Toddlers sleep a lot, and they should. It’s what helps their little bodies, minds, and psyches grow and develop in the correct way. When the clock falls back one hour on November 4th be prepared for early rising which throws off your nap and bedtime schedule. Toddlers sleep quite a bit, but even their little body’s fall victim to daylight savings time. Follow these simple steps to help your child adjust to the time change and prevent sleep regressions.
Unsure what time your child’s bedtime should be? Grab our bedtime by age chart HERE.
Toddlers Sleep Better When We Adjust the Time for Them
- Start the shift slowly. Eight days before daylight savings, start shifting your child’s nap and bedtime schedule later by 15 minutes every 2 days. Adjust mealtime as well.
- Adopt the new clock immediately. As soon as the clock officially falls back we need to work off the new clock right away. Don’t make the mistake of calculating what bedtime would have been yesterday.
- Use Blackout shades. As the light creeps in earlier in the morning this is an important step to help minimize early rising.
- Set awake for the day no earlier than 6:30 AM. Wait to get your baby until 6:30 AM the day of the time change and each day after. Choose a sleep training method you’re comfortable with using 1 of our 4 sleep training eBooks.
Following these easy steps and exposing your children to as much natural light as possible during the days immediately following the time change will help naturally reset their internal clocks.
Check out our eBook series to learn exactly how to apply the 4 most popular sleep training methods HERE. Sleep training does NOT have to mean Cry It Out (CIO)!
Dream Baby Sleep® offers customized sleep solutions Worldwide. Schedule your free 15-minute sleep consultation today!
Schedule your free 15 min consultation by filling out the form below
<!– [if lte IE 8]>
Have additional question about your toddler and want to learn more toddler sleep tactics? Schedule your free 15 minute consultation with one of our certified Sleep Experts.