Heidi Beech- Certified Infant and Child Sleep Consultant
On Sunday the 5th of April in Victoria, NSW, South Australia and Tasmania, daylight savings ends. At 3am we put our clocks back to 2am.
We can adjust our children’s routines in small increments over a week. There are 2 options:
You can be proactive and begin the week before we move our clocks back.
Every second day begin your child’s day 15 minutes later. Use the Proactive chart. It is based on a 7am wake up and 7pm bedtime- you can adjust these times to reflect your child’s wake and sleep times.Or you can be reactive and make changes after the time change beginning on April 5th. Use the Reactive chart. It is based on a 7am wake up and 7pm bedtime- you can adjust these times to reflect your child’s wake and sleep times. The times listed are the new times as of April 5th.
Hints and Tips:
Our circadian rhythm (an internal body clock that controls the sleep wake cycle) is
reset by:
⏰Light
⏰Food
⏰Social Interaction
Keep this in mind when changing your child’s routine. By changing the times that you make these
things available, you can slowly re-set your child’s circadian rhythm. When your child should be sleeping keep their sleep space really dark, then when it is wake up time open the curtains or turn on the light. Spend time in the sun in the morning and late in the afternoon. Use black out blinds to keep their sleep space really dark.
Wait until the adjusted times to offer food.
When getting them up at the adjusted time in the morning and at the end of a nap, make it dramatic! Lots of social interaction at times they should be awake- talking, cuddling, playing.
If your child is having trouble staying awake use, try changing environment- go outside for a walk, go into another room. Lots of cuddles and quiet games with you to keep them awake. Offer older children extra books, smaller babies some time playing with their toys with you. If you have an early riser, this can work to your advantage. You now have an extra hour to work on getting back to sleep when they wake early. It is hard work in the beginning, but with persistence from you it can be a blessing, getting them to sleep longer.
The best advice I can give is not to just hope it will all fall into place without any help from you. Do not start letting your child get up at what will be one hour earlier than they were previously. Use the charts to slowly make the changes. If your child wakes before you want them to- do not offer the 3 things that re-train the circadian rhythm- so no light, no food and no social interaction until the adjusted time.
If you need help with your child’s routine, check out the ways I can help
