FALLLLL BACK! Daylight Savings Sunday,November 7th, 2021.
Daylight savings time is fast approaching this November 7th, 2021. Most people enjoy getting that extra hour of sleep the morning of “Fall Back" Daylight Savings. Most people ‘sans’ young children that is. For those of us whose children still need us to be present the very second they wake up, we’ll likely be getting up at the same time as our kids did “yesterday time”. But “today time” will look a little earlier on the clocks and the sun will start to poke in earlier which will not help our cause.
Every year I get a TON of questions asking for the best way to handle daylight savings and children’s sleep, for that reason I have written a blog post to help you navigate this pesky time change.
Here’s the scoop:
If I had my way, there would not be daylight savings time. I think it really does affect not only children’s sleep patterns but adults, too. Statistically, there is an 8% increase in traffic accidents the Monday after daylight savings time kicks in, it is also proven that there are more heart attacks, strokes and Diabetic emergencies in the days after the time change as well. This goes to show how precious and important our sleep really is – especially in children, who tend to be much more structured with going to bed at the same time every night and waking up at the same time every morning. This is usually why people notice it the most in young children.
So what is the best way to handle it?
If you have kiddos four to twelve months, my advice is to start adjusting bedtime the week prior to the time change by putting your child to bed 15-minutes later every second night, until November 8th.
If you are on a 7 p.m./ 7 a.m schedule, this would like:
Monday, November 1st and Tuesday the 2nd - Bedtime at 7:15 p.m
Wednesday, November 3rd and Thursday, November 4th - Bedtime 7:30 p.m.
Friday, November 5th and Saturday, November 6th - Bedtime 7:45 p.m
Sunday, November 7th and Monday, November 8th the new time 7:oo p.m. (8:00 p.m. old time)
For babes 12 months to two - two and a half years, my advice is to “split the difference.”
For “Fall Back,” put your little one to bed 30 minutes later than the usual on the night before the time change and leave the clocks alone the following morning ( Monday, November 8th) so it’s not a psychologically upsetting event to see your little one up an hour earlier. Just get up at your usual time and start the day. After your cup of coffee and a bit of breakfast, then you can go around changing the clocks. It will feel much better this way, trust me on that! If for example, your little one usually takes a morning nap around 9:30 a.m., you will adjust this to 9:00 a.m. for a day or two 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 the schedule. Do the same for the afternoon nap.
Let’s say your child usually goes to bed at 7:00 p.m. I recommend putting that child to bed at 7:30 p.m. a night or two prior to the time change and then 7:00 p.m. new time on the following night. It will take about a week or so for your child’s body to get used to this. It takes everybody’s body roughly one to two weeks to adjust to any kind of change in sleeping habits. If you have children over the age of three, you can put a digital clock in the room and put a piece of duct tape over the minutes, so that they can see only the hour, you can teach them in advance what the number looks like and that they can not get up until they see that number on the clock, call it a magic number (…) and talk about this number often, drawing and pointing at it when you see it in a book or on display.
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 a week or two, they will be back on track and sleep until their normal wake-up time.
For those of you with little ones under two, do not rush in as soon as you hear your baby waking up, as you do not want to send a message that getting up at 6:00 a.m. is okay now. So if your babe normally wakes at 7:00 a.m., but is now up at 6:00 a.m., you will wait until 15-minutes after 6:00 a.m. on the first day, then twenty after the next, then 6:30 the next day etc, by the end of the week, your baby’s schedule should be adjusted to the new time and waking for the day at their usual hour. On the fourth night, just get aligned with the new time so your baby is back to going to bed when the clock says 7:00 pm. Adjust naps to the correct time on day 4 as well. 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 normal but it won’t be enough that it will interfere with their schedule too much. It may take your babe a bit more time to fall asleep since he/she may not be as tired, but in a week’s time sleep should in most cases, be back on track. On day and night 4, move to the correct time on the clocks.
Give it time be patient and know that your baby will get back on schedule within a week, possibly two.