Five Sleep Tips to Help Your Child Adjust to the Fall Time Change

October 22, 2017

What could you do with an extra hour? Before kids it meant you could stay out an hour later on Saturday night or snuggle in your bed for an extra hour on Sunday morning.

If you are a tired and exhausted parent, you love the thought of an extra hour of sleep. But, what is your little darling going to do with their extra hour? You can’t change the time on your child’s body clock. I am sad to tell you that your little one will probably wake up an hour earlier on November 5!

Is there a way to prevent your child waking too early with the time change ?

It may help to prepare in advance for that fall time change of turning the clock back an hour.

Five Tips to Prepare for the time change :

1.) Try moving your child’s schedule later by about 15 minutes every couple of days. You can help your child’s body clock adjust slowly over a week.
2.) Use black out blinds or shades in their bedroom to help adjust the bedtimes. Open the blinds and turn on the lights at the designated wake up time.
3.) Move their day activities 15 minutes later every three days.
4.) Keep the lights bright in your house 15 minutes later in the evening to help delay that bedtime. You can start dimming those lights about 30 minutes before bedtime.
5.) Every three days move the entire schedule back another 15 minutes.

For a bedtime of 7 PM and wake time of 7 AM the schedule would look like this:

October 27, 28, 29 : wake time is 7:15 AM and bedtime is 7:15 PM
October 30, 31, November 1 : wake time is 7:30 AM and bedtime is 7:30 PM
November 2, 3, 4 : wake time is 7:45 AM and bedtime is 7:45 PM

The reward of your hard work all week is that your child is in bed at that new time change on the night of November 4 and you have your extra hour to celebrate or sleep – your choice!

November 5: wake time is 7 AM (due to time change) and bedtime is 7 PM

If you prefer, you could follow this same type of adjustment schedule after the time change instead of prior. You would still make 15 minute adjustments to your child’s schedule every three days.

If your child does not have a daily schedule of wake time and bed time, the fall time change can be extra difficult. If a child is sleep-deprived their body clock is already confused and navigating a time change can make sleep even more difficult. Contact me for help to get your child on a good sleep schedule.

Use the time-change to make a new start with an early and consistent bedtime for your child each night.

If your baby wakes before 6 AM, try to delay getting your baby up until 6 AM. This will prevent making an early morning wake up habit.

Using a toddler wake up clock can be beneficial for your toddler to know when it is OK to get out of bed. You will be able to set your own “OK to Wake” time.

Enjoy your extra hour and the activities of fall time with your child.

Helping Babies Sleep

Arlene Fryling

Arlene is a registered nurse and certified sleep consultant for children 0-5 years. She has cared for premature, sick, and many healthy babies. For over 15 years she has taught expectant parents how to care for their newborns through classes teaching basic baby care, infant massage classes, and moderating support groups for new moms as they deal with parenting issues.

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Testimonials

Alix Kron

★★★★★

4 months ago

We cannot say enough positive things about our experience working with Arlene!! We were desperate for sleep, going almost 5.5 months with frequent wake ups, nursing back to sleep, nonstop crying during the day, screaming in the car and becoming more and more hopeless as time went on without having success … Arlene changed all of that within no time. She listened to exactly what was going on for us, developed a sleep plan specific to our daughter’s needs/our goals and was so supportive and answered all of our questions along the way. It was very easy to follow the plan that she developed and it included naps and weaning off of night feedings. We saw a difference in our daughter almost immediately! Arlene has absolutely transformed our lives and given us the ability to enjoy each other and feel so much better getting the sleep we all want and NEED! Our daughter is now sleeping 11-12 hours per night, eating only once overnight as opposed to every 1-2 hours, is on a great nap schedule and is so much happier!!! It’s the best money we’ve spent.

Adrienne G.

★★★★★

2 years ago

We worked with Arlene to sleep train our 22 month old son who had been bed sharing and nursing to sleep. She helped us develop a sleep plan that was specific to our son's needs. It addressed both his nighttime sleep and his naps. It really took the guess work out of the endeavor, because as a parent, even if you read all the sleep books, there are many different opinions and it is hard to know what is right. Arlene was attentive, flexible and available to answer all of our questions and concerns. I would highly recommend working with her! Our son now sleeps 11-12 hours a night and put himself to sleep on his own. Sleep training him has been a game changer for me (I sleep now too!) and for him. He seems well rested and his development seems to be progressing faster now too. His language skills are flourishing since he is getting better rest.

Amanda C

★★★★★

4 years ago

We just wrapped up our second time working with Arlene, and had another great experience! Arlene helped us sleep train our first baby a few years ago when she was 4 months old at the time. She was a terrible sleeper, waking up once every hour and needing to be rocked to sleep for what felt like hours and hours each day. I was a stressed, exhausted, and worried first time mom, and I was drawn to Arlene’s calm and experienced approach. She gave us an option for a gentler strategy that worked for us at the time, and was detailed and responsive in her sleep plan and attentiveness. Our daughter just turned 2.5 years old and is still a great sleeper. So once our second baby turned 4 months recently, we did not hesitate to work with Arlene again. We now have two rockstar sleepers in our household, thanks to Arlene! It means the world to us that she was there to help guide us, instill confidence, and most importantly, help teach our children such a valuable skill they will undoubtedly benefit from for the rest of their lives.

Begoña Cirera

★★★★★

2 years ago

Arlene helped me first with my first son who was 2.5 year old when I hired her. He slept with me during breastfeeding. He never wanted to sleep in his crib. I was due with my second, and I needed better rest, and had no clue how to get him to sleep away from my bed. I even had to sleep w him during naps, or he wouldn’t sleep. I had to walk him for hours to fall asleep every night. It was awful. Two weeks after Arlene helped us create a program for him, he was done!!! He was sleeping in his own room, all night (12+ hours) and he was SO HAPPY during the day. We learned so much, and all made so much sense. After trying methods and books, nothing worked. My son is almost 6, and he falls asleep at 7:30pm every evening, until 7:00am. As a parent, you know how precious those hours are. With my second one, I didn’t make the mistake of waiting until he was two to train him to sleep. By 3 months, we slowly started, with Arlene’s help. I never had to walk him or be there for him to fall asleep. He’s now 3, and he is a great sleeper, much better than his big brother ever was, still takes 90-min naps, and sleeps 11 hours a night. Every penny I spent to hire Arlene’s expertise is worth it. My only regret was not to look for her sooner. Lifesaver, 100%.

Abbey Stidam

★★★★★

6 years ago

Arlene Fryling at Gentle Touch Sleep Time helped our son sleep, which helped us sleep! We were having trouble transitioning our son (4 months at the time) from his rock-n-play to the crib and our amazing sleeper since birth was all of a sudden not sleeping very much. Arlene talked with us about what was going on with his sleep and why the change in his sleep pattern. She answered all our questions and calmed our worries and frustrations. She came up with a sleep plan that worked for our family. She guided us every step of the way. He is now an amazing sleeper again! He is 18 months old and sleeps 12 hours at night and takes a 1 1/2 - 2 hour nap. He loves to sleep and never fights sleeping. I am so thankful we had Arlene Fryling help us and we were able to teach our son to sleep.