Posts Tagged ‘daylight savings’

Now that the time has changed and the time has moved forward one hour, some of you still might be struggling. This is most commonly due to baby being overtired from the time change.

I’m not sure about you, but I was EXHAUSTED on Monday. When my husband’s alarm went off at 6 a.m. (old 5 a.m.), I was so tired! I dragged the whole day. I ended up having to wake my boys at 8 a.m. and 8:15 a.m. to try to get back to an earlier bedtime that night. My older son (who inspired this site) was SO cranky being woken up, but once he got going, he did okay. My younger son, though I woke him “late” at 8:15 a.m., he went down for his nap at his normal time (and fell asleep faster than ever) around 12:30 p.m.! We got back on track within just a couple of days, thankfully.

Unfortunately, those with younger babies or those more sensitive to over-tiredness like my eldest son USED to be, you might still have a cranky baby who might be napping less or having more night-wakings or waking too early in the morning or fighting naps or all of the above. Here are some tips to recover from Daylight Savings:

• Offer naps earlier than usual for a few days. Even 15 minutes can make a big difference, but if your baby is really struggling try even 30 to 45 minutes earlier to get back on track.

• Try putting your child to bed earlier, too. I can’t say it enough that night-wakings and waking too early can be caused by over-tiredness at bedtime.

• If you were hoping Daylight Savings was the answer to your 5 a.m. wake-up call and you really don’t want to go back to early bedtimes and early naps, see if your baby or toddler will take an extra catnap during the day to take the edge off of the over-tiredness and get her back on track at bedtime. Yes, even if you have to take a car ride, it won’t hurt to do it this one time.

• If you haven’t gotten back on track, yourself, try to ask your partner, friend, mom, dad, or hire a babysitter and take a nap yourself! You deserve it!

If I haven’t covered your unique Daylight Savings challenge, leave a comment below and I’ll try to address it.

Without further ado, I wanted to announce the winners to the contest! I got sick this week *AND* my computer died, so I wasn’t able to keep up with the Sleep Helpdesk and read through all of the entries, so this is a little later than I wanted, but hopefully still in time to help your families in need! As a bonus, I personally addressed each one a bit more than I originally intended, in hopes that it will give some guidance, hope, or encouragement in your next step to better sleep.

You will get an e-mail if you are a winner (if you haven’t already), so please check your in-boxes. If you don’t claim your prize by Monday, March 22, 2010 at 11:59 p.m. I will choose another winner.

Once again, here is a list of the prizes:
1. A one-week unlimited e-mail consultation package (Value $79)
2. A five-email consultation package (Value $49.95)
3. A copy of Mastering Naps & Schedules – (Value $24) (Giving away two!)
4. A copy of Help Your Child Sleep, a Step by Step Guide – (Value $27) (Giving away two!)
5. A 3-month membership to the Members Area, which includes access to all e-Books, case studies, tele-seminars, and much more! (Value $24) (Giving away two!)

Here is a list of all entries, recommendations and winners. I hope this is helpful and I encourage everyone to take the next step to better sleep! And, remember, even if you didn’t enter the contest you can always e-mail me with your details and I’ll recommend your next step, too!

