How to “Fall Back”: Your Plan for Daylight Saving Time
By now you all know that I am NOT a fan of daylight savings! It can really impact our kids sleep patterns…and the schedule math just hurts my brain!
Originally time changes were done to allow for better use of daylight hours for farming and agricultural work…but now a days we have modern technology and very different lifestyles! If I had my way, we would all be like Arizona or Saskatchewan and just stop changing the dang clocks. For now, many of us must muddle through and adjust our body clocks twice a year! Here are my recommendations for handling the “fall back” time change with your little ones:
Option 1: “A Gradual Shift”
This is the best option for families who are plan ahead types, or who are currently struggling with early morning wake ups! Basically, you will just shift your child’s schedule 10 minutes later every day until you reach the goal of them waking up one hour later by Sunday November 5th.
For babies that are on wake window based schedules the only thing you will be shifting is the time they start their day- delay their wake up time by 10 minutes per day, but continue to use their regular wake windows. The catch is that it’s unlikely your baby will magically sleep in 10 extra minutes a day (if only it were that easy!). Instead you’ll have to delay starting their day by either leaving them be until your desired morning wake up time (for little one’s who are content to hang out in bed) or sit with them in their dark room. Once the clock hits your desired wake up time for that day you can open the curtains and get your baby’s day started! THIS is when their wake window should start, not the time they initially woke. If you hold firm with pushing the start of the day 10 minutes later every day, you should see bedtime naturally shift later too, and soon enough baby will be sleeping in later as well!
For babies, toddlers, or older children on a set by the clock schedule you can use the same principals to gradually delay the start of their morning, BUT you’ll also want to shift nap and bedtimes! Here are some examples:
Second option: “Split the Difference”
This is a great option for those families who don’t want to pre plan or shift ahead of time, or for those who forgot all about the upcoming time change! Waiting until Sunday November 5th to make any changes is totally do-able!
You’ll leave everything the same with your little one’s sleep schedule until Sunday morning. Then you’ll start your day at the usual time (yes, it may be 5:30 am on the new clocks, but it will FEEL like 6:30) and have your coffee before going around to change all of your clocks- trust me, its better this way! Then begin to shift your child’s day!
You are going to “split the difference” between your child’s regular sleep timing and the hour difference on the clock, shifting everything back by 30 minutes. For example, your little one usually takes a morning nap around 9:30, you will adjust this back to 9:00 for three days. It will be a bit of a push for your child (because to them it feels like 10am), but not so much that it will cause much damage to her schedule. Do the same for the afternoon nap, if applicable, and bedtime! If your child usually goes to bed at 7pm push this back to 6:30pm for three days (this will feel like 7:30pm- stretch them there!). After three days on this “halfway there” schedule you are going to make the final push, and put your child down for naps and bedtime at their normal times (before the time change!). Here is an example for a baby who takes two naps:
Third option: Do nothing!
This is my favorite option for babies under 4 months old! Just use your baby’s typical wake windows and move through the day until you reach an appropriate bedtime on the new clock. You may have throw in an extra nap this day- that’s okay! Newborns tend to have sporadic sleep schedules anyways, so there is no need for any formal adjustments. This “do nothing” approach can also work just fine for older babies or toddlers- they will eventually adjust!
For my own kids I will be using a hybrid between the “split the difference” and “do nothing” approaches! I will shift my 4 year old’s bedtime by 30 minutes on November 5th, but then on the 6th I’ll probably aim for her usual 7pm bedtime.
Don’t forget about yourself! Statistically, there are more car accidents than usual on the Monday following the time change…yikes! Consider planning for an early bedtime for yourself on Sunday night, it’s likely you’ll be waking earlier with your little one the next morning.
Early mornings may still happen at first…
Regardless of the approach you choose to adjust your little one’s sleep times, they may struggle with early mornings as they adjust! The body clock is strong, and it can take a full two weeks to reset- even for us adults! The best thing we can do is to ensure a really dark sleep environment (sunlight can be sensed even through closed eyelids, signaling to the body that its time to get up!) and hold off on starting the day until an appropriate wake up time.
If you are already struggling with early mornings, I recommend you work on this now so that your little one’s 5:30am wake up doesn’t turn into a 4:30am once the clocks change! The best way to stop your little one from waking too early is to figure out what is causing those early mornings in the first place- TONS of factors to consider! Check out my blog post on early mornings here.
It will all be okay! I promise!
For MANY parents, the anticipation of time change is harder than the real thing! I promise you that your little one can and will adjust over the next week or two. Then you can forget about all of the adjustment math until that spring change!
If your sleep struggles just seem never ending, I’m here to help! Our mission is to help families find sustainably good sleep in ways they feel good about! Check out our services page here, or book a sleep evaluation call to chat about your sleep goals, and how we can help you reach them!