By: Naré Panossian, PA-C

I used to LOVE “Fall Back” when Daylight Savings ended because I was able to get an extra hour of sleep on that Sunday. But, this sentiment abruptly changed when I had my daughter. She apparently didn’t receive the memo for the time change and woke up at the same time she normally would. Except, it was now one hour earlier and most parents that I know do not love being up at the 5 a.m. hour. Worst of all, the time change disrupted her entire schedule which I had worked so hard and long to perfect and she was cranky and fussy from being overtired that first week until her little body adjusted.

It turns out, it takes everyone, regardless of your age, about one week to adjust to the time change. This year, the end of Daylight Savings is on November 6^th. So, here are some tips to guide you in helping your little one gradually adjust to the time change and hopefully allow you to get some rest and maintain your sanity as your body adjusts too!

First, do not change the clocks the night before! The morning of the 6^th, just wake up like you normally would, have your coffee and breakfast and afterwards, go ahead and start changing all the clocks in the house. It can truly be psychologically frustrating to see the earlier time on the clocks when your little one wakes up an hour earlier, so it’s less stressful for everyone to just have some normalcy in the morning for a bit.

Then, you can start gradually shifting the schedule by 30 minutes every 3 days. So, if naps were 9:00 a.m. before the time change, shift it to 9:30 a.m. for 3 days. If bedtime was 7 p.m. before the change, now shift it to 7:30 p.m. for the next 3 days. By day 4, you can just shift the schedule to the normal time of what it was before the time change. This might cause you to push your child a little bit and may cause some overtiredness. But, a half hour change over this period of time will not disrupt their schedule too much.

Gradually shifting schedules might not be as easy to do with older kids that are in school or with kids that have set schedules, such as going to daycare. Here are some general tips to help in these scenarios.

-Get outdoors: Being in the sunlight, increases melatonin production later in the evening, which makes settling to bed easier. Outdoor exercise also allows your child to exert extra energy which primes their bodies for rest at bedtime.

-Make changes to their schedule in increments: Although their morning wake up time might not be able to change, you can adjust their bedtime. I recommend shifting their bedtime 15 minutes later every 2-3 days leading up to the time change until you reach the desired bedtime. These small incremental changes are much more manageable than asking your child to do a one-hour time adjustment all at once.

-Maintain a routine: Children thrive off of routines and structure! Stick to your normal bedtime routine. This signals to their brain that sleep is near and also increases melatonin production, again making settling to sleep much easier.

Daylight Savings can truly wreak some havoc on everyone’s sleep. And, although your child’s sleep might not be perfect right after the change, with consistency and patience, things should get back to normal within a week or so! Sweet dreams!