Daylight Savings Time Begins in 3 days…Are You Ready?
Daylight Savings Time begins this weekend! Sunday at 2AM move your clocks up one hour. Many parents fear the worst, but actually this one isn’t all that bad. Think about it…if your child normally wakes up at 7am, this will be the new 8am…woohoo! The kicker is that in order to keep her on a schedule that’s in line with her biological rhythms, it’s important to get her back into her normal routine quickly.
A later wake-up time sets the stage for the rest of the day and typically leads to miss-timed naps and a too-late bedtime. If she continues this pattern when her body has adjusted to the new time, her sleep quality will be diminished and you will begin to see signs of overtiredness.
With that said, the best way to prevent issues is to wake your child 15 minutes earlier each morning starting tomorrow. By the time you’re a few days into the time change she will be waking, napping and going to bed according to what’s healthy and typical for her body’s rhythms.
You will be tempted to jump into an earlier bedtime right away, but this needs to follow the earlier wake-up. Begin putting her to bed earlier by 15-minutes in the same pattern you use for waking her in the mornings. For example, if she normally wakes at 7am and goes to sleep at 7pm, wake her at 6:45am the first morning and put her to bed at 6:45pm that night. The following day wake her at 6:30am and put her to bed at 6:30pm, etc. until she’s waking and going to bed at her normal times according to the new times.
If you find that she’s taking even the 15-minute wake-ups and bedtime differences hard, then give her a few days of each new increment before moving on to the next. In our example above, just stay at the 6:45am wake-up and 6:45pm bedtime for 3 days before moving to 6:30am/6:30pm. With some kids slow and steady is easier even though it takes a bit longer!
If you find that she’s grumpy and had insufficient naps some days after the time change, a super early bedtime is ideal. This will ensure that she doesn’t get into an overtired pattern while she’s adjusting to the time change. If she’s doing great with naps and doesn’t miss a beat in regards to her demeanor, follow the 15-min pattern discussed above!
For naps, you’ll follow the same idea. Shift everything back by 15-min according to what you did with the morning wake-up. Within 2 weeks you should see your child adjusting well and sleeping like a champ again.
Post your thoughts or questions about the time change here! Good luck!!!
What if I want his bedtime to be seven? He is six months old and goes to bed at 6. That’s too early for my family. So I would actually like to move it. Any advice? Thanks!!
Hi Sarah! If this is the case, then the time change will work to your advantage! If I were you I wouldn’t change a thing and his schedule will naturally fall into the 7-7 routine. Yay! Just make sure his naps are still around 9/1/4 so that he’s getting restorative sleep throughout the day and night. I hope this is helpful!
This is great. Thank you! My son is 16.5 months. He sleeps from 7:15/7:30 until 7:00/7:30 a.m. He naps from about 1:00-3:30/4:00. How do I adjust the morning wake times by 15 minutes if they vary between 7:00 and 7:30?
Hi Leslie! Just wake him 15 min earlier in the morning from the earliest he typically wakes up, which in his case would be 6:45am. Also move his nap 15 min earlier, but if he seems tired before 12:45 it’s ok to go for 12:30. He’ll do great!