Daylight saving. Two words that can make your stomach turn if you’re a parent of little kids. Before I became a mom, I celebrated that extra hour every fall. I could stay up late and sleep later, and not feel one iota of guilt. How quickly things changed when I had a 14-week-old to contend with last year.
I had just gotten my daughter on a relatively predictable sleeping and feeding schedule when all of a sudden the clocks changed. How do you tell an infant they need to wait longer before they can nap or drink? And we all know there’s no reasoning with toddlers … if you have a two-year old when the clocks change, godspeed!
To make things easier this time around, I reached out to Conner Herman, a board-certified behavior analyst and co-author of The Dream Sleeper who’s been helping families sleep better for 17 years.
Below are the biggest takeaways from our conversation. I beg you to try out her tips and save yourself some tears (yours and your kid’s!) this weekend.
Change your schedule on Saturday instead of Sunday.
Yes, you read that right. “Daylight saving kind of sneaks up on you,” says Herman. “It happens on a Sunday, which is the worst time — a terrible day right before you have to start the work week.” She recommends the tip of switching up your routine a day early, so your family has time to adjust before everyone needs to return to work, school, daycare, etc. on Monday.
Start incrementally.
There’s a little math involved here, but it’s not as bad as you think. Say your baby takes two naps and the first one normally starts at 10 a.m. Try to keep them awake a little longer and put them down at 10:15 instead. Then, make the next nap 30 minutes later than it usually would be and bedtime 45 minutes later. “By the time morning happens, you’re practically on schedule, and then you have a full day of just sticking to the original schedule,” says Herman. “There may be a little bit of fussiness, maybe a little bit of extra tiredness, but you have that full day to adjust.” Plus, because you’ve planned it out ahead of time, you’ll probably have a little bit more patience, she adds.
Act normal.
Try not to waste time worrying about how this weekend is going to go. Your kids will pick up on your anxiety. But if you’re only changing their naps by 15 minutes each time, “they're not going to perceive it and if you're acting calm and like this is normal, then they shouldn't know that anything is different,” says Herman.
Don’t attempt any other changes right now.
Unless you really feel like torturing yourself, now is not the time to take away your child’s pacifier or move them to a big kid bed. As humans, we can handle only so much change at once. Focus only on their sleep schedule this weekend and once you’re back on track you can tackle other things on your to-do list.
Have kids do homework early.
If your kids are older and tend to leave their homework undone until Sunday night, encourage them to finish it on Friday or Saturday, suggests Herman. It’s the last thing you’re going to want to deal with at the end of the weekend when your body clocks are out of whack, and you’re all extra sleepy.
Look at the bright side.
This is probably more important for the time change in the fall than the one in the spring. In most of the U.S., the weather is about to get really cold, and you’re going to be stuck inside more. But the weekend the clock goes back an hour, you get an extra hour to spend with your kiddos. That may not seem like much, but any time spent with our kids matters. Make the weekend a little special by getting outside as a family. Go for walks, let your kids run around the playground or bike through your neighborhood together. Not only is the fresh air and sunlight a boon for everyone’s mood, the exercise should help them sleep better.
Kaitlyn Phoenix is a deputy editor in the Hearst Health Newsroom, where she reports, writes and edits research-backed health content for Good Housekeeping, Prevention and Woman's Day. She has more than 10 years of experience talking to top medical professionals and poring over studies to figure out the science of how our bodies work. Beyond that, Kaitlyn turns what she learns into engaging and easy-to-read stories about medical conditions, nutrition, exercise, sleep and mental health. She also holds a B.S. in magazine journalism from Syracuse University.