1. Holly – Big changes do affect sleep, but waking every two hours is exhausting! I’d recommend two or five e-mail consultation package to help your little one to better sleep.
2. (WINNER! Help Your Child Sleep) Elaine – You didn’t mention how old your granddaughter is, but I’d venture to guess pretty young, so I’d recommend Help Your Child Sleep, a Step by Step Guide
3. Tara – Oh no! Backslides are common. I’d recommend two e-mail follow up consultations.
4. Asheley – I would need a little more detail, but I’d have some recommendations for you. I’d recommend a two e-mail consultation package.
5. Gina – I hope you’re faring well this week! I’d recommend the two or five e-mail consultation package, but 10 months is a very common time for sleep problems to crop up.
6. Amy – 18 months is a long time to be getting up multiple times per night! I’d recommend a five e-mail consultation package to get your family more sleep!
7. (WINNER! 3 Month Membership) Mila – I know all too well how sleep deprivation makes you cranky. I’d recommend a 3-month membership or five e-mail consultation package to help your son sleep better.
8. Jaime – Just when you get going on something, they seem to change! I’d recommend a one week unlimited package, so I can provide the support you need and keep you accountable for sticking to it!
9. (WINNER! Five-Email Package) Alishia – Oh how you must be exhausted being pregnant with triplets! I’d recommend a five e-mail consultation package.
10. Kelly – This is a common age for toddlers to test their limits with one caretaker and not the other(s). I’d recommend a two or five e-mail consultation package to get her napping more consistently for you.
11. Erin – You probably don’t need any help. You just need to be consistent with letting her go back to sleep on her own and not get her up before at least 6:30 or 7 for two solid weeks and she will “get it.”
12. (WINNER! Mastering Naps & Schedules) Amber – I’m glad your twins sleep well at night. I’d recommend Mastering Naps & Schedules to improve naps for your son.
13. Claudia – ((HUGS)) I do know your story. Sorry she is still struggling. Now that she’s a bit older, we might need to try some new things. Please do contact me.
14. (WINNER! One Week Unlimited Package) Pamela – I’d recommend a one or two weeks unlimited e-mail package so we can get him sleeping before you go back to work!
15. Abby – Help Your Child Sleep, a Step by Step Guide, but if you don’t have time to read (since it sounds like you’re strapped for time), I can develop a sleep plan for you and I’d recommend the two e-mail consultation package.
16. Tanja – It sounds like it could be a schedule problem him taking so long to fall asleep. You might tweak his schedule. For getting through the night, you just need to be 100% consistent about him staying in the crib and you sitting next to the crib like you do at the start of the night. It might be a few rough nights, but well worth it in the end. If you’d like me to develop a more detailed plan, a two e-mail consultation package would do it and it would be well worth it!
17. Lisa – I’d need more information, but it is probably a schedule problem, so I’d recommend just two e-mails.
18. Kathy – Some babies are quite noisy in their sleep. I’d have to know exactly how he’s “crying” but if you have a monitor, you might turn it down. I know I had to do that when I’d wake up with every little noise.
19. Angela – It sounds like your son is doing fairly well. I’d have some suggestions for you and recommend a two e-mail consultation package.
20. Julia – Tricky because it’s not “that” bad, but could be better. He might be a baby who just needs a nudge, so I’d have some small things we could try to get your baby sleeping all night, so I’d recommend just two e-mails.
21. Melissa – Because you have two, I’d recommend a ten-email package or one-month unlimited e-mail package so we can tackle issues with both kids. You must be EXHAUSTED!
22. Shannon – I remember those days! I’d recommend a five-email package, so we have a few to use when your newborn starts going through changes.
23. Melissa – We might be able to work on night-weaning the girls at this age. I’d recommend just two e-mails to get going!
24. Victoria – Transitioning to two naps is normal at this age. You can most definitely night-wean down to one (or no) feeding and an earlier bedtime would probably help. A two- or five-email package could set you well on your way!
25. Jennifer – Oh boy! I do relate in that when you have two kids and two animals (in our case it’s dogs), it can definitely have more ups and downs than when you just have one child. Hang in there!!
26. Ritika – Have you tried an earlier bedtime? I would definitely have a detailed day-by-day plan that I could set up for you. I’d try a two-email package, so I can type it up!
27. (WINNER! Three Month Membership) Dahlia – Three month membership, so you can read about both nights and naps. It would help a lot!
28. Cindy – I’d need a bit more information, but have some things you can try. I’d recommend just two e-mails to get started.
29. Challene – Ear infections definitely cause abrupt sleep problems. Molars also throw toddlers for a loop. Hang in there!
30. Michelle – That’s great Liliana is sleeping well at night! Have you tried the afternoon nap at a different time? If it’s been going on for less than a week or two, I’d give her a little more time. It is probably not the teething if she’s napping fine in the morning and sleeping fine at night.
31. Carol – You are not alone! This is common. I’d recommend two e-mail, so I can give you a detailed plan on how you can get your son sleeping all night.
32. Lily – Thank you so much for being a loyal reader! It’s great he’s sleeping so great!
33. Melissa – I’d recommend a five-email consultation package, so we have a few for later issues, too, such as nap transitions.
34. Lorie – I don’t blame you for not wanting a repeat. I’d recommend you read Help Your Child Sleep, a Step by Step Guide to come up with a plan.
35. Allison – Your story sounds very familiar. I’d recommend a two e-mail consultation package to improve sleep in your house!
36. Mg – You said 15 year old, so I know you’re tired. I’d recommend two e-mails to get you your bed back!
37. (WINNER! Mastering Naps & Schedules) Lauren – Mastering Naps & Schedules or two e-mail consultation package
38. Melissa P. – Oh I hear your exhaustion! I’d recommend a two- or five-email consultation package to help your daughter sleep better.
39. Yvette – Oh my! You must be SO EXHAUSTED!! I’d recommend a five-email package.
40. Penny – I am guessing reading a book would be too tiring, too. I can make a detailed plan for you to follow. I’d recommend a two-email package.
41. Sara – Now, YOU, must be EXHAUSTED! A five e-mail package would definitely let us make some headway on both nights and naps.
42. Sue – Short naps are common, but I’d recommend Mastering Naps & Schedules, which will be very helpful as your 3-month old gets older.
43. Melissa – Two e-mail would definitely get us going on your 5-month old.
44. Adrienne – Wow on 5 years! I do try to tell people that it’s very unpredictable when a child might outgrow issues, IF they do. For what it’s worth, your 3 1/2 month old sounds normal and 2-4 feedings is normal at this age. I’d give her more time and definitely contact me if things go downhill!
45. Kelly – Woohoo!!
46. Margarita – Oh wow! There are definitely safety issues at play here and you must not sleep deeply at all! I’d recommend a five e-mail consultation package.
47. (WINNER! Help Your Child Sleep) Kjirsti – 4 to 6 wakings is definitely a lot at this age. I’d recommend either Help Your Child Sleep, a Step by Step Guide or two e-mails.
48. Lissette – This is common to replace one sleep association with another. I’d recommend five e-mails to make more headway.

