Daylight Saving and Your Baby
How to lose the hour without losing your sanity
[Updated 10/24/17]
In college I loved daylight saving time because it meant that the party could last an hour longer. My friends and I used to say that the hour between 1am to 2am didn't really exist because at 2am you would turn your clock back to 1am again. So we used to place bets on who could do the most outrageous thing during that nonexistent hour. Let me tell you... some very outrageous things happened. None of which would be appropriate to share here... or more importantly on the internet where things live forever. I am thankful, probably at least once a week, that social media and camera phones did not exist when I was in college.
When I had kids, daylight saving time took on a whole new meaning. In case you were not aware... your kids wake up an hour EARLIER!!!! It's dreadful.
Let me help you.
What I recommend doing is pushing your child's bedtime later by 15 minutes 4-5 days prior to the time change. If you work in small and slow increments (15 minutes each day) your child will begin waking about 10-15 minutes later each morning. If you do this over 4-5 days in preparation for daylight saving, you should be back on track with a normal bedtime and wake time after you set your clock back.
Don't wait until the last minute... most kiddies cannot handle schedule shifts in large time increments (yes, an hour is a large time increment). If you wait until the Saturday night before daylight saving and try to put your little one down an hour later you will probably find that they will wake at their normal wake time (which will be an hour earlier than usual based on the clock). What that means is that you are stuck with a crabby, whiny, overtired child all day because they didn't get enough sleep the night before... not to mention that YOU will be tired because YOU had to get up with them and hour early.
I don't know about you but that is not exactly my idea of a fun Sunday. If I remember correctly Sunday is meant to be fun. Sunday Funday... meant for watching sports, drinking wine in the early afternoon, and enjoying family and friends.
Save your Sunday Funday this year! Plan ahead- check your fantasy football line-up, chill your wine, and for heaven's sake inch your child's bedtime forward slowly throughout the week next week.
Happy fall!
Still freaked out about the time change? Let’s chat!
My name is Amy Bonsiero. I am a Pediatric Sleep Expert and the founder of Baby Sleep Solved. I help families learn how to soothe their infants, create loving and supportive environments for their children, create effective and realistic family schedules, and successfully get their entire families sleeping more soundly. Let me know what I can do to help you!
