Isn’t it the way? Just when you get your baby on a smooth sleep schedule, something changes. Here’s the latest: Daylight Saving Time begins this Sunday, March 14. We’ll lose an hour of sleep by moving our clocks ahead during the night, but the extra hour during the day actually has some nice benefits: a little extra “me” time in the morning before baby wakes or a few more snuggles with baby before bed. Still, you may run into some sleep challenges, depending upon your baby’s current schedule, so here are some survival tips when it comes to springing forward:

If you want to keep to the clock with your current schedule, consider waking your baby at her normal time on the Sunday morning of the time change and putting her to bed close to her normal bedtime. While this means less sleep-in time for you on Sunday, it will make your Monday morning routine that much easier without having Miss Cranky Pants making it that much harder.

If you don’t want to let “springing forward” go to waste completely, consider waking your baby just 30 minutes later than normal (e.g. if he usually sleeps until 7 a.m., wake him at 7:30 a.m. new time). This is a compromise to get you closer to your normal schedule without sacrificing more snooze time for you, which is much-needed after a busy week. By Monday, you can wake him at his normal time without it being as disruptive as a whole hour earlier.

If you are looking forward to this new schedule, because baby has already been waking up too early, take specific steps to keep the schedule permanently. Most babies will adjust back to their regular schedule in a few days to a week, so if you don’t want that to happen, make sure you keep all of your routines shifted forward. If your dinnertime is normally 5 p.m., for example, consider bumping this later to 6 p.m. and offer a small snack at 5 p.m. to tide him over. It is the sunlight and other routines that set our internal clocks and our schedule, not just bedtime.

By summertime, the sun is up earlier in the morning and later in the evening, which means our kids will be, too. It is common for children to wake earlier and start resisting bedtime, trying to tell you “I’m not tired!” (They actually mean it, this time.)  As a working mom, having less “me” time in the evening can be difficult, but putting baby to bed too early when she’s not tired can cause night- and early morning-waking. To promote better sleep morning and night, consider room-darkening blinds. Also, develop some quiet activities and a solid nighttime routine that can give you both some downtime and prevent baby from going to bed before she’s tired, resulting in tears and frustration for both of you. Puzzles or books are good options, and consider having your child flip through her own book while you catch up on your favorite magazine. 

Five Sleep Tips for Business Travel with Baby

If Spring Forward isn’t kind to you, consider taking a nap! National Napping Day, founded by Boston University  professor William Anthony and his wife Camille in 1999, always falls on the Monday after Daylight Saving Time to help us cope with our lost hour. So, put your instant messenger “away,” update Facebook, Tweet your status on Twitter to say “taking a nap,” then promptly drop your head on your desk for a 20-minute power snooze!

Nicole Johnson, a wife and the mother of two boys, is a sleep coach and the owner of The Baby Sleep SiteTM (http://www.babysleepsite.com) specializing in baby sleep products and consulting services. She is also the President of Babble Soft (http://www.babblesoft.com), a premier baby software company.