Summer is slowly coming to an end (although this year I’m not sure that we got much of a summer at all?!) and the green leaves will soon start turning into the beautiful oranges and browns. The temperatures will drop, we’ll start to pack away the shorts and get out the jeans and the clocks go BACK for daylight savings.
As a parent, the idea of daylight savings may bring you a bout of anxiety. What does that mean for my child’s sleep? Will they be waking up at the crack of dawn now? How will it affect our routines? Don’t panic- with a little planning you can easily get through daylight savings and even use it to your advantage if your current routines aren’t meeting your family’s needs any more.
On the first Sunday of April at 3am, the clocks will go back one hour. We will gain an hour of sleep but it does mean that if your child was waking up at 7am, the clock will now say 6am. Or worse, those who are waking at 6am will now be waking at the new 5am. So how do we deal with this? Our internal body clocks, or circadian rhythm and strongly driven by the amount of natural daylight we receive. When the timing of the daylight levels change our body clocks change. That is why if we do nothing about daylight savings, we will adjust to the new timings after a while but with a small child and family to support, a few days of your routine out of sorts probably isn’t what you want. In that case, there are three approaches you can take: 1) a proactive approach and prepare in the week before daylight savings, 2) a reactive approach and deal with it the week after daylight savings, or 3) meeting it in the middle.
When you choose an approach to take you’ll need to consider how this affects other aspects of your family life like day care and school pick up/drop offs, getting to work on time and other commitments through the week.
The proactive approach:
In the week before daylight savings, begin shifting your normal routine LATER by 10 minutes each day. You'll need to do this to every aspect of your routine. Wake up time, meal times, nap times and bedtime will change- you are helping your child's body clock adjust a little each day over the next week.
For example- if they currently wake at 7am:
Monday (one week before daylight savings): wake 7.10am, morning tea 9.40am,
lunch 11.10am, nap 12.40pm, wake 2.40pm, dinner 5.10pm, bath 6.10pm, bedtime
7.10pm
Tuesday: wake 7.20am, morning tea 9.50am, lunch 11.20am, nap 12.50pm, wake
2.50pm, dinner 5.20pm, bath 6.20pm, bedtime 7.20pm
Wednesday: wake 7.30am, morning tea 10am, lunch 11.30am, nap 1pm, wake 3pm,
dinner 5.30pm, bath 6.30pm, bedtime 7.30pm
Thursday: wake 7.40am, morning tea 10.10am, lunch 11.40am, nap 1.10pm, wake
3.10pm, dinner 5.40pm, bath 6.40pm, bedtime 7.40pm
Friday: wake 7.50am, morning tea 10.20am, lunch 11.50am, nap 1.20pm, wake
3.20pm, dinner 5.50pm, bath 6.50pm, bedtime 7.50pm
Saturday: wake 8am, morning tea 10.30am, lunch 12pm, nap 1.30pm, wake 3.30pm,
dinner 6pm, bath 7pm, bedtime 8pm
Sunday (clocks have gone back): wake 7am (new time), morning tea 9.30am, lunch
11am, nap 12.30pm, wake 2.30pm, dinner 5pm, bath 6pm, bedtime 7pm
The reactive approach:
In the week after daylight savings has happened, you will adjust the routines BACK by 10 minutes each day so by the end of the first week things are back to their normal timing.
For example, if your child currently wake at 7am it will
become 6am after daylight savings:
Sunday (first day of daylight savings): wake up 6am, morning tea 8.30am, lunch
10am, nap 11.30am, wake 1.30pm, dinner 4pm, bath 5pm, bedtime 6pm.
Monday: wake 6.10am, morning tea 8.40am, lunch 10.10am, nap 11.40pm, wake 1.40pm,
dinner 4.10pm, bath 5.10pm, bedtime 6.10pm
Tuesday: wake 6.20am, morning tea 8.50am, lunch 10.20am, nap 11.50pm, wake 1.50pm,
dinner 4.20pm, bath 5.20pm, bedtime 6.20pm
Wednesday: wake 6.30am, morning tea 9am, lunch 10.30am, nap 12pm, wake 2pm,
dinner 4.30pm, bath 5.30pm, bedtime 6.30pm
Thursday: wake 6.40am, morning tea 9.10am, lunch 10.40am, nap 12.10pm, wake 2.10pm,
dinner 4.40pm, bath 5.40pm, bedtime 6.40pm
Friday: wake 6.50am, morning tea 9.20am, lunch 10.50am, nap 12.20pm, wake 2.20pm,
dinner 4.50pm, bath 5.50pm, bedtime 6.50pm
Saturday: wake 7am, morning tea 9.30am, lunch 11pm, nap 12.30pm, wake 2.30pm,
dinner 5pm, bath 6pm, bedtime 7pm.
Meeting it in the middle:
With this approach, wake up on Sunday after the clocks have changed and move your routines later by 30 minutes. Keep it this way for 3-4 days and once your little one has gotten used to that, adjust it again by moving everything another 30 minutes later. This may have a little less impact on the rest of your commitments through the week.
For example:
Sunday (first day of daylight savings): wake 6.30am (new time, 7.30am old time),
morning tea 9am, lunch 10.30am, nap 12pm, wake 2pm, dinner 4.30pm, bath 5.30pm,
bedtime 6pm
Wednesday (back to the normal timing): wake 7am, morning tea 9.30am, lunch 11am,
nap 12.30pm, wake 2.30pm, dinner 5pm, bath 6pm, bedtime 7pm
If your current routines aren’t working for you, consider how the clock changes can work in your favour. If your little one is waking earlier than you’d prefer right now, I’d suggest using a proactive approach so you don’t have to deal with their 5.30am wakes becoming 4.30am. If you’d like to have an earlier bedtime then try a reactive approach and change the timings until you get to the one that suits your child and family, then keep things at that point.
Get in touch if you have a specific question about your child
for family’s routine and how it will be affected by the change in clocks. Once
you have the plan sorted I promise that it isn’t that scary!