Is Your Baby Waking Too Early After Daylight Saving Time? Cure the DST Hangover with These 6 Steps

Is your family still working on the adjustment post Daylight Saving Time? For all the families that sailed through the adjustment with flying colors, I know others that are still hung-over from DST and the aftermath.

Is your baby waking too early after daylight saving time?  If so,  here are some more post-DST adjustment tips:

1. Look to the light:

   Light will help adjust the biological clock. Aim for a shot of light in the early morning and another in the late afternoon to get adjusted to the new time. Thanks to some amazing fall weather in the Midwest, get back to the park and play!

2. Prevent an early waking habit:

   If your child is still waking an hour earlier than normal since the adjustment, try not to reinforce an early wake up habit by getting your child up early. Draw a line in the sand and decide the time that you want to get your child out of bed (6:00-7:00 am for most families). Once that line in the sand is drawn, you must stay consistent and not get your baby out of the crib until that time each day. Over time, your baby will either fall back asleep or learn to sleep later. Both, a win, win!

3. Look at your overall schedule:

   If your bedtime is already adjusted but your wakeup is still an hour earlier, your baby could be accumulating a sleep debt since your baby may not be getting the sleep that they need. Use an earlier bedtime to help keep your baby well rested and get back on track.  Think about things for a second – if you’re constantly focusing on a 7 pm bedtime but your baby is waking at 5 am vs. 6 am, you’re getting less total sleep…  You need to focus on the earlier bedtime to push out the wake-up.  Once you have made up that precious hour of sleep, you can try to move the bedtime to the original time again, assuming the wakeup gets later not earlier.  Of course – all the improvements are in vain if your baby doesn’t know how to fall asleep independently (so don’t overlook that key component).

4. Easy or Hard Adjustment:

   Make a mental note how your child adjusted to this Daylight Saving Time and potentially choose a different strategy in the spring (yes, we get to do it again in 6 months).

5. Make The Change:

   Petition your local and state government to end Daylight Saving time, since it really throws a wrench in your life. (OK, there may be more pressing issues that our government has to deal with so don’t bother them.  Unless you really want to!!!)

6. The Big Move:

   Consider moving to Arizona or Hawaii where they do not observe DST. Not the worst place to live if you ask me.  The second my kids start waking up at 5am, I am going to start house hunting.

Curing your hang-over may be short-lived since we get to do it again in the spring!  But now that you’ve read these tips, hopefully, you’ll be back on your way.