Any one else dread time changes?

[slsurface]

I grew up in a state that didn't observe daylight savings, so I'm admittedly biased against the whole concept in the first place, but I especially dread time changes with DS. He has SPD and is a absolutely terrible sleeper to begin with. He also has an amazingly regular internal clock that is set to always get up at 5am . It takes months to get him re-set...sleep has been lousy in my house ever since the fall time change . Oh how I dread next week!

Any one else have similar issues with the daylight-savings time change and their special needs kiddos?

[aja-belly]

the fall messed our kids sleep up for weeks! i'm hoping that means springing forward will be positive.

[aja-belly]

Originally Posted by slsurface

He also has an amazingly regular internal clock that is set to always get up at 5am. "Springing forward" an hour makes that wake up time 4am .

i think that is the opposite. springing forward would make his internal 5am actually 6am.

[slsurface]

Originally Posted by aja-belly

i think that is the opposite. springing forward would make his internal 5am actually 6am.

Yeah, what I meant is that it will still be super early, even though the time is later! Can you tell that my DH and DS woke me at 4am this morning? It's only 9am and I'm already beat...

[aja-belly]

i know the feeling!

marvel is a much better sleeper than she was even a year ago, but recently her bad nights have been more frequent. it seems like any time both babies sleep past dawn marvel is up and ready to go.

[askew]

It is horrible for my 3.5 year old. He is also not a great sleeper and wakes up by 6AM no matter what. It takes a good month for him to get used to it, but it takes me a couple of weeks too. I wish we would just get rid of it all together.

[bluejaunte]

Does this seem to only affect SPD kids? My toddler always gets screwed up by daylight savings time but has never been diagnosed with SPD, so I'm curious.

[askew]

Originally Posted by bluejaunte

Does this seem to only affect SPD kids? My toddler always gets screwed up by daylight savings time but has never been diagnosed with SPD, so I'm curious.

My 3.5 year old is not SN, that we know of... and it effects him horribly. I think it's hard on most kids.

[bluejaunte]

Ahh, ok, thanks. I'm sort of dreading next week .. and not only because my MIL will be here for all of it! Eek! Last autumn at daylight savings time he went from sleeping till 7 or 8 to getting up at 5 every day. And not being ready to wake up (wandering around being a major crankypants until naptime, but refusing to go back to sleep until said naptime, 6 HOURS LATER). Not good times, oh precious no.

[UptownZoo]

Oh, yes. It was awful for us when Carter was very young. It could take a month or longer to get him on the right track, and he was always a terrible, horrible, miserable sleeper, anyway. It's better now that he takes strong sleep meds; when we move the clocks, we just move the meds forward or back by about 10 minutes each day until we're giving them at the usual time.

[sbgrace]

We live in Indiana and so started observing for the first time two or three years ago. I hated it. It was always a horrible adjustment for Andrew and messed us up for at least a month before I could get him regulated and sleeping well again. He's six now. He adjusts so much better than he used to--better even than a year ago. I don't dread it now. Things might get better with age. Now that I think of it we weren't aware of melatonin all those horrible adjustment years. Undoubtedly it's part of why things are so much easier now.

[bdavis337]

The melatonin is a lifesaver for us with Mark, for sure. But the other 2 don't use it and they are the ones that have the trouble! My 2 1/2 year old will be the most difficult, I think.

[maybemom05]

I hate it too - it's a challenge here as well. I feel like springing forward is going better than falling back did, but it's really not very fun!

I do have a suggestion for the early rising that has worked well here and might help some folks. DS sleeps in his own room - which works best for his SPD - and we have a small bedside light on his dresser on a timer. The timer goes off at 6:30 AM, and he knows that he can leave his room to come and wake us up once his light is on. He came to the store with us to pick out the light, which I think really helped him to buy into the process. We put a green lightbulb in the lamp, so on the rare occasion when he is still asleep, he's not woken up by a bright light. Unfortunately, the timer we have does make a "click" when it turns on, which does seem to wake him up sometimes, but I figure if that's what's waking him, he was pretty close to getting up on his own anyway.

We keep a small number of toys in his room, and some books, so he's got something to do if he wakes up early and he can play quietly, but he knows that if he comes and wakes us up (or worse, wakes up his little brother!) that we'll send him back to bed. It took a few days for him to accept the new plan, but he did eventually, and after a week or so, he began sleeping later too. I think once any real incentive to get out of bed was gone, he was able to just stay in bed.

I've had to abandon my dreams of the cozy co-sleeping family, but this approach does allow us to all get a bit more sleep. Hope it helps someone else!!

[HarperRose]

I wish the time change would END. DIE. I hate it!!!! And that's just for ME!

[cchrissyy]

I hate time changes on principle, but yes, they are painful transitions for DS, whose schedule just can't adjust.