Daylight Savings Time

 

“The best of all ways to lengthen our days is to steal a few hours from the night.”  -Thomas Moore

Every person’s wish, especially every mother’s wish, is for one more hour in day.  We lust for this hour.  We daydream about fitting time for ourself into our busy life, be it exercise, a chance to organize, a moment to reflect or write in a journal.  We’re in luck.  This Sunday marks Daylight Savings Time which means you have a choice to make: do you want one extra hour a day for the rest of the year, or do you want to sleep in this Sunday? 

If you can’t remember which way to turn your clock, it goes, “Fall: fall back.  Spring: spring forward.”

Because we are falling back, we don’t have to drag our sleepy heads out of bed early.  Our body clocks are set to wake up exactly one our before our schedule’s dictate.  If you choose to sleep in, your body will appreciate the break and you’ll have a wonderful day.  You will also reset your body clock and be back to normal by Monday or Tuesday.  If you choose to rise when you normally do, you just scored that extra hour to do whatever it is you never have time for.  If you’re like most of us, that means time to take care of yourself. 

Personally, I’m going to bank this time.  Since Max dropped one of his naps, I have lost my time for yoga.  I prefer practice in the morning, so this is my chance.  I love the feeling of starting the day with intention.  I’ve been meaning to get up early for awhile, but haven’t managed to do it.  This is my chance because it won’t feel like stealing sleep time.  I’ve done it before, and found that if I make a habit of using that hour I can keep it up for quite some time.  The flip side is that I’ll be going to bed a bit earlier, so I’ll miss all that trash TV on Bravo that’s been rotting my brain.  All in all, it’s a good move for me.

How to Change Your Baby’s Body Clock

Whether you choose to sleep or rise for Daylights Savings Time, your little one will need help adjusting to the change.  It can be so brutal to adjust a fragile sleep schedule, but it does have to be done.  It takes a few days to accomplish this, so I like to start before the switch, but if your weekday schedule is open, you can do it afterwards.  

It is very simple to do.  Change your day by 15 minute intervals for 4 days in a row.  Here’s an example.  Since Max and Jack normally go to bed at 7 and wake at 7, we’ll start the change Wednesday night.

Wednesday: Extra long stories and/or bath so lights are out at 7:15
Thursday: Our kids usually are awake before we get them, so we won’t go into their room until 7:15.  All naps and meals will be 15 minutes late.  Again, we will dawdle during the bedtime ritual and go to sleep at 7:30.
Friday:  7:30 Good morning.  Repeat the pattern of everything 15 minutes later.  7:45 bedtime.
Saturday:  7:45 Good morning.  Repeat the pattern of everything 15 minutes later.  8:00 bedtime.
Sunday: Back on track with our 7 am rise time.

Tips to Ease The Transition

• Serve well-loved foods this week and maybe add a snack so babies don’t get hungry too soon, and foil the time adjustment.
• Plan activities to tire kids out or stave off sleepiness when you want to change a nap.  Timing outside active play and quiet story times will really help this transition go smoothly and seamlessly.
• If you are going to try to bank this extra hour for yourself, don’t adjust your body clock with the kids.  Stay normal and be just a bit off and tired as they sleep in, so on Sunday you can wake up “early” and find that time you’ve been looking forward to all week (all life) long. 

Happy Daylight Savings Time!   zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz