I LOVE FALLING BACK!! A day where I get to sleep for one more hour?! YES PLEASE!!
But, as a parent, "falling back" can feel more like a punishment instead of a reward! You've spent so much time creating a routine or schedule for your little one, so the adjustment to a new time can feel daunting! Today, I'll break down how to deal with the time change and how to readjust your little one!
WAIT UNTIL MORNING TO RESET YOUR CLOCK
I recommend to all parents to just leave their clocks alone so it’s not as psychologically upsetting event to see your little one up an hour earlier. Just get up at your usual time and start the day. After your cup of coffee and a bit of breakfast, then you can go around changing the clocks. It will feel much better this way, trust me!
ADJUST NAP TIME
If, for example, your little one usually takes a morning nap around 9:30, you will adjust this to 9:00 for the three days after the time change. It will be a bit of a push for your child, but not so much that it will cause much damage to her schedule. Do the same for the afternoon nap.
DO THE SAME FOR BEDTIME
Let’s say your child usually goes to bed at 7 p.m. I recommend putting that child to bed at 6:30pm for the first three days following the time change. (This will FEEL like 7:30 to your child.) And it will take about a week for your child’s body to get used to this. It takes everybody’s body roughly one week to adjust any kind of change in sleeping habits.
If you have children over the age of two, you can put a digital clock in the room and put a piece of tape over the minutes, so that they can see if it is 6 o’clock or 7 o’clock, but they cannot see the minutes, which often confuses toddlers. Just set the clock forward half an hour so that at 6:30 it says 7:00 and let them get up a little earlier than normal, knowing that, by the end of the week, they will be back on track and sleep until their normal wakeup time. If you're using a Gro Clock or an OK to Wake clock just make sure to adjust time by 30 minutes for 3 days, then 45 minutes, then to the normal time.
DEALING WITH A YOUNGER BABY
If you are dealing with a baby, you can't really use a clock. Don't rush in as soon as you hear your baby waking up, because you do not want to send a message that getting up at 6 a.m. is okay now. So if she normally wakes at 7:00, but is now up at 6:00, you will wait till ten after the first day, and then twenty after the next, then 6:30 the next day and, by the end of the week, your baby’s schedule should be adjusted to the new time and waking up at their usual hour.
On the fourth night, just get in line with the new time so your baby is back to going to bed when the clock says 7:00 pm. Adjust naps to the correct time on day 4 as well.
There it is! If you're struggling with a readjustment or maybe just bedtime in general, let's chat! I can help!