shifting bedtime later for summer
Summer afternoons become summer evenings and before you know it it’s bedtime! Spending more time outside can push not only dinnertime but often bedtimes later than they’ve been all spring. As a pediatric sleep consultant, I’m going to share how you can do this without compromising sleep for your child (or for you).
WHAT IS AN IDEAL BEDTIME ROUTINE?
Now, before I even tell you about shifting bedtime later, maybe you don’t want bedtime to be any later than it already is.
Maybe it’s already a struggle to get your child into bed. And when they finally fall asleep, it’s 9, 10, or 11 o’clock. I get it. And you’re in the right place!
If you don’t have a routine, (“a simple, loving one-way ticket to bed” as I like to call it) you need a plan for how to create a bedtime routine that is fun and gets your child in bed between 7 and 8:00 pm and falling asleep within 15 minutes. Dreading bedtime? We have baby and child programs available for you to start right now.
And if you already have a solid routine, your kids fall asleep easily, and you’d like to enjoy a little more time in the evenings this summer, go for it.
In fact, that’s what we like to do with our three kids. We always push bedtime later in the summer so we can have dinner at the beach or just eat on the deck once it’s cooled down outside. Just think of all those fun summer memories that you can create with your little ones!
HOW TO ADJUST bEDTIME LATER
Here’s the thing: your baby wants to go to bed early and has much more rigid awake windows than a toddler or child. If you shift bedtime a little for your baby you’ll need to be diligent about making sure naps follow suit so that you don’t end up with an overtired baby.
And if you’re wondering about those awake windows, (how to know what’s age appropriate and when they’re due for a change) get your copy of the ultimate timeline from birth to 3: The Cheat Sheet.
For your toddler who’s taking one nap or for your child who doesn’t nap at all, start to shift their bedtime a little bit at a time. 15-minute increments is the easiest way to test this out because if 15 minutes makes a big difference in their morning wake up time, we probably shouldn’t adjust their bedtime.
Let me explain: just because we put your child to bed later, doesn’t mean they’re going to wake up later. I know it seems like that’s a connection but it doesn’t usually work that way.
Children under 5 years really do need a bedtime between 7 and 8; 8:30 at the latest. Now, if you’ve been stuck doing bedtime at 7, but you’d like to adjust it to 7:30 or 8, we can do this with 15-minute increments.
how to know if a later bedtime is working
If your regular bedtime has been 7:00 pm switch to 7:15 for about a week (one day isn’t enough time to judge whether it is going to work). While you do adjust the schedule, really keep in mind, what time they’re waking in the morning.
Are they waking up even earlier than they were on a 7:00 pm bedtime? Maybe you normally put them down at 7:00 and they sleep until 6:30 or 6:45 and they get an awesome night of sleep. But if you move bedtime to 7:15, are they now waking up at 5:30 am? Sometimes later bedtimes can create early wakings. If this happens, you’re going to need to go back to 7:15 or the original bedtime.
Experiment with this on your own, move bedtime 15 minutes forward for a week and see how it goes. Did they wake up at the same time in the morning or did they sleep a little bit later? Great. You’re in the clear and you can adjust another 15 minutes.
Now we can go to 7:30— I would only suggest moving their schedule about 30 minutes. Remember, 11 to 12 hours of night sleep is our goal here.
Test it out and enjoy your summer!
Warmly,
Sierra