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Daylight savings. Surviving the “Fall Back”

In October the clocks will go back an hour, officially signalling the end of summer (if the constant rain hadn’t given that away already) and the beginning of wintery darkness and being constantly cold. This “fall back” also means that my workload increases, as parents begin asking how to help their children with this change and prevent the dreaded 5 am (or earlier!!) wakeups. The answer is pretty straightforward, but involves some planning, especially if you have younger children. I’ve tried to pop in as much information as I can below to help you navigate this and, hopefully, make things easier for your whole family. 
 

General Advice 

 
  • Keep your usual bedtime routine consistent. You don’t want to change anything other than the time that the child goes to bed.
  • Focus on their wakeup time and work backwards (including the hour we gain), to avoid confusion e.g. if you would like your little one to wake up at 7 am and they usually have 12 hours of sleep at night, then get them to bed at 8 pm on Saturday night.
  • Be aware of the amount of light in the child’s bedroom, both in the morning and evening. This can affect their melatonin levels (their sleep hormone) and may undo any efforts that you’ve put into maintaining their wake time.
  • Ensure that your child is getting plenty of natural daylight during the day so that their circadian rhythm (your body’s sleep/wake cycle) can adjust to the change.
  • Avoid blue-spectrum light before bedtime, as it negatively affects the body’s melatonin levels. This includes TV, mobile phones, tablets etc.
  • Be aware of meal and nap times, these may need to be slightly adjusted by a few minutes too.
 

Babies and Young Children 

 
Newborn babies won’t have developed a circadian rhythm yet, as this doesn’t usually happen until around 3 months of age, so they won’t be affected at all. Older babies and young children are usually more sensitive to the time, therefore I would suggest moving their sleep time very gradually. 

Gradual change their sleep time each evening leading up to the clocks changing on Saturday night/Sunday morning.

For example, if your little one usually goes to bed at 7.30 pm then move their bedtime as follows

7.45 pm

Wednesday night

8.00 pm

Thursday night

8.15 pm

Friday night

8.30 pm

Saturday night (clocks change at 2 am)

7.30pm

Sunday night

If you have a baby that really struggles to stay awake past their usual bedtime, then try and introduce a one-off extra nap on Saturday, or try and extend one of their current naps. This will aim to combat overtiredness, which will disrupt any attempt to move their sleeping time.

Make sure that the later nap isn’t too close to bedtime (I recommend no later than 4.00 pm).

Older Children 

 Older children tend to be less sensitive to time changes, so the best approach would be to extend their bedtime by an extra hour on Saturday night to adjust to the hour of time that we gain. If you have an older child that you think would struggle with this, then use a gradual method (like the routine above), but try using only a half an hour change at a time over two nights instead of four. 
 
– Keep their day busy, but not overly exhausting on Saturday and make sure that they spend some time in natural daylight. 
 
 
My final advice is the most important- don’t panic or stress! Life never works out as we plan it to, especially when you throw children into the mix, so don’t put too much pressure on yourself and go with the flow. 
 
 
If you have any questions at all please do feel free to contact me at  elizabeth@elizabeththompsonsleep.com
or give me a call on 07725 650 551 
 

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