How do infants adjust to Daylight Savings Time changes? I have a 9 month old daughter who is pretty faithful at going to sleep each night at 8:00 pm and not too much before otherwise, she'll cry briefly, stop and then talk herself to sleep in the dark in her crib until it's 8:00 pm or a little after. With the changes this weekend ("spring ahead an hour"), if we try to put her down at 8:00 pm (with DST changes), it will really be only 7:00 pm according to her internal clock. Are there any tricks to help them adjust or should I just put her down at 9:00 pm (her original 8:00 pm timeslot), and be happy that she'll now sleep until 7:30 am (instead of 6:30 am)? Seems like a silly question, but I thought I'd ask...
Hi A.,
We had the same issue last year. We started a few days before and gradually changed her bedtime by about 5-10 minutes a night, instead of all at once. It all ended up working out. We had a few days where she had trouble falling asleep, but she was fine. This is the same thing we do when travelling to a different time zone! Good luck!
E.
You can adjust to daylight savings in a way that your daughter won't even notice. Start tonight. Put her to bed at 10 mintues until 8. Tomorrow 7:40, then 7:30, etc. By the way, this is the most patient way to do it. If you prefer, just adjust her time by 15 minutes per night & she'll be adjusted in just 4 days!
I just wrote an article about this! I absolutely despise DST, and me and my kids struggle with it every year! If anyone wants to start a petition, I'll gladly sign it!
http://factoidz.com/how-to-help-your-child-adjust-to-dayl...
Put her down at her normal time. You'll change the clock after that anyway, and she'll never know the difference. Babies and kids have an unbelievable way of being oblivious to these things!
A.,
I've wondered this, too. Our 20M old son is very good (so far *knock on wood*) at going to bed at 8:00pm. I guess I went through this in the fall with him when he was like 14M, but it was so insignificant that I don't even remember. After he has to get up at 7AM on Monday morning (regardless of what time his body thinks it is), I just suppose he'll adjust to the new cycle that night.
Good luck.
T.
My opinion (now you have all different suggestions) would be to slowly adjust her, maybe even starting today. Start putting her down 15 minutes/30 minutes earlier each day until they are adjusted to going down and waking up earlier.
I think that is what I am going to do. That is what they suggest if you are trying to "set" their sleep times earlier and ween off of the midnight feeding.
Good luck.
L.
It's not a silly question. I've been wondering the same thing myself. Typically, as the days get longer my kids are "pre-adjusted" to DST before it starts in the spring. But this year DST is starting so early that I think it's going to be challenging.
If I were you, and if your schedule allows, I would keep her on her "body clock" time, and as the days get longer gradually move her schedule back to match the clock.
Just go with the new time. Kids and infants seem to adjust relatively quickly. I'll be happy mine is sleeping an hour later.
