Fall back with these child-friendly Daylight Saving Time sleep transition tips
It’s the most wonderful time of the year… not! Daylight Saving Time, the fall version, is around the corner and always makes me want to pull my hair out. I enlist my husband to help me work out the numbers and he also wants to pull his hair out (except he can’t, because he doesn’t have any)!
This can be the more difficult of the two time changes, especially if you have an early riser, a child who is not sleeping well or a little one who is not very adaptable.
The benefit of the time change is we get more light in the morning, but this can be problematic, particularly for those early birds, because exposure to light signals to the brain it is time to be awake.
Most adults don’t have a problem transitioning to the new time. We have the capacity for staying awake longer, and sleeping in later. My kids keep telling me to go to bed earlier so I will be ready to wake up when they are — and they make a good point. Except, I could go to bed at 8 pm and still sleep until 8 am!
“Just because the time on the clock changes, doesn’t mean their biological clock will change with it.”
Babies and young children, on the other hand, will have a harder time adjusting. Just because the time on the clock changes, doesn’t mean their biological clock will change with it. It is common for babies and young children to wake earlier in the morning than their parents would prefer. But if you have an early bird waking at 5:30 am, you can expect them to wake at 4:30 am according to the clock after the time change! And you do not want that.
This year I was seriously considering advising families to wing it — do nothing to transition to the new time and hope for the best!
That would have been a very short post.
Honestly though, this is a viable option. We usually do some version of winging it. Usually what happens is I try not to think about the time change much in the weeks prior. Then the weekend of, I panic and decide we should do something – that usually involves shifting our daughters’ bedtime by 30 minutes Friday and Saturday nights. Then Sunday night, we shift it the rest of the way.
Be warned though, winging it could result in your baby or toddler losing sleep, which could cause problems that take time and a consistent approach to navigate. If you have older children, you might be able to wing it without too much struggle.
Here is the nitty gritty:
Daylight Saving Time ends on Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024, at 2 am. As we sleep, the clocks “fall back” 1 hour.
If you want to keep your child’s current schedule
I recommend a gradual transition for babies 4 months and up, toddlers and preschool-aged children.
Adjusting morning wake time
In the week leading up to the time change (Nov. 1-Nov. 6), help adjust your child’s wake time by delaying exposure to light and delaying the morning feed a little bit each day. This delay can be as little as 10-15 minutes a day. Each subsequent day, you should extend that delay by another 10-15 minutes until your child is waking a full hour later.
When Sunday comes around, if all goes well, your child will wake at the same time as before the change. For example, if your 10-month-old baby was waking at 6:45 am, by the end of the week she will wake 1 hour later than usual, at 7:45 am. But on the Sunday after the time change, she will wake at 6:45 am again according to the clock.
Shifting bedtime later
In addition to the morning shift, you’ll also want to push bedtime later. This can be done in the 4 days leading up to the time change in 15-minute increments. With the bedtime delay, it’s important to keep the lights on and keep the house bright, especially because it will be getting darker earlier, which signals to the brain it is time for sleep.
Tip for sensitive sleepers
If your child is a sensitive sleeper, you might want to hold each shift for 2 days.
Tip for older children
Older children (preschool aged and up) can often handle a bigger shift, so you could do 30-minute delays, holding for 1-2 days each.
If you want to shift your child’s bedtime earlier
For babies and children who are going to bed too late, you can decide to do nothing, and allow the time change to shift their bedtime one hour earlier. For example, if your 2-year-old is going to bed at 8:30 pm, if you do nothing, on Monday after the time change, he will be going to bed at 7:30 pm (though it will feel like 8:30 pm for a few days).
If you have run out of time to gradually transition or forgot about the time change
Leave the clocks alone the morning after the time change if you can. Some clocks will update automatically so maybe don’t look at those ones right away. Get up at the normal time, say 7 am, and have an enjoyable morning with your family. Have a cup of coffee (or some chocolate if you’re like me). Then change the clocks to read 1 hour earlier when you’re feeling up to it.
You can then use the tips above for adjusting your child’s schedule to the new time by putting them down 10, 15 or 30 minutes earlier for naps and bedtime. Depending on your child’s age and temperament you can move quickly or more slowly, taking a full week to help them transition.
One week before the time change
Keep your child’s room dark for an additional hour (or as much of an hour as you can) in the morning
Delay morning feedings a little bit each morning
Keep household activity low until it is time to wake up
3-4 days before the time change
Keep your child up a little later in the evenings
Keep lights on in the house in the evening until about 20 minutes before the new bedtime
Support your child is taking restorative naps if they are short
Happy time change! Let me know how it goes. If handling the time change is the last thing on your mind because you’re exhausted and need help getting your little one sleeping better, let’s talk.