Daylight Savings is ending, Sunday November 4, 2012

Daylight savings is coming to an end soon.   This year it’s on Sunday November 4, 2012.  It will be time to “fall back” the clocks.   It can be a dreaded time for parents of young children because with this, comes an adjustment that does not happen immediately.  This is because children tend to be more structured in their bedtime and wake up around the same time each morning and that is why people usually can see a greater affect on children when the time changes.

However there are some things you can do to help make the transition to the new time go a little smoother.  My recommendation is to leave your clocks alone Saturday night.  Wake up Sunday morning, have breakfast, then go around your house and change your clocks.  Psychologically, it will feel much better for everyone if you wait until Sunday morning to change the time.

My best advice for children to help them with the change is to split the difference with the old time and the new time.  How does that work?  If you have a child that does not nap and normally goes to bed at 7:00pm, you would put him to bed at 6:30pm on Sunday night, the first night of the time change.  Do this for 3 nights, putting him to bed 30 minutes earlier than normal, then on the 4^th night put him to bed at the normal time, 7:00pm or whatever is normal bedtime for your child.

If you have a toddler ages one and older, on Sunday the first day of the time change, you would put him for his first nap 30 minutes earlier than normal.   So if he naps at 9:30am usually, you would put him down at 9:00am.  You would do the same with the afternoon nap if he takes an afternoon nap.  For bedtime, if his normal bedtime is 7:00pm, you would put him down at 6:30pm.   Do this for 3 nights after the time change and then on the 4^th night, put him to bed at 7:00pm and on 5^th day move naptimes back to normal time.   So if your child naps at 9:30am, put him down at 9:30am and so on with the rest of the day.

If you have a baby and his bedtime has become predictable (usually over 6 months old) meaning he is always going to bed around the same time each night.  For example if bedtime is normally 7:00pm move bedtime 15 minutes later each night until you reach the normal time.  So the first night you would put him down at 6:15pm, the second night 6:30pm, the third night 6:45pm, and so on.  In four nights you should be back to 7:00pm.   If their bed is not predictable (3-6 months old) simply jump to the new time Sunday night as if you were traveling to a new time zone.

A great thing about this time change is that there is more hours of darkness which helps make this transition a little easier.  If your child wakes up too early, walk them back to their room and tell them it’s not time to get up yet.   If your child wakes up too early and is in a crib, be sure to help them understand it isn’t morning time by keeping him in his crib until normal wake time.   If you use a clock for your child, be sure to change the time on the clock and then remind your child of the appropriate time to wake up.

It may take children and babies a bit more time to fall asleep, this is normal, since the time is different initially they won’t be as tired.   It usually takes about a week for children and babies to completely adjust to the new time, some children it can take up to a month.  Be patient and stay very consistent, it will happen.