Your Child's Routine and the Beginning of Daylight Savings

If you live anywhere where daylight savings starts on 4th October, I have some tips on how to adjust your child’s routine. (Victoria, NSW, South Australia, Tasmania).

Our bodies take about a week to adjust to a time change.

You can start to prepare your little one the week before daylight savings starts or begin to adjust their routine on the day it starts.

The first way is called the Proactive Strategy.  You begin to push their whole routine forward 15 minutes every 2nd day so that when they wake on Sunday 4th October their routine is in line with the new time.

So beginning tomorrow (Monday 28th September) push all sleeps and all food and milk 15 minutes later.  On Wednesday push all sleeps and all food and milk 15 minutes later.  On Friday push all sleeps and food and milk another 15 minutes later.  On Sunday when they wake the time will be moved forward 1 hour due to daylight savings, this is where you push everything forward the last 15 minutes so it lines up with the new time.

If we look at naps to help demonstrate:

If your little one has their nap at 9:30, on Monday push it out to 9:45, on Wednesday push it out to 10:00, on Friday push it out to 10:15, on Sunday push it out 15 minutes so that it would be 10:30 pre-daylight savings time, but 9:30am daylight savings time (new time).

Black out blinds are a wonderful tool.  Keep your child’s room so dark that you struggle to read in there, then you can be sure sunlight is not wreaking havoc on their sleep.

The other method is called the Reactive Strategy.  You wait until the day daylight savings starts before you make any changes.  Then you bring all feeds, naps and wake up time backwards by 15 minutes according to the new daylight savings time. Do this every second day until the routine is as it was before.

So on Sunday 4th October a 9:30am nap will begin at 10:15am new time, then on Tuesday the nap would begin at 10:00am new time, Thursday at 9:45am new time, then Saturday back to 9:30am. 

Don’t panic if it doesn’t all go as smoothly as planned, just keep in mind that our circadian rhythm (our 24 hour body clock) can be re-set by food, light and social interaction.  Change the times that these things are offered and you can adjust the times your child sleeps and wakes.

Now for children who are early morning risers.  Daylight savings can be a wonderful thing!  On Sunday 4th October get them up at 7am (new time) if they are not up already.  Have feeds and sleeps according to the new daylight savings times.  You will need to watch for tired signs in the evening and move bedtime a little earlier for a couple of days.  This should fix the early rising!

Daylight Savings is ending. How do I Adjust my Child's Routine?

Heidi Beech- Certified Infant and Child Sleep Consultant

On Sunday the 5th of April in Victoria, NSW, South Australia and Tasmania, daylight savings ends.  At 3am we put our clocks back to 2am.

We can adjust our children’s routines in small increments over a week.  There are 2 options:

1. You can be proactive and begin the week before we move our clocks back. 
   Every second day begin your child’s day 15 minutes later.  Use the Proactive chart.  It is based on a 7am wake up and 7pm bedtime- you can adjust these times to reflect your child’s wake and sleep times.

2. Or you can be reactive and make changes after the time change beginning on April 5th.  Use the Reactive chart.  It is based on a 7am wake up and 7pm bedtime- you can adjust these times to reflect your child’s wake and sleep times.  The times listed are the new times as of April 5th.

   Hints and Tips:

   Our circadian rhythm (an internal body clock that controls the sleep wake cycle) is
   reset by:

⏰Light

⏰Food

⏰Social Interaction

Keep this in mind when changing your child’s routine.  By changing the times that you make these
things available, you can slowly re-set your child’s circadian rhythm.  When your child should be sleeping keep their sleep space really dark, then when it is wake up time open the curtains or turn on the light.  Spend time in the sun in the morning and late in the afternoon.  Use black out blinds to keep their sleep space really dark. 

Wait until the adjusted times to offer food. 

When getting them up at the adjusted time in the morning and at the end of a nap, make it dramatic!  Lots of social interaction at times they should be awake- talking, cuddling, playing.

If your child is having trouble staying awake use, try changing environment- go outside for a walk, go into another room.  Lots of cuddles and quiet games with you to keep them awake.  Offer older children extra books, smaller babies some time playing with their toys with you. If you have an early riser, this can work to your advantage.  You now have an extra hour to work on getting back to sleep when they wake early.  It is hard work in the beginning, but with persistence from you it can be a blessing, getting them to sleep longer.

The best advice I can give is not to just hope it will all fall into place without any help from you.  Do not start letting your child get up at what will be one hour earlier than they were previously.  Use the charts to slowly make the changes.  If your child wakes before you want them to- do not offer the 3 things that re-train the circadian rhythm- so no light, no food and no social interaction until the adjusted time.

If you need help with your child’s routine, check out the ways I can help