Hi! I’m Lauren, a pediatric sleep consultant with over 8 years in the sleep biz. And if there is one thing I love doing, it’s helping babies, toddlers, AND their parents discover the simple way to snag better sleep without all the messy details. I also LOVE the Spring forward time change because you get some choices about how to do daylight savings with a baby or how to prepare your toddler for daylight savings.
How to use the Spring Forward to get better sleep for everyone
We don’t get many choices when it comes to when our babies or toddlers wake up in the morning, or exactly what time they nap (b/c hello meltdowns), or maybe even the hour you’d prefer them to go to bed.
But that’s all about to change because you can tie spring forward and baby sleep schedule together, and then you actually DO get to choose. You get to choose whether you’d like to KEEP your winter sleeping schedule, OR have your kids sleep in later, like on the daily. Wanna know how?
Mamas, we’ve got just a couple of weeks left before we have to “spring forward”, so let’s kick this off with this three of my best tips on how to survive the upcoming time change:
Tip #1: Have the Best Air Quality in the Bedroom
Did you know that by eliminating bad air quality in your bedroom, you could potentially increase you AND your child’s sleep quality, while helping support long-term sleep habits? Have you ever even considered air quality outside of the time change?! When I found this out, I couldn’t get my hands on Molekule’s gorgeous purifier fast enough, because you can’t put a price on peace of mind! And talk about sleep design; out with bulky and clunky purifiers, and in with a minimalistic design that will have visitors asking “Where did you get that?!”
Molekule makes two air purifiers that consumers can buy. Air Pro, which is ideal for large rooms (1,000 sq ft) and Air Mini+, which is ideal for bedrooms, including nurseries (250 sq ft)! Exposure to bad air quality can have long-term adverse effects on the quality of your sleep. Molekule air purifiers are especially effective in diminishing the effects of indoor pollutants because they can destroy nasty chemicals in the air rather than merely collecting them. These devices also produce white noise and pink noise, which are ideal for sleep, and remove VOCs (chemicals) from off-gassing baby furniture, which I feel is a huge issue for a little one’s room.
Molekule makes two air purifiers that consumers can buy. Air Pro, which is ideal for large rooms and Air Mini+, which is ideal for bedrooms, including nurseries! The techy stuff: Molekule’s filter technology is called PECO (pee-koh). PECO can actually destroy pollutants in the air like viruses, bacteria, mold spores, and chemicals– all things that can impact sleep quality.
Tip #2: Choose sleeping in, or going to bed early.
Awwww Mamas, I know; can’t we have BOTH? This is where the fun starts though— because YOU get to choose. Thanks to the “Spring Forward” time change, your little(s) will automatically sleep in an extra hour on daylight savings— unless you want them to wake up and go to bed at a normal time— which means you’ll have to wake them up at their normal time. However, if you’d rather them continue to sleep in throughout the summer, you’ll have to shift the entire schedule back— meals, routines, naps, dinner, you name it.
Here are three examples to show you what this looks like:
Sample Before & After 1-Nap schedule:
Before: Wake at 7am
After: Wake at 8am
Before: Nap 1pm
After: Nap at 2pm
Before: Bedtime at 8pm
After: Bedtime at 9pm
Sample Before & After 2-Nap schedule
Before: Wake at 7am
After: Now wake at 8am
Before: Naps at 10am and 2:30pm
After: Naps at 11am and 3:30pm
Before: Bedtime at 8pm
After: Bedtime at 9pm
Sample Before & After 3-Nap schedule
Before: Wake at 7am
After: Now wake at 8am
Before: Naps at 9am, 12pm, 4pm
After: Naps at 10am, 1pm, 5pm
Before: Bedtime at 8pm
After: Bedtime at 9pm
Tip #3: Make that room dark!
A darker room doesn’t just keep light out, it also keeps the temperature cool and comfortable for your sleeping baby or tot. If you’re choosing to keep that later wakeup time, you’re going to have to make sure the room stays dark in the morning, especially when the sun begins to rise earlier as summer approaches. You can invest in some blackout shades, curtains— even tin foil over the windows— to make this happen.
No matter what approach you choose, or which schedule you end up with, stay consistent and safe!
For more sleep tips, stay connected with me!
Here’s to sleep!
xoxo,
lauren
