the second there is even the tiniest glimpse of daylight on the horizon? That minuscule fragment of light outside convinces them that it is time to get up — even though their poor, knackered parents are groggily insisting that it isn’t…yet.

So what’s a tired parent to do…? How do you teach your child to stay in bed…? Threats don’t work. Neither does telling them nicely to go back to bed. Or snuggles. Or bribery (trust us, we’ve tried them all).

We can give you some tips to help you make it easier on you and your little one.

3 Tips to Help You Get Through the Time Change

1. Start Planning Now

Glowing screen shows images of stars and sun to communicate ‘sleep’ and ‘wake-up’ time

In the 4 days leading up to the time change, make bedtime 15 minutes earlier every night. By the time that the time change hits, you’ll be totally adjusted to the new bedtime. We recommend buying a Gro Clock to make implementing this sleep training strategy easier on you and your baby. It’s a customer-favourite and an exhausted parents’ best friend. Best of all, it’s a sleep training tool that can be used way beyond the time change.

How does this magic work? How do kidlets understand when it’s actually time to get up? With the Gro Clock in their room, it’s as simple as eight little words: “stay in bed until you see the sun”. The clock uses fun images of the stars and the sun to communicate when kiddies should go back to sleep and when it’s okay for them to get up. It also has a feature which allows parents to choose whether or not to display the digital clock, so that older children can start to learn the actual time of sleeping and waking —  which will help them when they learn to tell time.

No more early risers, no more wee bodies climbing out of their beds at 5am…and no more punch-drunk mornings for us, thanks to our kiddos learning that mornings actually begin at a decent hour (and not a minute earlier)!

2. Get Baby’s Bedroom Ready

Our sleep cycles are heavily influenced by the sun, and baby’s sleep cycle is no different. The Fall back time change means more light in the mornings and evenings, which can potentially mess up baby’s sleep schedule by causing them to get up earlier and have a harder time getting to sleep at the right time. To help avoid this happening, we recommend investing in blackout blinds or curtains in addition to the Gro Clock.

3. Be Patient

If you follow these tips, most babies and toddlers will adjust to the time change within a week or so. But some take longer than others to adjust, so if your little one is still adjusting after a couple weeks, don’t panic. Just stick to your routine, keep bedtimes consistent, and keep using your tools and they should adjust soon.