The clocks have gone back and your child is up at 5am. What to do this week

At 2am on Sunday 25 October the clocks went back an hour. If your child used to wake at 6, they are probably waking at 5 now. Their body is still running on summer time, and the clock on the wall means nothing to it.

This is normal. The Millpond Children's Sleep Clinic says the disruption is often temporary. The aim this week is to get through the early mornings without accidentally teaching your child that the day now starts at 5.

Give it a few days before you change anything

Mandy Gurney, the clinic's founder, compares the autumn change to flying to Europe with a child. The local time is an hour off, you keep your usual routine, and everyone settles. Some children adjust within a few days. Others take longer.

Her advice is not to react to every early morning with a new bedtime or a new strategy. One 5am start tells you very little. Wait and see how the week goes.

Keep it night until your start time

Decide what time your day starts, 6:30 for example. Until then, it is still night.

• Keep the bedroom dark. Mornings are lighter by the clock now, so a blackout blind or thick curtains do real work this week. The Sleep Charity makes the same point.
• Keep it calm and boring. Low voices, no main lights, no screens, no breakfast.
• If they are awake at their old time, the Sleep Charity suggests encouraging them to stay in bed a little longer.

When your start time comes, make the change obvious: open the curtains, lights on, say good morning. Millpond describes this as keeping the line between night and morning clear.

A lamp on a timer helps the ones who can't tell the time

A toddler cannot tell 5:00 from 6:30. Millpond suggests a lamp on a timer or an age-appropriate wake-up clock, so the morning has a visible start. Set it for your chosen time. Introduce it gently, and expect to sit with them for the first few mornings while they learn what it means.

Get daylight at the right end of the day

Natural light is one of the main signals the body clock uses. Millpond recommends time outdoors during the day: morning daylight marks the start of the day, and an afternoon outside adds light and activity before it gets dark at teatime.

If the early starts carry on

If the week ends and your child is still up at 5, then look at bedtime. Millpond suggests moving it 10 to 15 minutes later every couple of days and watching how your child responds before the next move. Naps, meals and milk feeds can shift in the same way. If your child is struggling to settle or is short on sleep, do not push bedtime later. A later bedtime does not fix every early riser.

If early waking goes on well beyond the clock change, or you notice signs that your child is uncomfortable or unwell, Millpond's advice is to talk to your health visitor or GP.

If it is half-term at your child's school this week, you have some slack. The mornings can run late without a school run to hit.

The two earlier pieces

Before the change, we covered moving a child's bedtime ahead of it and what adults can do for themselves. The adult one still applies if you are the one lying awake at 5.

Tonight

Pick your start time and set a lamp timer to it. If light crept round the curtains this morning, sort that out before bed.