This review was made possible by Double Duty Divas and Pampers. I was provided the featured product free of charge to facilitate my review, but all opinions are 100% mine.
My sister-in-law told me that the “Fall back” that came at the end of daylight savings time would be great until I had kids. I didn’t fully believe her but now I know exactly what she’s talking about. That extra hour of sleep is fabulous for adults who need to catch up on sleep but it can really throw off the schedule of little ones. Kids who normally wake up at 7, now wake up at 6. Less sleep is never a good thing for anybody but especially for a tired mama.
Here are a few of my tips from Kim West, LCSW-C, Sleep Lady Solutions, LLC on how to help your baby sleep better during time change {trust me, I’m taking notes}:
1. Many parents I have spoken to dread this time change as their children will be waking up even earlier, and previous early rising issues can become big problems. To help make ensure that your baby’s sleep doesn’t go completely off the rails, make a slow transition. Make a point to slowly adjust your child’s bedtime and naptimes an hour earlier, just 15-30 minutes a day for a few days before daylight savings ends. This way, your child will already be adjusted to the time change. While you’re adjusting naps and bedtime, make sure that you also adjust mealtimes in 10-15 minute increments to help ease the transition.
2. For children under 4 years old, its essential that we make naps a priority this time change. Quality nighttime sleep is dependent upon good daytime sleep. Make sure that your children are well-napped during the day so that when the time change takes effect having a later-
feeling bedtime isn’t as much of an issue. Between naps, make sure that your children are exposed to plenty of natural light; open the curtains, take an afternoon walk, or just play outside. To help your children adjust, about 30-45 minutes before naps and an hour before bedtime. Close the curtains, dim the lights and follow your soothing sleep routine. If you find that your baby is still having trouble with sleep even after a good day of naps, you may need to temporarily add a third late-afternoon nap, of no more than 45 minutes to help make sure that your baby isn’t overtired at bedtime.
3. To help your baby sleep more soundly, consider installing blackout curtains and using a sound machine. Although the days are getting shorter, there may still be some natural light present, especially in the morning as well as noise when you put your baby to bed. To mitigate these, install blackout curtains and use a sound machine to help buffer outside light and sound. Black out shades are great for children with early rising issues, which is often a problem after the fall time change, especially if your child was already getting up before 6:00 a.m.
4. While preparing for the time change (and after), use dramatic wake up to help your children adjust to the change. It’s entirely possible that after the change your baby may be waking earlier than normal. If this is the case, keep your baby’s room dark and quiet, and use a gentle method to encourage your child to go back to sleep; you may need to check on your baby and reassure that all is well, and remind them that it’s not quite time to wake up. At this point, you can either sit on a chair near the door or leave the room and do timed checks. If your child is over 2.5 years old, I recommend that you purchase a toddler clock or wake up alarm that signals them when its time to get up and start the day, as this will help your toddler stay in bed (and hopefully fall back asleep) until at least 6:00 a.m., at which time you open the blinds and make a big deal of “good morning”. Make sure that you expose your baby to lots of natural light first thing in the morning to help reset his circadian rhythm to coincide with the new time.
#PampersSleepChat Twitter Party Information:
The Twitter Party will take place on November 7th at 9pm EST. Chat about how the end of Daylight Savings Time can affect sleep patterns & get tips on easing the transition from The Sleep Lady, Kim West. RSVP here!
Prizes include:
$50 AMEX Gift Card, $25 Children’s Place Gift Card, Pampers product and book by Kim West. $100 AMEX Gift Card, Pampers Product, series of books by Kim West Grand Prize: $500 AMEX Card to purchase sleep items such as a black out shades, video monitor, etc.
To participate, follow your hosts: @DoubleDutyDivas, @BridgetteLA, @CeceliaMecca @AngieKcom @WhatMommiesNeed @RamblingChick, our sleep expert @TheSleepLady , yours truly @Beauty4Moms, and our sponsor @Pampers.
Stay social with Pampers by following them on Twitter and “liking” them on Facebook!
Want to win some free Pampers? Enter now!
Giveaway: Enter via the Rafflecopter below for a chance to win a pack of Pampers Baby Dry Diapers and a pair of Children’s Place PJ’s!
Winner will be chosen Nov. 20, 2013 at 9 am EST. Good Luck!
