Adjusting for Daylight Saving
In just a couple of weeks on March 14th we will set our clocks an hour ahead. The start of Daylight Saving Time can be difficult on our little ones’ sleep, but luckily, this isn’t the difficult time change! However, there are still a few things you can do to make the shift a bit easier on your little one.
One of the best ways that you can help your little one adjust is to be sure their room is totally blacked out. There are many different ways to do this, but here is a list of a few:
- Black Out Curtains
- Black Out Shades
- Black Out Window Cling
- Towels Tacked Over the Windows
- Cardboard Cut to Fit Window Openings
To get the ideal darkness in the room, you may need to use more than one method above. You want the room to be so dark, you can’t see your hand in front of your face. Just remember that since we are “springing forward” this means that the sun will set later. So, since you know I am a huge proponent of early bedtimes, you know you’ll be putting your little one down while it is still quite bright outside.
What adjustments do you need to make in order to make this a smooth transition? Well, there are a couple of options, and there really isn’t one that is better than the other, you just have to choose based on what works best for your family.
You can opt to prepare earlier for the shift in time. If you chose to do this, then you would start 4-6 days before Daylight Saving starts. You would adjust bedtime 10-15 minutes each day. So, if your child goes to bed at 7:30 PM, you would adjust that bedtime to 7:20 PM the first night, 7:10 PM the second night, and so on and so forth. 10-minute increments means you’d need to start 6 days out, 15-minute increments means you’d need to start 4 days out. Keep in mind that this early preparation adjustments would also need to be made with naptimes and mealtimes using the same increment.
Another option is to just go with the flow. This means you may put your child to bed at 7:30 PM Saturday night, and when they wake up 12 hours later, it will actually be 8:30 AM. Obviously, this could throw off naps and mealtimes, not to mention bedtime on Sunday evening. So, you would want to shift their naps and mealtimes 10-30 minutes earlier for the next few days in order to get them back on their normal timing.
Daylight Saving Time can definitely cause some friction during bedtime, but as long as you prepare your little one’s room, don’t make a huge deal of it, and plan to adjust accordingly, it should be smooth sailing for you and your family!
