With Daylight savings coming to an end next month I wanted to give some tips on how to handle the change. Most parents don’t think too much in the fall when we gain an extra hour, but when they think of losing an extra hour of sleep panic sets in, especially if they already are having sleep struggles with their little one. Every year I get a stream of questions asking for the best way to handle daylight savings time and children’s sleep.
I have tried myself most variations on how to handle this change. I have tried starting a week before hand adjusting them in increments over the course of the days in preparation of the new time change. I have also tried to just roll with it and see what happens, the result was a disaster and it took longer to bounce the child back. The last few years I have tried a different approach where you don’t do too much ahead of time preparedness but instead handle the change after it has occurred. There is always going to be a slight fight and a small adjustment period with any method you choose so do still keep that consistency and follow through to help get your child back to those good sleeping patterns and not completely derail.
If I had it my way, there would not be a daylight savings time. I know we can all probably relate to that feeling. I think it really does affect not only children’s sleep patterns but adults, too. In fact, statistically, there is an 8% increase in traffic accidents always the Monday after daylight savings time starts. It truly does have an effect on all of us, and it can increase our already built up sleep debt – especially in children. Children have a much tighter structure around sleep, with going to bed at the same time every night and waking up at the same time every morning. For babies this structure follows into the daytime for naps.
So what is the best way to handle it?
My advice is to “split the difference.”
For “Fall Back,” my recommendation to all parents is just to leave the clocks alone so it’s not a psychologically upsetting event when you see your little one up an hour earlier. Just get up at your usual designated wake-up time and start your morning. Once you have had that morning joe or tea then you can go around and change the clocks on all your appliances etc.
Now for those daytime naps you would proceed a little differently and put them down around a half hour earlier. For example, if your little one usually takes a morning nap around 9:30am, you will adjust this to 9:00am for the three days after the time change. It will be a bit of a push for your child, but not so much that it will cause much damage to their schedule. Do the same for all other naps they take for the day. Keep the focus still on long nap stretches, practice crib hour and stay consistent.
Now for bedtime you would follow that same method. For example the child usually goes to bed at 7 p.m then I would recommend putting that child to bed at 6:30 p.m. for the first three days following the time change. (This will FEEL like 7:30 to your child.) It will take about a week to reset that biological clock and have your child adjust. This is not a grace period to let your child have those negative associations and props back into their sleep habits. This will only do more harm than good. As you know I really like to introduce adjustment and flexibility early on so you don’t feel like a slave to your child’s naps and routine. This is just another good practice for them to evolve and adjust too.
It takes everybody’s body roughly one week to adjust any kind of change in sleeping habits. If you have children over the age of two, you can put a digital clock in the room and put a piece of tape over the minutes, so that they can see if it is 6 o’clock or 7 o’clock, but they cannot see the minutes, which often confuses toddlers. Just set the clock forward half an hour so that at 6:30 it says 7:00 and let them get up a little earlier than normal, knowing that, by the end of the week, they will be back on track and sleep until their normal wakeup time.
If you are dealing with a baby, you obviously cannot do that. When your child wakes up at their usual time but now it is an hour early still practice that pause method. Don’t go rushing in immediately as this will send the message that waking up this early is okay. We don’t want to encourage this new hour but instead get them adjusted to the new hour. An example of this could be if your child normally wakes up at 7:00am, but is currently 6:00am, you will wait till 10min the first day, and then 20min the second day, then 30min the third day and by the end of the week, your baby’s schedule should be adjusted to the new time and waking up at their usual hour.
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For “Spring Forward,” the same “split the difference” rule applies. So if nap-time was usually 9:30, it’s now 10:00 a.m. The same goes for the afternoon nap, and bedtime is 7:30. This will mean that your baby is going to bed a little earlier or sooner than the normal wait between sleeps, but again it’s not so much so that it’s going to interfere with their schedule too much.
It may take them a bit more time to fall asleep since they may not be as tired, but in a week’s time they will be back on track again. On day and night 4, move to the correct time on the clock again.
As with all things give it time, consistency and be sure to follow through. Keep the focus on still planting and practicing healthy sleep habits and independent sleep. Don’t encourage short naps, practice crib hour and if you have any questions you can always email me at contactsoundsleep4bubbies@gmail.com
Cheers to Sleep!