The end of daylight saving time is just around the corner and turning the clocks back just one hour can mean sleep disruptions for your baby or toddler. It can be even trickier if baby is an early riser. The good news is that you can plan for the time change and actually make the transition smoother for both of you. Here are three options to keep sleep on track:

• The first is to go cold turkey and switch your baby to the new time without a gradual transition. For example, if your baby is going to bed at 7 p.m. before the time change, you will put him to bed at 7 p.m. after the time change (the old 8 p.m.). He’ll be staying up later than he’s used to, but will re-settle into his regular schedule within a week. For a baby who wakes up at 6 a.m., he’ll wake up at 5 a.m. for a few days until he falls back into the normal routine of waking at 6 a.m. This particular option is good for babies who are highly adaptable and can go with the flow.
• The second option is to gradually change your baby’s or toddler’s schedule in the few days leading up to the time change. Starting on the Wednesday before the Sunday morning change, put your baby or toddler down for naps and bedtime 15 minutes later than normal. (Ideally, your baby will wake up 15 minutes later the next morning, though it doesn’t always happen.) Continue to put her to bed 15 minutes later each night, until the night of the time change, at which point, you will have shifted her schedule forward by one hour and you will be back to your normal schedule. This option is especially good for flexible to moderately flexible babies, especially those who wake up very early. For babies who are sensitive to being overtired, this method can cause some crankiness or night waking during the transition.
• The third option works for most babies and involves gradually adjusting the schedule after the clock has changed. While baby might not be able to make the full-hour jump immediately, he can work toward the new time. For example, if a baby’s bedtime was 7 p.m. before the time change, the first night after the time change, you may get to only 6:30 p.m. Since it’s the light that stimulates our eyes and sets our internal clock as to when we should sleep or not, after a few days, he should re-settle into his normal schedule. This option is best for babies who are sensitive to being overtired as it gives them time to adjust. It’s not best for babies or toddlers who are already waking up at 5 a.m., since a shift starting at 4 a.m. is difficult to manage.

A special note for parents of those early rising babies: While you are adjusting to the time change, you can take this opportunity to shift your child’s schedule later, as well. Consider shifting the baby’s or toddler’s schedule in the two to three weeks leading up to the time change, then, make the daylight saving time adjustment the week after the time change.

Whichever method you choose, just remember that we all have strong internal clocks and your baby will take time to adjust. But after a week, you and your baby should be settled into your new schedule and sleeping well!

Get ready to move your clocks!

Clocks move back one hour in the U.S. and Canada, starting Sunday, November 1. In Europe, it’s Sunday, October 25.

Nicole Johnson is a sleep coach and the owner of Pick Nick’s Brain (http://www.picknicksbrain.com) specializing in baby sleep products and consulting services. She also owns Babble Soft (http://www.babblesoft.com), a premier baby software company, with products to help new parents and babies stay scheduled. Nicole is a wife and the mother of two boys. With a B.A. degree from UC Berkeley and an MBA from Ohio State University, Nicole has also received an honorary degree in “Surviving Sleep Deprivation,” thanks to her son’s “no sleep” curriculum. She has become an expert on infant and toddler sleep and has made it her mission to help other parents solve their child’s sleep problems, too.