Happy National Sleep Awareness Week! Oh, you don’t celebrate this holiday? Well, technically, neither do I.

I make it a point all year round to stress the importance healthy sleep habits for our families. I can bet that because you’re a parent who has come to this site, that you have learned (maybe the hard way) just how sleep deprivation takes a toll on your mind, body, and soul, and how your baby’s development flourishes when he’s getting enough rest. In a sleep-deprived state you aren’t as alert, probably more cranky, less energetic to play with your kids, and probably angry more often. You might even be depressed. It might even affect your marriage. You might even feel like you don’t like your baby some days. I hear all this and more, and I feel for each and every one of you!

The National Sleep Foundation is a big promoter of National Sleep Awareness Week and has released their “Sleep in America” poll results today. They studied four different ethnic groups and their sleep habits and attitudes towards sleep. Interestingly enough, in all four groups, only 4 in 10 said they get a good night sleep every night or almost every night. I suspect that if they studied parents, this number would be even lower! Another interesting result of the poll is that most adults believe their sleep issues will go away on their own over time. I would say this is true a lot of time about parents and their child’s sleep issues: that you believe (or hope) the issues will go away over time. Oh how I wish that was always the case! You can read more 2010 Sleep and Ethnicity Poll Results here.

National Sleep Awareness Week ends with a bang with Daylight Savings starting this weekend (if you are in the U.S.). We “Spring Forward” and lose one precious hour of our day. I know some of you might be jumping for joy when your 5 a.m. riser will now be waking past 6 a.m., but I also know some of you know that schedule changes always seem to set you and your family back. If you are worried about the time change or want to know what to expect from your baby or toddler this summer when it stays light later, please review your Spring Forward with Child Sleep Tips on WorkingMother.com, written by yours truly.

But, wait! There’s more!

I can’t let this week go by without giving you an opportunity to get more sleep for you and your family, so in honor of “Spring Forward” and National Sleep Awareness Week, I’m doing a quick and easy giveaway. Comment with a brief description of your sleep story by Sunday, March 14th at 11:59 p.m. below for a chance to win:

1. A one-week unlimited e-mail consultation package (Value $79)
2. A five-email consultation package (Value $49.95)
3. A copy of Mastering Naps & Schedules – (Value $24) (Giving away two!)
4. A copy of Help Your Child Sleep, a Step by Step Guide – (Value $27) (Giving away two!)
5. A 3-month membership to the Members Area, which includes access to all e-Books, case studies, tele-seminars, and much more! (Value $24) (Giving away two!)

I will be reading your story and trying to find the most apropos family for each prize, so I can really make a difference in your lives. Good luck and happy sleeping!

