When we spring our clocks forward an hour next Sunday, March 14, we will be left feeling groggy and maybe a little cranky as Monday morning comes even sooner than we’d like. Adults don’t typically enjoy feeling slightly sleep-deprived, but we double-up on coffee and power through. Small children, on the other hand, are less likely to power through and more likely to release their exhaustion by having a meltdown during their 9 a.m. Zoom. Which is why you should start easing into the transition now, while you’ve still got a week to get their bodies ready to lose an hour.
Gradually adjust their bedtime and wake-up times
You, as a grown-up, will probably be fine to suck up the loss of one hour all at once, but kids fare better if their bedtime and wake-up times are adjusted over several days. Here’s how Dr. Daniel Lewin, associate director of sleep medicine at Children’s National Health System in Washington, D.C., suggests to Parents.com that we accomplish that:
If your child goes to bed at 8 p.m., about four days before the time change, put him to bed at 7:45 p.m., then 7:30 p.m., and so on until he’s going to bed as close to 7 p.m. as possible. If possible, wake him up a little earlier, as well. “Doing this step-by-step is not as much a shock to the system as it is when you abruptly expect your child to fall asleep an hour earlier after the time change,” Dr. Lewin says. “If it’s too difficult to get your child to bed earlier, which is often the case in older kids, then just focus on advancing the wake up time a bit instead.”
You can do it even more gradually, if you’d like, by moving the time up by 15 minutes and keeping it there for two days, instead of one, before moving it up again.
Tighten up on your routine
Kids fare best when they have and follow a consistent bedtime routine, so if you’ve gotten a little lax about that, now is the time to tighten it up again. Some combination of brushing teeth, bath time, snuggling up to read books and sing songs before turning out the lights, when repeated consistently, will help signal to their minds and bodies that it’s time to wind down. Starting tonight, protect their bedtime routine at all costs.
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Manage the light
Darkness encourages sleep, while light encourages wakefulness. So if you haven’t yet, invest in some blackout shades so you can darken their bedroom as needed for naps or if it’s light out when bedtime arrives. To help them wake up in the morning, pull back the shades to let nature offer its influence.
(If you don’t have blackout shades, I’ve also pinned up a dark, lightweight blanket in a pinch; it works fine.)
Try to wear them out the day before
If you weren’t able to pull off gradually shifting their bedtime, your mission on March 14 is to completely wear them out. This is not the day for extra screen time and relaxation. This is the day for indoor bubble wrap hopscotch and obstacle courses and all the Go Noodle you can stand. There is no shame in purposefully wearing them out so you can head into bedtime as earlier as possible.
Buckle in
If all else fails and you weren’t able to gradually adjust their sleep schedule and the time change was simply determined to throw your kid off and mess with their overall well-being, just hold on tight for a couple of days. They might be extra irritable for a while (maybe as long as a week), but at least you know why —and they will, eventually, adjust.
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