Secrets to Surviving Daylight Savings Time
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Ah, Daylight Savings Time! The blissful morning once a year when you magically get an extra hour of sleep! If you don’t have young children, that is. For parents, the 2am time shift is more like a cruel joke, as tiny tots tend to naturally wake up an hour earlier.
But you don’t have to dread going to bed on November 1st. Yahoo Parenting asked a couple of sleep experts to share their tips for easing the transition. Put each into play, and the kids will wake at the new hour as automatically as the iPhone updates your clock.
1. Fake it a little ahead of time.
“Any change to sleep times can be disruptive,” Kira Ryan, co-founder of New York City’s Dream Team Baby, tells Yahoo Parenting. “That’s why we recommend making some changes to sleep times the day before the time shift.” If your child still naps during the day, move the nap back by 30 minutes. Push bedtime back 30 minutes as well. “Getting a head start on the time adjustment will give you all the benefit of an extra day of fine-tuning before Mondays’ work and school schedules roll around.”
2. Do baby’s naps at home.
Saturday is the base for what happens on Sunday, agrees pediatric sleep consultant Ingrid Prueher. “So this is not the day to have your child nap on the go, because they won’t get that deep REM sleep,” the Baby Sleep Whisperer founder tells Yahoo Parenting. “Without restorative rest, they’ll go down to bed for the night overtired.” But unlike adults who’ll sleep in to rebound, little ones will actually wake earlier as a result.
3. Get moving!
“Lots of exercise in fresh outdoor air will help kids get tuckered out and ready to nap well on schedule,” Prueher says. Just make sure to keep things mellow an hour and a half before bedtime, she adds.
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4. Keep dinner light.
This is not the time for rich, spicy, or new foods. “Between 5 and 7am is when the large intestine cleanses itself, and you want that process to be as normal as possible so it doesn’t prompt any wake-ups,” explains Prueher. “Super heavy or greasy food is the most likely to bother kids at this time.” Her dinner suggestion? A simple warm chicken soup.
5. Make routine rule.
“Children thrive on consistency and structure,” she says. “So they’re more likely to fall asleep — and stay asleep — if you give them the exact same sleep cues you always do the night before Daylight Savings Time.” This is not the evening to invite Grandma and Grandpa over either, she adds. “Children will be excited to see guests and get all hyped up, making settling down to sleep much harder.”
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6. Cue up the white noise.
Early waking is less likely if you’re able to drown out disruptive sounds, Prueher advises. A white-noise machine makes the child’s environment more conducive to sleep.
7. Take a deep breath.
If nothing worked and your little one still gets up with the roosters, then accept it and start the day. “Just get back on track Sunday and continue the usual routine at the new hours,” she says. “It takes two to three days for children, and adults, to adjust completely.”