The end of Daylight Savings is always the source of worry for many parents, especially when their baby is waking too early. I thought I’d take the time to tell you how ours went and see how yours went, too.

Thankfully, our daylight savings went fairly smooth this year. I personally use option 3 when it comes to daylight savings in our house. My boys are just too unpredictable to use another option.

On Saturday night, I put the boys to bed around 9:20 p.m. which was a little late for my 21 month old, but Halloween definitely helped in that way. It did hurt us in that because he was overtired, he was up around 4:15, but once he fell back to sleep, he didn’t wake until 8:30 a.m. the NEW time, which was GREAT! For my preschooler, we have a rule that he does not come into mommy and daddy’s room until the first number on his clock is a “7″, so I changed his clock the night before. Hee. Hee. Sneaky mommy. It mostly worked, but the later bedtime did too, I’m sure. He didn’t come in until 6:53 a.m. My husband and I have a deal that we each get a day to sleep in on the weekend and Sunday is my day, so I was able to sleep until 8:40 a.m. NEW time! Woohoo!

The past few days have been filled with slightly earlier bedtimes, around 7 a.m. wake-up times, and good sleep, so it’s been pretty smooth for us (now that I’ve completely jinxed myself). I’m enjoying the earlier bedtimes because my preschooler is such a night owl that bedtime had gotten close to 9 p.m. anyway. I enjoy the later wake-up in the morning, but the late bedtime makes it hard to have much down-time in the evening. Mostly, I work on this website at night, truth be told.

Now that Daylight Savings is behind us, I can start to focus on the holidays and start my Christmas shopping. If I’m a good little girl, do you think my husband will get me these diamond earrings? :p Not this year!! Instead, we’ll focus on the kids and review this year’s hottest toys.

How did your Daylight Savings go?

The end of daylight savings is upon us when we will change our clocks back one hour. In Europe, the clocks change this weekend and for the United States (most of them), they will change on November 1st. For most people this means a baby, toddler, or child who wakes up a dreaded one hour earlier. This is especially painful when your child is already getting up at the crack of dawn! Most people don’t even get why we even have to change the clocks (Note: Nowadays, it’s to save energy).

You have three options when it comes to your child’s sleep and the end of the daylight savings. This year, I’ve had the pleasure to summarize your options on WorkingMother.com in Time Change Sleeping Tips. If you’d like more detail about how to handle daylight savings, please head over to MomCentral.com and read Saving Your Baby’s Sleep During the Time Change. Please take a moment to read over your options and feel free to post questions in the comments below.

How will you handle your child’s sleep when the time changes?

Some of you just got over the fall time change and now in a few weeks, we spring forward one hour. Just when you think you were out, they pull you back in! Fortunately, many of you are hoping for good things to come out of this time change, if your baby is waking too early and are excited at the prospect of “sleeping in” (after kids that means, what? 8 a.m. Ha!). Here is your Spring Forward Sleep Survival Guide with Kids. In honor of Spring Forward, you can also use coupon code “SPRING25″ to receive 25% OFF any service from now until March 8th, the day of the time change. Just log in to my baby sleep helpdesk to get started!

In the U.S. and Canada, the time changes on Sunday, March 8, 2009. In Europe, the time will change the last Sunday in March, on the 29th. Just as a reminder, the reason we have Daylight Savings is that it allows us to use less energy in lighting our homes by having longer and later daylight hours. Nowadays, it’s more important than ever for us to be more “green”.

Spring Forward Sleep Strategies

Your first option is to not do anything. If your baby or toddler or young child is going to sleep at 7 p.m., he will wake up at 8 a.m. the next day. Yay! You get to “sleep in” and all is right with the world. If you want to keep this schedule, you will put him down at the same times you always do and bedtime will be one hour later.

For some, the first option isn’t really an option because they need their child up by a certain time or don’t want to have an 8 p.m. (or later) bedtime. Maybe your child is already going to bed too late and the time change will make her go to bed even later, which has you wondering just when you will spend any time with your spouse or partner or clean the house or relax or whatever.

