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Here's How Daylight Saving Time Will Affect Your Breastfeeding Schedule

by Olivia Youngs

Daylight saving time happens twice a year, but for some reason, it seems to always catch people off guard. Once you have kids, you'll see how the time change wreaks havoc on any sense of schedule you've established in the months prior. Your baby's comfortable 7 a.m. wake up time will suddenly be unpredictable (and likely much earlier than you'd like). For moms who trust in the power of a well planned schedule, the time change is your worst enemy. And if you're nursing your baby, you may be wondering how does daylight saving time affect your breastfeeding schedule.

According to Today's Parent, daylight saving time can be a hard transition for kids, since getting them to go to bed or nap at their usual hour is hard when it's suddenly changed overnight. If you're breastfeeding at night, you may notice that your child wakes up more often, wanting to nurse to go back to sleep. The daytime nursing sessions shouldn't be as affected by the time change, unless they're having trouble napping.

According to the Bump, it's normal for children to wake up abnormally early, or stay up later than they normally would during a time change. With such a swift change in schedule, it's probably a safe assumption that your nursing schedule will be thrown for a little loop.

However, Today's Parent recommends easing your child into the time change by slowly adjusting their bedtime and nap schedule to fit what the time will be after the switch. You can apply the same strategy to your nursing schedule, by adjusting your nursing times forward or backwards.

Regardless of whether you follow a rigid schedule, or nurse on demand, the good news is that your baby (and milk supply) should adapt to the change fairly quickly, meaning things will seem normal again after a few days.