Can you sense the sarcasm in that title?
Here's a short synopsis of my relationship with fall daylight savings time.
Age 21 - 25 - An extra hour at the bar. I love you.
Age 25 - 30 - An extra hour of sleep. I love you even more.
Age 30 - 33 - An extra hour of night shift and literally sleeping during every minute of daylight. You kind of suck.
Age 33 - Current - I have kids. I loathe you.
For real though, when are we gonna stop this charade?
Regardless, I think it's here to stay so we gotta deal with it.
My best advice? Just don't overthink it. Get your kids the sleep they need, get you the sleep you need. Give your pets the side eye for literally being able to nap all day long. And move on with life.
Basically when it comes to daylight savings time you have two options.
Option 1
Prepare Ahead of Time
If you're the type of family that has a very rigid schedule you may want to prepare ahead of time!
Starting on Monday the week of the time change you should start to move your bedtime and naps up by ten minutes each day. For example, if your bedtime is set at 7 PM your schedule for the week would look like this: Sunday - 7 PM Monday - 710 PM Tuesday - 720 PM Wednesday - 730 PM Thursday 740 PM Friday 750 PM Saturday 8 PM - This is the night that the magic happens and you are back to your 7 PM bedtime. If you forget to start adjusting your schedule because, duh, you're an exhausted parent it's really no big deal. Just divide an hour by the number of days you have left until the time change and move bedtime by that amount of time. For example, if you remember on Wednesday, you have 4 days until the time change so your schedule would look like this. Wednesday - 715 PM Thursday - 730 PM Friday - 745 PM Saturday - 8 PM and magic.
Option 2
Pretend It's Not Happening For real, just pretend the time change isn't coming and do nothing about it. This is my favorite option because in my house we don't have set bedtimes. Bedtime is always based on the quality of our day and naps and within a reasonable time. Hint: Between 6 and 7. You may have a kiddo that is suddenly waking up at 530. I know that looks bad on the clock, like really bad. But remember you got that extra hour of sleep too, right? I mean there is no way you stayed up watching Elf and putting the Christmas tree up 2 months ahead of time. Ha! It me, I'm guilty. You may have to adjust your bedtimes and naps by a half hour or so depending on your kids sleepy cues but within a week they will be right back to normal. In my opinion this truly is the best option especially if you're really honed in on your kiddo's sleep needs. Keep In Mind
Kids love consistency. Keeping with your same daytime and bedtime routine will help your family smoothly transition through the time change.
Your kiddo needs time to adjust. Between the weather and the excitement of all the holidays surrounding fall back it's a good time to, shall we say, pick your battles?
Check your nursery and rooms. I recommend safety checks twice a year and daylight savings is the best time! Get my safety checklists here --> Safety List
Be sure to follow @maktosleep on social media. And, if you want to hear me talk personally book a call with me here. I promise it will be a good time.
Okay, talk soon!
Mak
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