DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME- SPRING FORWARD SLEEP TIPS

Daylight Saving Time for Spring Forward is coming up Sunday March 10th, 2019! Young children are much more structured with going to bed and waking at the same time each day so that's why we notice the effects of DST the most in children.  So here is my best advice for having a smoother transition!

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My advice is to “split the difference.”

How does that work?  First off, don't worry about changing your clocks on Saturday night. Just get up on Sunday morning like normal and then go around the house changing the clocks. It will FEEL better for everyone this way!

If you have a child that does not nap and normally goes to bed at 7:00pm, you would put him to bed at 7:30pm on Sunday night, the first night of the time change.  Do this for 3 nights, putting him to bed 30 minutes later than normal, then on the 4th night put him to bed at the normal time, 7:00pm or whatever is normal bedtime for your child.

Same goes for naps if your child is napping- shift your whole schedule 30 mins later for 3 days and on the 4th night do normal bedtime and on the 5th day do normal nap times.

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Infants-If you have a baby that has a predictable bedtime then move bedtime 15 minutes earlier each night until you reach the normal time.  So if normal bedtime is 7pm, then the first night you would put him down at 7:45pm, the second night 7:30pm, and so on.  In four nights you should be back to 7:00pm. If your baby does not have a predictable bedtime yet then don't worry about it and just get them on the new time as soon as possible.

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Your child will take a bit longer to fall asleep at first as it will feel earlier for them but in about a week they should be adjusted to the new time and falling asleep normally. Make sure your child's windows are totally blacked out so they can fall asleep easier and sleep to normal time even though more sun will be coming in the windows! Good Luck!