Daylight savings time will end on Sunday. Local pediatrician Dr. Hector De Leon with Kaiser Permanente offers some tips to help your child adjust to the time change.
Parents will set their clocks back an hour with the fall time change. The change can be disruptive to young children. Sunrise will come earlier than people have become accustomed to which can cause young children to wake up earlier, De Leon said.
“I think just acknowledging that this can be hard for kiddos and then coming up with a plan that works for your family helps,” De Leon said.
De Leon suggested taking advantage of the few days before to begin nudging bedtimes a bit earlier. How much earlier each day is up to the parent. However, Care.com recommends 15 minutes for babies, 20 minutes for toddlers ages 1 and over and 30 minutes for school-aged children. Teenagers can be more tricky but De Leon suggested talking to them about their goals and helping them to see how sleep plays into that.
Most children need between 9-10 hours of sleep each night to have enough energy for all of their interests, De Leon said.
Another way to help children transition the time change is to limit or eliminate screen time before bed, De Leon said.
“We know that the light from screens — that blue light — can impede our brain’s natural ability to produce melatonin and that is what sets us into sleep,” De Leon said.
He suggested replacing screen time with family reading or “chill” time. He suggested turning on some relaxing music or even offering your child a relaxing bath before bedtime.
“Make an effort to intentionally slow things down in the evening that way when Sunday comes there is less disruption,” De Leon said.
While parents have the best intentions to plan ahead, sometimes daylight savings sneaks up on them. De Leon suggested embracing the outdoors on Sunday.
“Try to find some sort of physical activity to reset your clock. That early daylight exposure, being outdoors, being physically active, for your kids, for your family, is going to be really helpful that following night,” De Leon said.
It doesn’t matter when you begin the adjustment of your child’s sleep schedule, the process will work, according to Care.com. Even if you do nothing, your child will eventually adjust to the new time schedule, however, it may take a week or two for kids to adjust.
“I think for sleep and children it’s always about modeling. Like most behaviors, as parents, it is our responsibility to model that for them and show them how to develop these routines,” De Leon said.
