Gentle Sleep: Navigating Daylight Savings Time with Babies and Toddlers
As a parent, I have a hard time remembering when Daylight Savings Time didn't jump-start anxiety. Sleep is already a hot commodity with babies and young children; you're likely not celebrating a biannual upheaval to your family's sleep schedule. As an infant sleep coach in the Twin Cities, I understand how infant and toddler sleep can impact your family.
So what do you do, start moving the kids' bedtimes around a month in advance? Nope! Like a lot of things, daylight savings has been overhyped to already worried parents. In reality, your child's sleep is disrupted way less by daylight savings than by numerous other factors: growth spurts, developmental leaps, teething, or a myriad of other possibilities.
Maybe you're asking, "It's just so easy to blame daylight savings; why are you ruining this for me?" Because I want to share some simple things you can do to make it through daylight savings with a baby or toddler, duh!
Avoid significant sleep schedule changes
Quality infant and toddler sleep usually thrives on routines rather than schedules. These routines are rarely driven by the time of day, but by understanding our baby or child's tired cues. Signs like red eyes, disengagement with play, yawning, or fussiness, to name a few, are the best indicators of when caregivers should attempt naps or bedtime.
Adjusting your child's sleep based on a time of day instead of their cues will likely cause more frustration. If we're attempting to put a child to sleep who isn't exhibiting these cues, we're likely to get frustrated with how long it takes them to fall asleep.
Alternately, if we're trying to push bedtime while our child's tired cues continue to escalate, we risk trying to put an overtired kiddo to bed, which is always tricky. Overtired children have a surplus of cortisol, a hormone that makes it difficult to relax and get to sleep.
Bedtimes and naps may look different for a few days, but soon you'll notice your routine start to get closer to what you've come to expect. Letting your child's sleep routine sync on its own rather than using a forced schedule is often less stressful and may take significantly less time.
Optimize sleep pressure throughout the day
A big shift in daylight isn't easy, especially for children who have developed circadian rhythms or routines. You can help your child optimize sleep pressure during the day to make overnight sleep easier. Sleep pressure is something that builds in humans throughout the day. Babies and toddlers typically require several naps throughout the day to "let the air out" of the sleep pressure when it becomes too much for them. As we get older, we need this less.
Along with using naps based on your child's tired cues, spend the first few days after daylight savings prioritizing time playing in daylight. Overall, this is an excellent habit for optimizing sleep for bedtime, and is especially helpful with the shortening of light during the day.
You can increase the effectiveness of light exposure by getting outdoors. Spending at least 20 minutes outside each day helps ensure we get the vitamin D needed and boosts our mood. This focus is simple, but makes a massive impact on children that are still building circadian rhythms.
Provide sensory input during the day
Children are susceptible to sensory input, and depositing the right sensory experiences is vital to helping them stay regulated. Developmentally, our children aren't neurologically mature enough to regulate their stress for some time, so building in play that supports this is important.
Some sensory deposits to try include dancing, jumping, snuggling, massage, swinging, spinning, going upside down, or bear hugs. For babies, rocking from side to side is a great sensory regulation tool that provides calming vestibular input.
Especially as you're navigating daylight savings, avoid sensory deposits that tend to overstimulate kiddos, at least for a few days. These include long periods between good deposits, screens, excessively loud noises, bright lights and visual stimulations, changing schedules, or unknown expectations.
Set the right environment
Adjusting to the change in daylight is important to coming through daylight savings time on the other side. You can optimize your child's sleep environment to make this transition easier.
Ideally, naps should always be in a room that allows some daylight into the space. Sunlight helps your child keep their circadian rhythms in sync. Letting a bit more light in than usual for naps during the first few days of daylight savings can be helpful too.
Overnight, make sure your child's room has blackout curtains. These curtains will help with any brightness that could wake your baby or toddler before they're ready. Some kids are exceptionally sensitive to even a crack of light. Try using velcro to make a tight seal around the window with your curtains.
Newborns and daylight savings time
Babies four months and younger are considered newborns in regards to sleep. Babies this young typically don't have an overly developed circadian rhythm, likely no discernible nap routine, and are still waking more frequently.
The good news is daylight savings rarely has a big impact on babies this young. Continue to follow the sleep routine you're using. Ideally, daytime and overnight sleep will be driven by your baby's tired cues. During the day, it's important to follow baby's tired cues for naps, with wake periods no longer than 90 minutes. Helping your baby release sleep pressure regularly through the day helps them sleep better at night.
Infant and toddler sleep is already complex and is often shrouded in a lot of misinformation. If your child is waking at night, needs support, or doesn't sleep by a schedule, they're likely within the range of normal. It also doesn't mean it isn't hard!