Help your little one adjust to the end of daylight saving with these tips (2018)

Daylight saving time is coming to an end and I’ve been getting a TON of questions asking for the best way to handle the time change and children’s sleep.

If I had my way, there would not be a daylight saving time. I think it really does affect not only children’s sleep patterns but adults too. In fact, statistically, there is an 8% increase in traffic accidents the Monday after daylight saving time kicks in. It really does have an effect on all of us, and it can increase our sleep debt – 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. That is usually why people notice it the most in young children. 

So what is the best way to handle the annual fall back? My advice is to “split the difference.” 

So in a few weeks, when we “fall back,” my recommendation to parents is just to leave the clocks alone so it’s not an upsetting for you 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! 

If, for example, your little one usually takes a morning nap around 9:30, you will adjust this to 9:00 for the three days 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 her schedule. Do the same for the afternoon nap. 

Let’s say your child usually goes to bed at 7 p.m. I recommend putting that child to bed at 6:30 p.m. for the first three days following the time change. (This will FEEL like 7:30 to your child.) And it will take about a week for your child’s body to get used to this. It takes everybody’s body roughly one week to adjust any kind of change in sleeping habits. 

If you have children over the age of two, you can put a digital clock in the room and put a piece of tape over the minutes, so that they can see if it is 6 o’clock or 7 o’clock, but they cannot see the minutes, which often confuses toddlers. 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 the week, they will be back on track and sleep until their normal wakeup time. 

If you are dealing with a baby, you obviously can’t do that. Do not rush in as soon as you hear your baby waking up, because you do not want to send a message that getting up at 5:30 a.m. is okay now. So if she normally wakes at 6:30, but is now up at 5:30, you will wait at least 10 mins before getting her up the first day, and then twenty mins the next morning, then 6:00 the next day and, by the end of the week, your baby’s schedule should be adjusted to the new time and they should be waking up at their usual hour. 

On the fourth night, just get in line 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. 

Give it time and know that your baby will get back on schedule within a week, possibly two, and enjoy the extra hour of sleep!