Daylight Savings Time – Spring Forward

The amazing Daylight Savings time change is upon us.  Parents often ask me how to handle the transition. Below are a few tips and suggestions.

Going Through the Time Change: Having a plan is always helpful.  Plans provide us with the focus we need to be intentional and a pathway to rest into when we are in process.  Below is my suggestion on how to transition into the new time:

• Break the hour being lost into four 15-minute segments.  You can also break the hour into smaller increments and thus spread the transition over more days.
• Move your baby’s wake-up time and subsequent nap times and bedtime back by 15-minutes over the course of four days.  You can start this sequence of four days at any point. If you would like to be complete by the time of the change, start four days ahead of time.  If you do not mind being in the middle of the change when the hour hand makes its move, you can start earlier.
• Keep to your new schedule once you have brought your schedule in alignment with the new time.  Bear in mind that it takes up to 8 weeks for the circadian rhythm to stabilize in the new schedule, though most of the noticeable change occurs within a week or two.  Your little one may be a bit more agitated during sleep or when she goes to sleep due to the change. There is really no way around this. The fastest way to help her through is to keep to the new schedule.

Your little one will probably be cranky, just like the rest of us.  If your little one is tired, here are a few tips:

• The best time to make-up sleep is an early bedtime.  Going to sleep early when tired does not affect morning wake up time.  Do not shift naps, as the goal is to reset your baby’s circadian rhythm to the new schedule.
• Be conscious of the lighting in your house.  There are lots of studies indicating that our artificial lighting delays sleep.  If you need to keep your little one up, keeps the lights on a little longer. If you need them to go to bed a little earlier, dim the lights earlier.
• Keep your rituals consistent and in alignment with the new time.  There can be a tendency when we lose an hour to delay our patterns of life, like mealtimes, walks, etc.  This leads to a delayed bedtime. Keep aware of the clock so all of things you do can shift and not force a late bedtime.

Blessings over this time of change and may it be as smooth as possible!

Sample of Schedule Shifted 15-minutes Over Four Days:

Day Two Shifted by Another 15-minutes

6:30am – Morning wake up

12:30pm – Naptime

2:30pm – Naptime wake up

6:30pm – Bedtime

Monday Morning One Hour Earlier

7am – Morning wake up

1pm – Naptime

3pm – Naptime wake up

7pm – Bedtime

If you should have any other questions about your baby or child’s sleep, feel free to schedule a free 15 minute phone here to discuss what I can offer.