Mamahood

Daylight Savings and Kids…

Friends, we’ve made it! Spring is upon us and I couldn’t be happier. We return to Daylight Savings Time and therefore we spring forward an hour this Sunday. I love having more light in the evenings, it just makes it feel like those warm summer nights are right around the corner after a frigid winter.

But with that comes changing up our children’s as well as our own sleep schedule. Sleep is something I take very seriously around here . So around this time of year when I know I have to adjust to the time change and all that implies, I love seeing Jennifer Waldburger’s newsletter from Sleepy Planet pop up in my inbox. Why? Because Jennifer and co-founder Jill Spivack are sleep specialists for children. Any sleep issues we’ve had (and we’ve had a few) I’ve always turned to Jennifer because her approach has always been a calm, gentle, and helpful one.

You should check out their books if you are in the baby stage or know someone who is on the road to mommyhood: The Sleepeasy Solution and Calm Mama, Happy Baby .

Here are some helpful tips from Jennifer and Jill on how to preempt the effects of time change:

Before bed on Saturday, turn clocks ahead 1 hour. If your child normally sleeps till 6:30 AM, the next morning she will likely sleep till 7:30 AM. Her entire schedule – naps and bedtime – will then shift one hour later. If you’re happy about this change, great! Just protect her room from too much light in the early morning (use room-darkening shades if necessary), and use white noise so she won’t wake up with the birds.
If you’d rather help your child get back to her usual schedule, try the following:
Put your child down at her regular bedtime, say 7:30 PM, on Saturday night.
Set your alarm for 6:30 AM (according to the new time) and awaken your child then. To her, it will feel like it’s 5:30 AM, but don’t worry. She’ll be tired, but she’ll adjust.
If your child naps, put her down at her normal nap time according to the new time change and resume a normal schedule from there. Don’t allow her to nap longer than usual.
On Sunday night, put her down at her usual bedtime according to the new time.

Thank you for doing such a great job laying it out for us, ladies!