The No-Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Excerpt

Daylight Saving Time Adjustment

The first edition of The No-Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers and Preschoolers was printed with errors in this section. We regret the mistake and I would like to give my sincere apologies to anyone who has been affected by this error. Here is the correct information.


 Daylight Saving Time Adjustment 

Spring forward, Fall back: Dealing with daylight saving time “DST”

If the time change wrecks havoc in your home

If you and your child are having lots of bedtime problems already, and the change in time makes things much worse, see if you can split the hour difference into 15 minute increments for four days up to the actual time change. If you have lots of appointments, or older children to pick up from school and sports activities you can’t actually change your clock. But, since most toddlers and preschoolers can’t tell time you can simply write down the bedtimes for the week in advance and just begin your bedtime routine at the adjusted time each night. The following charts show examples for both the shift to Daylight Saving Time “DST” and the switch back to Standard “STD” time.

If you are going to be “springing forward” on Sunday at 2:00 A.M. (becomes 3:00 A.M.), and your child’s usual bedtime is 7:30 P.M., he will be going to bed one hour later by the clock change, but will actually go to bed one hour earlier. To break that down in to 15 minute increments, your week’s bedtime schedule would look like this:

Day Bedtime per the time on the Clock
Wednesday 7:30 (old Standard time)
Thursday 7:15 “
Friday 7:00 “
Saturday 6:45 “
Sunday (Leap forward to DST) 7:30 ( Now DSTtime) (Would have been 6:30 STD time)

If you’re going to be “falling back” on Sunday at 2:00 A.M. and your child’s usual bedtime is 7:30 P.M. he will be going to bed one hour earlier by the clock change, but will have to stay awake one hour later. To break that down in to 15 minute increments, your week’s bedtime schedule would look like this:

Day Bedtime per the time on the Clock
Wednesday 7:30 (old DST time)
Thursday 7:45 
Friday 8:00 “
Saturday 8:15 “
Sunday (Fall backward to STD time) 7:30 ( Now STD time) (Would have been 8:30 DST time)

Excerpted with permission by McGraw-Hill Publishing from The No-Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers and Preschoolers (McGraw-Hill, 2005).


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