Time change: Helpful tips for babies
Do you know that unpleasant feeling that creeps in for a few days immediately after the time change and makes life unnecessarily difficult? Are you completely exhausted? You just want to sleep and let the day's events pass you by? Are you in a bad mood and irritable easily? The bad thing about this situation is that your baby is no different. For your little one, too, the time change means pure stress. Feeding times change, sleep schedules are no longer the same, and mom and dad may not be as relaxed as usual. Of course, your offspring will also feel a good portion of the time change disaster, even if you try with all your might to avoid it. To make sure that the upcoming time change is not too difficult for you and your baby, we would like to give you a few helpful tips below.
Tip 1 - Try to keep your little one awake a little longer
Yes, we are switching to winter time. This means we can sleep an hour longer as the clocks are set back. Unfortunately, however, it also means that children who wake up particularly early in the morning – for example at six o'clock – will wake up at five o'clock in the future. This applies at least until the "jet lag" of the time change has subsided. You can "trick" your baby a little by keeping him awake a little longer in the evening a few days before the time change. Half an hour to an hour is usually enough for your baby to sleep a little longer in the morning. However, if you find that your offspring is becoming much more cranky because you don't put him to bed at the usual time, it doesn't make sense to torture your baby. You should therefore weigh up whether you can expect your little one to do this or not.
Tip 2 - Move the usual meal times back
Your baby will – let's not kid ourselves – be hungry at the same time as every day. It doesn't matter whether the time has been changed or not. When hunger sets in, your baby cries. To get through the time change gently, push the meals back for a few minutes every day so that you have caught up with this one hour of the time change after a few days. Don't radically change the entire plan by an hour overnight, because your little darling won't like that at all. It would be exposed to severe stress as a result.
Tip 3 - Make sure there is darkness in the room
The change from summer to winter time, which with a little luck we will soon no longer have to put up with, brings with it another problem: In the morning it is brighter than in the past few days. This can also irritate your little one considerably and ensure that he wakes up much earlier in the morning. You can prevent this with a very simple trick: Simply darken the room by lowering the blind, closing the curtain or, if necessary, hanging a cloth in the window. This gives your baby the opportunity to sleep calmly and longer in the morning.
Tip 4 - Don't get impatient
You certainly know from your own experience how unpleasant such a time change can be and how irritable you may be. Of course, this can also happen to your baby. Perhaps it screams more often or is more whiny than usual as a result. Maybe they sleep less or are less active. You should exercise patience and give your baby time to get used to the new situation. It takes a few days for the internal clock to change. Under no circumstances should you scold or become impatient, because this means further stress for your little one.