The most important thing is being prepared ahead of time, and managing the transition before the day comes to wind your clock back.
Do This BEFORE Daylight Savings Ends To Avoid Early Waking
Tip 1 - Shifting Your Child's Circadian Rhythm
The end of daylight savings has the potential to trigger a pattern of early morning waking in young children.
This doesn't apply to newborns, but if your child is five months or older, their wake times and bed times are determined by their circadian rhythm or their internal body clock, not the physical clock.
And as a result, they'll continue to wake up and fall asleep when their internal body clock tells them that it's time to do so, regardless of what that clock says.
That means if your child was waking at 6:00 AM during daylight savings, when daylight savings ends and the clock falls back an hour, they will start waking up at 5:00 AM.
When this happens, it's really easy to fall into the trap of early morning wakes, which is one of the hardest sleep problems to fix.
So the key to avoiding falling into an early morning waking pattern is to actually shift their internal body clock one hour later in the week prior to daylight savings ending.
It takes a week to gradually make that shift, so you'll want to start it in preparation instead of waiting until the clock changes.
The first step is to gradually shift your child's entire schedule later by 15 minutes every second day the week before daylight savings ends.
Gradually moving your child's schedule earlier will keep their schedule times in sync, while slowly shifting their internal body clock.
And this will ensure that when the time change does occur, they can continue to follow their typical schedule.
Now, if you're not quite sure about what your baby or child's schedule should look like, make sure you download the free New Parent's Guide to Naps which you can get by clicking the link in the description box below.
So how do you do it? Well, on Sunday and Monday morning the week before the daylight savings change occurs, you want to wake your child up 15 minutes later than normal in the morning and offer all their meals, sleep periods, including their naps and bedtimes, 15 minutes later as well.
So for example, if your child normally wakes at 7:00 AM and has their first nap at 9:00 AM, then their second nap at 1:00 PM, and then goes to bed at 7:00 PM, on Sunday and Monday of that week you will actually wake your child up at 7:15.
And then offer their first nap at 9:15.
Then their second nap at 1:15, and their bedtime at 7:15 PM.
Then, on Tuesday and Wednesday morning you will wake your child up 15 minutes later than you did on Monday, and you will offer all their meals and sleep periods 15 minutes later as well.
So for example, your child will now wake at 7:30 in the morning, and then you will offer their first nap at 9:30 in the morning, their second nap at 1:30 in the afternoon, and their bedtime will be 7:30 PM.
Then on Thursday and Friday morning, you will wake your child up 15 minutes later than you did on Wednesday morning and you'll continue to offer all their meals and sleep periods 15 minutes later as well.
So for example, you will now wake your child up at 7:45.
You would offer their first nap at 9:45 in the morning, their second nap at 1:45 PM, and then their new bedtime would be 7:45 PM.
Then on Saturday morning, you would once again shift their wake up time, meals, and sleep periods 15 minutes later than you did the day before, and you would wake your child up at 8:00 AM.
You would offer their first nap at 10:00, their second nap at 2:00 PM, and their bedtime would be at 8:00 PM.
Now, on Sunday morning, which is the day that those clocks have actually changed, so 8:00 AM is now 7:00 AM, you will notice that your baby and child is now back to using their usual wake up schedule and nap schedule.
So they would wake at the new 7:00 AM.
Have their first nap at 9:00 AM, their second nap at 1:00 PM, and their bedtime will be 7:00 PM again.
To reset your child's internal body clock so that they actually wake hour later than usual, you need to do two things.
The first thing you need to do is keep the evenings bright, and by that I mean turning on all the lights in the house, opening your blinds or curtains, and letting that evening light come in right up until you start your child's bedtime routine.
Exposing your child to bright lights in the evening will actually suppress the production of melatonin, which is the hormone which makes us sleepy, and this will encourage them to stay awake for longer, which will then help to shift their bedtime to a slightly later time.
The second thing you need to do is keep your child's bedroom dark until the new desired wake up time.
Following this step is very important, because exposing your child to bright light in the morning before that desired wake up time will essentially reset their circadian rhythm or that internal body clock, and lead to them waking slightly earlier, which is the complete opposite to what you want to achieve.
So to ensure your little one gradually shifts their internal body clock to wake up an hour later, you must keep their room dark until the desired wake up time.
So this may mean you temporarily need to pull out those blackout blinds to block any early morning light.
Now, because you are expecting your child to wake up 15 minutes later every other day, it is highly likely that they will wake up before the desired wake up time, and if this happens, go in right away, but keep the stimulation to a minimum and try to soothe them back to sleep.
If they do not go back to sleep, then keep the lights off and the curtains closed until the desired wake up time.
And when that new desired wake up time arrives, turn on all the lights, open up the curtains, and start your day.
So for example, if your little one wakes at 7:00 AM on Monday, but the new wake up time should be 7:15, then simply stay in the bedroom with your little one with the lights off and keep those distractions to a minimum until 7:15.
At 7:15, you would open those blinds, turn on the lights, and start the day.
Another common sleeping problem parents often experience is short naps.
If this is something you are struggling with, make sure you read this article next to learn the six different reasons why babies and children have short naps, and more importantly, what you can do to start extending your little one's short naps.
