Fall Back–Daylight Savings Tips
Fall Back--Daylight Savings Tips
Daylight savings time can be a challenging transition for everyone. Who is getting nervous about daylight savings?! With the “fall back” transition, you are SUPPOSED to gain an extra hour. The reality is that you and/or your kids are waking up at the usual time in the morning, which means on Sunday morning if the usual wake up times are 6am or 7am, they will wake up at 5am or 6am.
Below are two ways to manage this transition, either adjusting your schedule before or after the time change.
Before Time Change:
For this approach, you will choose either a 4 or 6 day transition the week before you “fall back.”
4 day shift - you will shift bedtime forward by 15 minutes each night starting on Wednesday and on Sunday you will go back to the “normal” bedtime.
6 day shift - you will shift bedtime forward by 10 minutes each night, starting on Monday and will go back to the normal bedtime on Sunday.
Below is an example of both transitions for a normal 7:00 pm bedtime
4 Day Shift
Wednesday 7:15 pm
Thursday 7:30 pm
Friday 7:45 pm
Saturday 8:00 pm
Sunday 7:00 pm
6 Day Shift
Monday 7:10 pm
Tuesday 7:20 pm
Wednesday 7:30 pm
Thursday 7:40 pm
Friday 7:50 pm
Saturday 8:00 pm
Sunday 7:00 pm
After Time Change
This will look like you allowing your child and yourself to wake up at your “usual” time on Sunday, the recommendation here is to NOT change your clock back on Saturday night. This will allow you to manage the early wake up psychologically. Once everyone is up and you’ve gotten yourself a cup of coffee and you’re ready to start your day, then turn back your clocks. Today you will plan to move all naps 30 minutes earlier, so if the morning nap is usually 930am, move it to 900am, which will be a stretch because it feels like 1000am. You will also want to move bedtime 30 minutes earlier, for example 7pm will move to 630pm which will feel like 730pm.
Do this for the first three days (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday) and by the fourth day they should be adjusted and able to move back to their regular nap and bedtimes. It can take up to a week for everyone to adjust to the new schedule, so be aware of this and adjust accordingly to your child’s needs.
On the days and weeks following the change, your child may wake earlier according to the new clock time. It is important that you maintain consistency about not letting your child get up and start their day prior to 6:00 am.
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