Hi! I’m Dana Obleman, creator of The Sleep Sense Program. If you’d rather read than watch, I’ve transcribed the text of this video below.

Hi, I’m Dana Obleman, creator of The Sleep Sense Program — and coming up this weekend is daylight savings time. Most parents do not mind it so much in the spring when they gain an extra hour, but it sends fear through people’s bones when they hear they are going to have to lose an hour of sleep! Every year I get a TON of questions asking for the best way to handle daylight savings time and children’s sleep. So here it is:

If I had my way, there would not be a daylight savings time. I think it really does affect not only children’s sleep patterns but adults, too. In fact, statistically there is an 8% increase in traffic accidents the Monday after daylight savings time kicks in. It really does have an affect on all of us and it can increase our sleep debt — especially in children who tend to be much more structured with going to bed at the same time every night and waking up at the same time every morning. That is usually why people notice it the most in young children.

So what is the best way to handle it? I get tons of calls the week following the rollback because parents are saying their children are up to early. My advice is to “split the difference.” So, if your child usually goes to bed at 7 PM, I recommend putting that child to bed at 6:30 PM on the first day following the time change. (This will FEEL like 7:30 to your child.) And it will take about a week for your child’s body to get used to this. It takes everybody’s body roughly one week to adjust any kind of change in sleeping habits.

I know that for a week, it is going to be a little off. They will be up earlier. If you have children over the age of two, you can put a digital clock in the room and put a piece of tape over the minutes, so that they can see if it is 6 o’clock or 7 o’clock, but they cannot see the minutes, which often confuses toddlers. I would just set the clock forward half an hour so that at 6:30, it said 7:00 and I would let them get up a little earlier than normal and knowing that, by the end of the week, they will be back on track and sleep until their normal wakeup time.

Now, if you are dealing with a baby, you cannot do that. They are not going to understand anything about a clock and so, just know that you are going to have your baby waking up at their usual time for at least a few days into the time change. Now, do not rush in as soon as you hear your baby waking up, because you do not want to send a message that getting up at 6 a.m. is okay now. If they normally slept until 7:00 and I would suggest that you just increase your “going to get them in time” by about five or ten minutes everyday. So if they woke up at six you will wait till ten after the first day, and then quarter after the next, then 6:30 the next day and, by the end of the week, your baby’s schedule should be adjusted to the new time and waking up at their usual hour.

Sometimes it even takes into the second week. You cannot really expect children to bounce on to a new time difference right away. Some people even say it can take up to four weeks for a body to adjust to even the smallest difference.

Give it time and know that they eventually get back on schedule, but there is not point in trying to stay at the “old time.” It is better to just go with the “new time” and decide your child will go to bed at seven and they should go to bed at seven regardless whether it is spring or the fall.

So I hope that helps! I know it is an inconvenience, and it really can mess with everyone’s schedule, but just do your best to adjust and give yourself about a week to get used to it. And for adults too… Really honor the time change do not force yourself to stay up an extra hour just because the clock does not say it is bed time yet. Like I said, it does affect adults as well, so the more your follow the lead of your children and get yourself going to bed at your appropriate time, you will find that you adjust faster as well.

Good luck in the next week. Thanks… and sleep well!