Daylight Savings Time- How to Adjust when the Clock “Falls Back”

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Time change is almost upon us as we “fall back” when Daylight Savings Time comes to an end. In general, our body clocks have an easier time adjusting to gaining an hour rather than losing one but if your kiddo already is an early riser, the reality of what’s to come (that 5am wake is going to be 4am) probably has you having a mild anxiety attack or cursing me for saying it’s “easier” to adjust to right now. I don’t want you to be upset though so let’s see what we can do to prepare:

So how do we deal with this adjustment?

Tips for every babe:

On Sunday after time change, the sun is going to be rising an hour earlier on the clock than what we’re used to, during those early hours when our little ones have a night full of rest under their belt and their melatonin (sleepy hormone) is at a low, that sun shining in can lead to an earlier-than-ideal wake up! Oh no! Make sure that this doesn’t happen by preparing beforehand, blackout their room so it’s like a cave, the darker, the better! There’s tons of hacks that you can use, tape your blackout blinds to the windows, put up garbage bags, carboard, thick wrapping paper, whatever you’ve gotta do. I’m so happy we switched to a more permanent solution at our household, we use Blackout EZ blinds and absolutely love them!

If your little one doesn’t sleep in past their regular time as you’d hope, don’t worry, their body is so used to getting up at their regular time. Try leaving your little one in their room until their regular wake up time if possible ie. If they’re happy or sleeping. If this isn’t possible because they are upset, at least try to stretch them to a later time, so you aren’t promoting the extra early wakes. Even if it’s only 15 min a day, it will help shift their day ever so slightly in the right direction. For toddlers and children who can get out of their bed on their own, don’t forget to reset their clock (if they have one) to help them out with the process. The clock that we have at home is the Little Hippo Mella (Click HERE to use Code: SLEEPYBUNNY10 for 10% off any Little Hippo product.).

And last but not least, make sure you get outside lots during the day! Our body clocks are regulated based on sunlight so being outside in the natural light helps not only your little ones but yourself to adjust to the new schedule quicker, something we all want! Even small bursts with strategic timing help, a few minutes of sun at first light and before the bedtime routine can work wonders at helping their body clock reset!

*You actually have to go outside (through the window doesn’t help as much as it blocks the UV. Also, please remember skin safety. 

Ok now how do we deal with their sleep schedule?

OPTION 1: Tips for younger babes and more sensitive sleepers:

For younger little ones (babies on 2-3 naps) and more sensitive sleepers, it can be easiest on their system to prepare in advance. Do this by slowly shifting their whole schedule later by 10-15 minutes every few days in the week before time change. This would look like getting your little one up at 7:15am when they normally have a 7pm-7am schedule. You’d continue by putting them down and waking them up 15 minutes later for all of their naps and putting them down at 7:15 that night for bedtime as well. You’d continue shifting this to be 7:30-7:30 and then 7:45-7:45 in the days before time change. Then, once time change hits, you switch their schedule back to their regular 7-7 schedule and for them, it’ll barely feel any different!

Here’s a screengrab of how this would look:

OPTION 2: Tips for older babes and very adaptable sleepers:

For toddlers, children, and more adaptable sleepers or those of us who were too busy or forgot about time change-oops! This is for YOU! Your plan is going to take a much quicker approach to adjusting, your game plan is to “split the difference”. The time on the clock and their body clock are going to be out by 1 hour so you’re going to split the difference and push them to the halfway mark between for about 1-3 days to allow for a slightly more gradual change. If we use the 7-7 schedule as an example again, you’d wake them at 6:30am (instead of 6am which would feel like their regular 7am), shift all of their naps then put them down at 6:30pm (feels like 6pm). After allowing for three days for their bodies to get used to the new schedule, you’d switch it back to their original schedule. See below for a screen grab of this strategy:

 

OPTION 3: Best for newborns (<4mo) or older, more adaptable sleepers.

Go cold turkey! To simply roll with the punches and deal with it for the few days after time change happens. Yes, there’s going to be some early wakes, yes, there’s going to be some overtiredness, but at least you don’t have to do any mental math right? Not going to lie, this is about all that I have the mental capacity for since becoming a mama!! Anyone else?

Regardless of which method you use, it’s important to have patience with your little ones. It’s hard for our bodies to adapt to this unnatural change so it takes some time. It’s such a big deal that the days following the start and end of Daylight Savings Time have been found to show changes in occurrences of heart attacks and traffic accidents! Crazy!

If you are worried about those early mornings getting EVEN earlier, luckily, that’s a sleep issue that you can start to get a handle on right now. Click here to check out my Ending Early Morning Wakes mini-webinar, I’d recommend bundling the course and check in call with me for a 20% discount!

Do note though that post-time change, if your little one’s sleep issues are still there after 2 weeks of trying to adjust, reach out to me for help going your little one back on track! You can book a call to chat here. I’d love to help your family get back into a sustainable sleep routine. 

Let’s get some sleep! 

Jessica