Easy Tips for Baby's Transition as Daylight Saving Time Ends

The end of Daylight Saving Time (DST) is around the corner. Don’t forget to turn the clocks back by an hour on November 1, 2015. While the time change can temporarily cause some havoc on your children’s sleep, there are a few ways to help ease the pain of the DST shift.

For the less sensitive baby or child:

• Go with the flow. There is no need to prepare them for the time change. Come Sunday, adjust the entire day to the new time including naps, bedtime, and meals. Within a few days his body will adjust.

For those children who have some difficulty with sleep transitions:

• Start the transition to the new time several days before the end of DST. Shift the bedtime later by 15 minutes every two days leading up to November 1st. Be sure to adjust the entire day (naps, bedtime, and meals). By Sunday, your little one's body will already be on the way to adjusting to the new time.

Additional Tips:

• For the first week or two after DST ends, keep the lights a bit dimmer for the first hour or so after waking in the morning and the lights a bit brighter for the last hour of the day. This will help the resetting of your child’s internal clock to the new time.

• With any change to a schedule or routine, the more rested your little one can be leading up to the change, the more successful the transition will be. Spend time now getting naps and night sleep so your little one is not overtired. A well-rested sleeper will handle this transition much more smoothly than an overtired child!

Realistic Expectations:

• Have realistic expectations. It could take anywhere from a few days to a week or two for your little one’s internal clock to reset to this new time. As with all sleep training, the most important thing is for Mom and Dad to approach this transition with patience, confidence, and consistency.

Renee Wasserman, PT, MPH, founder of SleepyHead Solutions, is a Family Sleep Institute-certified Infant and Child Sleep Consultant. She offers many services including phone, email, Skype/FaceTime, and in-person consultations to solve your child’s sleep challenges. Feel free to email her with any questions. You can find out more information at her website and on her Facebook page.