If you don’t want your future schedule, you will need to take steps to prevent it. After all, you can’t “sleep in” until 8 a.m. and then expect your child to automatically feel sleepy at the new 7 p.m., when it’s really 6 p.m. Your second option is to wake your baby one hour early the day of the time change whereby he will nap one hour earlier and go to bed one hour earlier, normal time on the clock. There is only one caution. Some people’s internal clock is so strong that no matter what time they wake up, they won’t get sleepy until their “normal” time. That means even if you wake your child an hour earlier, he might not nap early or go to sleep early at bedtime. Imagine you get up at 5 a.m. one day to catch a flight or to get to work for an early meeting. It doesn’t necessarily mean that you will go to bed at 9 p.m. just because you usually go to bed at 10 p.m.

Your third and final option, just like in the Fall, is to split the difference and wake your child just half an hour early and move his schedule slower over the course of 2-3 days. This is likely the option I will take because my kids are currently waking around 7 a.m., but bedtimes are around 7:30 p.m. for the younger, but 8 to 8:30 p.m. for the older. I really don’t want that 8:30 p.m. bedtime getting any later!!!

Whatever the path you choose to take, some kids will just take a few days to even a week or longer to really adjust. Your best bet is to keep to the schedule you make. The light stimulating our eyes and your morning and night routines will be most what drives your kids’ schedules. The same internal clock that drives our sleep schedules also drives our appetites. If you typically have dinner at 5:30 p.m. and bedtime is 7 p.m., it will probably be difficult to maintain a 6:30 p.m. dinner and 8 p.m. bedtime. Whatever drove you to have the 5:30 p.m. dinner in the first place likely has not changed. Just remember to be realistic and not to just focus on one part of the schedule (i.e. just bedtime or just lunch) and set the whole schedule accordingly. The rest will follow.

What are you most worried about or hoping for Spring Forward this year?

So, how did your time change go? Have your babies adjusted yet? I, the sleep obsessed, messed up my own children’s schedule on the day after the time change. D’oh! Here’s what happened…

As expected, my kids woke up “one hour early” with the time change. Not a surprise because their internal clock doesn’t know what our digital clock says, right? So, we went about our day and my goal was to put the boys to bed 1/2 hour later than their internal clock and 1/2 hour early on the digital clock. So, I decide to go out to an early 5pm dinner with a friend, her husband and their baby boy to make it easier for the kids to stay awake being out and about. The kids did GREAT at dinner…all 3 of them. It was great! But, the one problem was we waited 10 minutes for a table and the server was sloooow, so we ended up not getting home until after 7pm! D’oh! So, in actuality my sons both went to bed WAAAAY later than I intended by almost an hour. *sigh*

Both boys seem to talk to each other and were up at 5:50 yesterday morning, which was 20 minutes later than the day before, and at 6:10 this morning, so they are going in the right direction. It does take a few days for most kids. My younger son made up for the late bedtime on Sunday with a 50 minute morning nap and 3 hour afternoon nap yesterday and was asleep in bed by 6:45 last night. My eldest was asleep by 7:30 (doesn’t nap anymore but almost fell asleep during his 1 hour rest-time, which for us is a no-no because it makes him stay up past 9 or 10 p.m. at night). I’m expecting a post 6:15 a.m. waking tomorrow, so we should be back on track.

All this to show you that even someone who is obsessed with sleep can make mistakes sometimes and things do just happen. I know a lot of parents out there really kick themselves and I feel for them when they contact me and say things like “I know I messed up” and I tell them it’s really okay. Everything WILL be okay. If something goes wrong, just make changes for the next time. Now, in the past, my mistake (you know because going out to dinner is so risky when you have a challenging sleeper LOL) would have been HUGE because one slip up with my eldest when he was a baby would set us back about a week or more, but now that he’s older, things are sooo much easier and my youngest is definitely more adaptable. Phew! My eldest son is having some behavior issues, so it still does affect him somewhat, still.

The highlight of my day, yesterday, was I received an update from one of my clients whom I’ve been helping for over 2 weeks because her daughter had been getting up at 6 a.m. and she did not want the time change to bump them back to 5 a.m. I was happy to hear that her daughter happily slept until 6:30 a.m., the new time, Sunday. I was ecstatic as shifting schedules is not always easy and she worked really hard for the past 2 weeks to make it happen. I’m so happy for her!

If your child is still having trouble adjusting to the new schedule, make sure you encourage them to stay in bed and in the dark, as the light stimulating our eyes cues us when it’s time to get up and it’s easy to get into a rut of waking at 5 a.m. every day. Hang in there!

How is the time change going for you?