I'm so nervous about the time change this weekend. My 19 month old usually sleeps until about 6:30am so will she now be sleeping until 5:30am??? I know putting your child to bed later doesn't make them sleep later the next day so I don't see that being the solution. Any advice out there on how to handle a soon to be very early riser?
I know this may sound like it takes a long time but it doesn't really. With two children we have used the method of putting them to bed 15 minutes later each night and getting them up 15 minutes later each morning until they are at the right time. With my oldest, two times she adjusted to the new time change like she had a preset button or something, without going through the 15 minute thing. You never know!
I'm dreading it too. My son (3) will be waking up an hour earlier. He always has. Usually within a week or so he's back in routine. So hang in there, it won't last forever. Just try to keep the lighting in the room as dark as possible when you want her sleeping and light and sunny when you want her awake.
If you try to ease her into the time change by changing her bed time, make sure to also adjust meal times, nap times, etc. I worried about the time change quite a bit with my first child. (she is still the most dependent upon a schedule at 8 years old) Now that I have three kids, I've learned not to really give it a thought until the night before the change. They tend to naturally adjust in a few days.
Your going to have about two-weeks of very early rising, but she'll slowly settle into routine since the rest of your life still revolves around the clock (ie meal times, work times, etc..) I have an early riser too and we were up at 4 this morning thanks to the time change :(
lol!! I was going to post almost the exact same question today!! My son is 7 months, and sleep till 5:30 or 6:00.....if you come up with a solution, be sure to post it! Good Luck...if I come up with one, I'll let you know!
Hi B.,
I was nervous about this too...my daughter just turned 2 and usually sleeps till about 7. If she stays up late, usually she wakes up even earlier! It's like it backfires. But I have heard that if they are tired, they don't sleep as well. Sounds strange, but true. And have you ever heard the expression "sleep begets sleep"? It seems to be true, at least sometimes, with my daughter. The earlier I put her down, the better and later she sleeps. So maybe you can gradually get her to bed earlier??? Just an idea.
Good luck!
I remember dreading the time changes when I had really little ones! Your child is likely to get up early for a little while. Just keep staying on your regular schedule and make sure the room is as dark as possibile since it will be getting light earlier. Try to keep all of your meals and naptime at their regular times. Within a few days, you'll likely be back on track.
Ugh, my son is the same way. Do you drink coffee? If not, you might want to start. Do everything you can to wear your child out while she is awake. Take her outside to play. Make her use her muscles. Get her excited. Go for a walk and/or push her in the stroller. These are just some of the things I do with my son. He doesn't wake up quite as early, although sometimes he does like to get me up at 6:00. Just keep her active and playful- even if you are tired. I know the feeling. My son is wide open and extremely intense and for me that was alot to deal with since I was never a very active child. His naps are longer now since I've started working with him outside. He will sleep for 3 hours sometimes. He usually sleeps through the night unless he has candy the previous day. He still wakes up around 7:00, but it is better than 5:30.
Are you guys usually up before she is? If so, if you try to get up later, she might fall into the routine easier. She might just surprise you and not have any trouble at all! My son does pretty good with the time change and he gets up at about the same time every day too. If not, you might try what I used to get my son over jet lag after we went to India. After the first day where he slept for half of the day, I would start laying down with him about an hour before he really needed to go to bed and would make sure it was dark and quiet in the room. The next day, I'd lay down about 45 minutes before, then 30 minutes, etc. There were a couple of mornings where he woke up early, but we would not get up and I left the room dark. It took him about a week to really get on the schedule I wanted. (We were over there three weeks.) I handled it the same way getting back and it took about a week again. You might try the same thing about getting her to lay down early. Of course, with the time change it might seem really early, since if she goes to bed at 8 now, an hour earlier would be 6 with the time change. Good luck!
Tonight I would put her to bed a half hour later tonight. It might not make that much of a difference but she will get used to it. I usually a week before the time change push or move forward (depending on which way the time is moving) bed time a half hour to help them get adjusted. When the actual day comes we usually are pretty close to our same sleep schedule.
If she wakes up at 5:30 tomorrow you could get up with her, or just let her play until 6:00. Then the next night, if she gets too grumpy to make it past an hour after normal bed time just put her to bed 30 hour past. Eventually she will make it to an hour and will sleep in in the mornings.Hopefully she will adjust soon, but it might be a few early mornings the next week.
Your daughter will soon adjust to the new time, as we all do.