This doesn't apply to newborns, but if your child is five months or older, their wake times and bed times are determined by their circadian rhythm or their internal body clock, not the physical clock.
And as a result, they'll continue to wake up and fall asleep when their internal body clock tells them that it's time to do so, regardless of what that clock says.
That means if your child was waking at 6:00 AM during daylight savings, when daylight savings ends and the clock falls back an hour, they will start waking up at 5:00 AM.
When this happens, it's really easy to fall into the trap of early morning wakes, which is one of the hardest sleep problems to fix.
So the key to avoiding falling into an early morning waking pattern is to actually shift their internal body clock one hour later in the week prior to daylight savings ending.
It takes a week to gradually make that shift, so you'll want to start it in preparation instead of waiting until the clock changes.
The first step is to gradually shift your child's entire schedule later by 15 minutes every second day the week before daylight savings ends.
Gradually moving your child's schedule earlier will keep their schedule times in sync, while slowly shifting their internal body clock.
And this will ensure that when the time change does occur, they can continue to follow their typical schedule.
Now, if you're not quite sure about what your baby or child's schedule should look like, make sure you download the free New Parent's Guide to Naps which you can get by clicking the link in the description box below.
So how do you do it? Well, on Sunday and Monday morning the week before the daylight savings change occurs, you want to wake your child up 15 minutes later than normal in the morning and offer all their meals, sleep periods, including their naps and bedtimes, 15 minutes later as well.
So for example, if your child normally wakes at 7:00 AM and has their first nap at 9:00 AM, then their second nap at 1:00 PM, and then goes to bed at 7:00 PM, on Sunday and Monday of that week you will actually wake your child up at 7:15.
And then offer their first nap at 9:15.
Then their second nap at 1:15, and their bedtime at 7:15 PM.
Then, on Tuesday and Wednesday morning you will wake your child up 15 minutes later than you did on Monday, and you will offer all their meals and sleep periods 15 minutes later as well.
So for example, your child will now wake at 7:30 in the morning, and then you will offer their first nap at 9:30 in the morning, their second nap at 1:30 in the afternoon, and their bedtime will be 7:30 PM.
Then on Thursday and Friday morning, you will wake your child up 15 minutes later than you did on Wednesday morning and you'll continue to offer all their meals and sleep periods 15 minutes later as well.
So for example, you will now wake your child up at 7:45.
You would offer their first nap at 9:45 in the morning, their second nap at 1:45 PM, and then their new bedtime would be 7:45 PM.
Then on Saturday morning, you would once again shift their wake up time, meals, and sleep periods 15 minutes later than you did the day before, and you would wake your child up at 8:00 AM.
You would offer their first nap at 10:00, their second nap at 2:00 PM, and their bedtime would be at 8:00 PM.
Now, on Sunday morning, which is the day that those clocks have actually changed, so 8:00 AM is now 7:00 AM, you will notice that your baby and child is now back to using their usual wake up schedule and nap schedule.
So they would wake at the new 7:00 AM.
Have their first nap at 9:00 AM, their second nap at 1:00 PM, and their bedtime will be 7:00 PM again.
Tip 2 - Keep The Evenings Bright
At the same time as shifting your child's entire schedule, you are also going to use light to your advantage to help reset your child's internal body clock, as it is only through altering your child's exposure to light that you can truly reset their internal body clock.To reset your child's internal body clock so that they actually wake hour later than usual, you need to do two things.
The first thing you need to do is keep the evenings bright, and by that I mean turning on all the lights in the house, opening your blinds or curtains, and letting that evening light come in right up until you start your child's bedtime routine.
Exposing your child to bright lights in the evening will actually suppress the production of melatonin, which is the hormone which makes us sleepy, and this will encourage them to stay awake for longer, which will then help to shift their bedtime to a slightly later time.
Tip 3 - Keep Your Child's Room Dark Until The New Desired Wake Up Time
The second thing you need to do is keep your child's bedroom dark until the new desired wake up time.
Following this step is very important, because exposing your child to bright light in the morning before that desired wake up time will essentially reset their circadian rhythm or that internal body clock, and lead to them waking slightly earlier, which is the complete opposite to what you want to achieve.
So to ensure your little one gradually shifts their internal body clock to wake up an hour later, you must keep their room dark until the desired wake up time.
So this may mean you temporarily need to pull out those blackout blinds to block any early morning light.
Now, because you are expecting your child to wake up 15 minutes later every other day, it is highly likely that they will wake up before the desired wake up time, and if this happens, go in right away, but keep the stimulation to a minimum and try to soothe them back to sleep.
If they do not go back to sleep, then keep the lights off and the curtains closed until the desired wake up time.
And when that new desired wake up time arrives, turn on all the lights, open up the curtains, and start your day.
So for example, if your little one wakes at 7:00 AM on Monday, but the new wake up time should be 7:15, then simply stay in the bedroom with your little one with the lights off and keep those distractions to a minimum until 7:15.
At 7:15, you would open those blinds, turn on the lights, and start the day.
Another common sleeping problem parents often experience is short naps.
If this is something you are struggling with, make sure you read this article next to learn the six different reasons why babies and children have short naps, and more importantly, what you can do to start extending your little one's short naps.
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