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What do you do for daylight savings? I have a 3yo and a 5mth old and though i am loving the idea of it being darker in the morning i am really worried about the transition stage. I was think i would adjust bedtime by 15mins every few days, or should i just jump straight in and put them to bed a whole hour earlier?
I do! I have found that about 50% of kids are affected by it, and the rest don't even notice. I once worked in a room of 10 kids, and exactly 5 sat there at rest time, wide eyed and staring at me as if to say "Why are we in bed?" and the rest just toddled off to sleep as normal. So I like my stats.
For those who are affected, then exactly what you suggested works really well. I actually adjust by 20 minutes at a time, and do it in two-day hits. So adjust bedtime by 20 mins on day 1 and 2, then 40 mins on 3 and 4, and then the full hour on day 5.
What has happened in the past? How has Little Miss coped with the change?
I found that my girls haven't been badly affected so I did the time shift in half hour hits. Some people find taking it slower with 10min hits works better and taking the week to adjust.
My kids are all over the place atm anyway! So going to just jump in and adjust on Sat night after a big afternoon run around. I have found this worked best for them previously but also we tend to be a bit more relaxed on the weekend. Good luck!
Our bedtime is fairly flexible anyway... is usually anywhere between 7 and 8. So we don't really feel it when the clocks change. I'm looking forward to 5.30am being 6.30 tho... will mean the kids won't bug me so early! haha.
DD has always been a bit all over the place so daylight savings has barely registered, but DS is a totally different type of sleeper and has been really effected by the change of light in the mornings so i think he will notice the change in the evenings too.
I think DD will be ok, we might take her for a big swim on saturday afternoon to tire her out like Mak suggested and have the half hour change as a back up. For DS i think i might do Audax's 20 minutes every 2 days :)
Ok, that feels better!
I don't change the sleep time, but make a point of trying to really wear them out at the park or swimming so they're physically ready to go to bed earlier!
Plan B: Move to Brisbane. Be closer to me. Won't have to deal with it. :D