Want to share your time change techniques?

[becky1969]

Hi! I've noticed on several threads we've got some worries about what to do with the time change coming up.  I thought maybe we could share how we've handled time changes in the past.  I'm sure there's lots of different ways to do it, and hopefully if we all share what we do then there will be something applicable for each kid!



Our method --

I go by A times with my son.  First, the night before the change I try to stretch him by 15-30 minutes at bedtime so that he's going to bed a little later than normal (but don't stretch him so much that he's dreadfully OT -- a delicate dance for my bub!).  Day 1 of the time change, I stretch him by 15 minutes in the AM and 15 minutes in the PM.  Depending on how the previous night went, this may bring us up to the new time.  If not, we take a 2nd day of stretching by 15 minutes AM & PM.  It never takes more than 2 days to get us where we want to be!


Your turn! 

[LeesMom]

DD just turned 3 and this is the first time change (when the clock goes an hour backward) that she hasn't napped, so it's a little more difficult. Plus last night was Halloween so DD was up an hour later than usual, then woke at 5:40 (instead of 6:30) OT and a real grouch. Not sure what to do tonight... her normal bedtime is 7:00 and she usually sleeps till 6:30 or so. In the past, we had just pushed the nap a little later and then bedtime a little later (15-30 min. or so each) and that has worked, exactly what Becky talked about. Now I'm not sure what to do. I'm sorry I'm not much help to anyone else! 

[Mashi]

My LO is only an infant still, but I followed the advice of my sister who has 3 children (who are now much older, but this is what she did when they were toddlers).  What she always did was get an extra hour of naptime in during the day AFTER the time change (so on Sunday), either 2x 30 min naps or 1 hour.  Then put them to bed at the same clock time as normal - and then they'd wake at the normal morning time.

We actually did this with my 3 month old as well - he was up at 6am (an hour early) on Sunday and we just extended 2 of his naps by an extra 30 minutes and put him to bed as normal at 7pm - he was pretty tired out from essentially staying up an hour later, but he woke the next morn at 7am as normal, and kept on fine from then.

[lilmonkey]

Depending on the age, we did two different methods.  When they were younger (12 mos or less) I simply moved the day back every 15 min or so.  It didn't matter if I started the shift before or after the DST.  It takes about 3-4 days to work.  Now with dd, I just go by clock time.    She's tired the next day but after a couple of days, her body adjusted.  She's my good sleeper.  With ds, I don't know how long his body will adjust but he's not too bad when I push him past his usual A time.  We'll see later this week.