Daylight saving time and a newly sleep-trained baby

You have just come out of a week of sleep training. Your baby goes down at 7 and wakes at 6, and the evenings finally feel like yours. Then you notice the date on the calendar: the clocks change soon, and you are worried that one hour will throw everything off.

It usually will not undo sleep training. In the US, daylight saving time ends on Sunday, November 1, 2026, when clocks go back one hour at 2:00 a.m. A baby who wakes at 6:00 will wake at 5:00 by the new clock unless you shift their schedule. The simplest fix is to move bedtime, naps and wake-up 10 to 15 minutes later every night or two during the week before. If you miss that window, switch to the new clock on Sunday and expect about a week of adjustment.

What the fall time change does to a baby’s schedule

Your baby’s body clock does not know the clocks changed. On Sunday morning, their 6:00 wake-up arrives at what the clock now calls 5:00. By evening, their usual 7:00 bedtime feels like 8:00 to them.

The AAP notes that the fall time change can cause younger kids to crash before bedtime and wake up earlier than usual in the morning. For a family that has just worked hard on sleep, those early mornings can feel like a setback. They are a timing problem, and timing problems are fixable without redoing the method.

The gradual approach: start about a week before

Both the AAP and Nationwide Children’s Hospital suggest starting about a week before the change. Nationwide Children’s suggests shifting your child’s schedule by 10 to 15 minutes every night in the week leading up to it. For the fall change, that means moving later.

Here is one example for a baby with a 7:00 p.m. bedtime, using 15-minute steps:

Night	Bedtime (old clock)	Bedtime (new clock)
Wednesday, October 28	7:15 p.m.
Thursday, October 29	7:30 p.m.
Friday, October 30	7:45 p.m.
Saturday, October 31	8:00 p.m.
Sunday, November 1		7:00 p.m.

Move naps and the morning wake-up by the same amount each day, so the whole day slides together. A baby who naps at 9:30 would nap at about 9:45, then 10:00, and so on. Nationwide Children’s also suggests adjusting naps gradually alongside bedtime and not letting naps run too long, which can make bedtime harder.

If your baby does not handle later bedtimes well, smaller steps over more days work too. Some families use 10-minute steps and start a little earlier.

The cold-turkey approach

Some families skip the preparation and switch to the new clock on Sunday. That is a reasonable choice, especially for a baby who is flexible about timing.

On the first days, your baby may be tired well before bedtime. Push bedtime a little later by the new clock if you can, but do not keep an overtired baby up until they fall apart. Splitting the difference, for example a 6:30 bedtime for a few nights before moving to 7:00, is fine. The AAP says kids usually adjust within about a week.

Early wakings after the change

The early morning is the hard part of the fall change. If your baby now wakes at 5:00:

• Keep the room dark. Nationwide Children’s suggests blackout curtains for a child who tends to wake with the sun. Mornings get lighter earlier by the clock after the change.
• Respond the way you did at the end of the method. If your baby cries before your usual wake-up time, use the same calm, consistent response you used during sleep training, whether that was waits from the Ferber chart or simply leaving them to settle. The AAP advises not rushing in to soothe a crying baby, because babies need time to put themselves back to sleep.
• Start the day at a set time. Pick the wake-up time you want and keep the morning dark and quiet until then, if your baby is safe and well.
• Get daylight later in the day. The AAP says time outside in natural light helps reset a child’s internal clock after a time change, and Nationwide Children’s suggests light later in the day helps support the shift.

Our guide to early morning wakings and the page on early morning waking go into what to check if 5:00 wake-ups last longer than a week or two.

If you are in the middle of the Ferber method

If the change falls during your training week, you do not need to stop. Keep going with the next night of the chart and keep the routine the same. Two practical options:

• Shift with the gradual plan, moving bedtime later in small steps while you continue the method.
• Switch on Sunday, and treat the first few days on the new clock like any other night of the method.

Expect the nights around the change to be a little bumpier and judge progress over the whole week. If you have not started yet and the change is days away, many families find it easier to start after the time change, once the new schedule has settled. Our guide to routine changes has more on timing a start around disruptions.

If your baby is unwell, has a fever or is not feeding normally, set the schedule aside, comfort them and talk to your pediatrician. And if your baby is under 6 months and you are thinking about sleep training around the time change, talk to your pediatrician first. Sleep training is not recommended before about 4 months.

The spring change

In spring the clocks go forward, so the shift runs the other way. Using the same gradual approach, you move bedtime, naps and wake-up earlier by small steps in the week before. The AAP’s advice to start nudging naps and bedtime in the direction the clocks will change, about a week ahead, applies to both changes.

One step for this week

Put a reminder in your phone for Wednesday, October 28, and write your step-by-step bedtimes for that week on the fridge. If the change has already passed, pick your new wake-up time, darken the room, and get your baby outside for some daylight tomorrow.

The Ferber app keeps a sleep history of every night you run, so you can compare the nights after the change with the nights before.

Common questions

When does daylight saving time end in 2026?

In the US, daylight saving time ends on Sunday, November 1, 2026, at 2:00 a.m., when clocks go back one hour to 1:00 a.m. A baby who used to wake at 6:00 may start waking at 5:00 by the new clock.

How do I adjust my baby's sleep for the fall time change?

In the week before the change, move bedtime, naps and morning wake-up later by about 10 to 15 minutes every night or two, so your baby is already on the new time by Sunday. If you did not prepare, switch to the new clock on Sunday and expect a few days of earlier wakings while your baby adjusts.

Will the time change undo sleep training?

Usually not. A clock change shifts your baby's timing, but it does not take away what they learned about falling asleep on their own. Keep responding to wakings the same way you did at the end of the method, and most children adjust within about a week.

My baby now wakes at 5 a.m. after the clocks changed. What do I do?

Treat it the way you treated early wakings during the method: keep the room dark, respond calmly and consistently, and do not start the day until your usual wake-up time if your baby is safe and well. Getting daylight during the day can help reset the body clock.

Sources

1. timeanddate.com: Daylight Saving Time Changes 2026 in the USA
2. American Academy of Pediatrics (HealthyChildren.org): Daylight Saving Time: Don't Lose Sleep Over It
3. Nationwide Children's Hospital: Helping Kids Adjust to the Time Change
4. American Academy of Pediatrics (HealthyChildren.org): Getting Your Baby to Sleep