Adjusting sleep for the start of school
When your child starts daycare, preschool or school, you may need to adjust their sleep schedule.
You may need to be up, ready, and out of the house early in the morning, and chances are you’ll need to wake your child in the morning (ugh!). Though they’ll probably have the opportunity to make up for the missed sleep during a nap (or two), no one likes being woken in the morning (some of us less than others), and we want to make sure your child isn’t missing out on any sleep.
WHO IS THIS FOR?
✔️ If your child is starting daycare, preschool or school.
✔️ If you need to adjust your child’s wake-up time.
✔️ If you need to adjust your child’s bedtime.
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN
✔️ The easiest way to adjust your child’s sleep schedule, so they don’t miss too much sleep.
✔️ You’ll create a timeline for adjusting your child’s sleep.
✔️ Other things you need to consider when adjusting your child’s sleep schedule.
ADJUSTING YOUR CHILD’S SLEEP SCHEDULE
If you need to adjust your child’s sleep schedule before they begin daycare, preschool or school, you’ll want to give yourself plenty of time, especially if your child has a shy sleep personality. As children with a shy sleep personality struggle a little more with change, the longer we have to adjust, the easier it will be for them and the less negative impact it will have on their sleep.
If your child is laidback or intense, you can move at a slightly faster pace, but the longer you have to make the adjustments, the better.
We want to make the start of school as easy as possible for you and your child. Big changes in your child’s life can cause a sleep regression; their sleep is likely to be disturbed due to starting school; add some sleep deprivation to the mix. If you adjust their sleep at the last minute, your regression could be a little harder.
We don’t want to make a big jump when getting onto a new sleep schedule, especially when starting school. Starting (even restarting) daycare, preschool, or school is a huge change for your family and throwing some sleep deprivation into the mix will make the start so much more complicated.
Let’s make the change in your child’s sleep schedule go as smoothly as possible. The bigger the change in your child’s sleep schedule, the more time you’ll need.
The Plan
Much like when adjusting for jetlag or the seasonal time change, we want to adjust your child’s sleep schedule slowly.
- We start by waking your child earlier in the morning. Use the calculator below to find out how much earlier to wake your child.
- If possible, you will want to adjust the nap time(s) accordingly. * See the notes at the bottom of the page for more information on nap times.
- As your child’s day starts earlier, their bedtime will also be earlier.
- Continue to wake your child earlier and earlier, according to your plan.
How to calculate how much earlier to wake your child
What time will your child need to be up in the morning?
TIP: When deciding when your child will need to be up in the morning, think about what you’ll need to do between them getting up and you leaving the house. Will you need to feed them? Prepare breakfast? Do you want some time to play in the morning before you leave the house?
What time is your child getting up now?
TIP: Look at the average time your child has been getting up over the past week.
How long do you have before your child needs to be on their new sleep schedule?
Let’s work out your plan for adjusting your child’s sleep schedule.
NOTES
Naps
You may need to adjust your child’s nap schedule. Bring naptime earlier at the same pace as your morning wake up.
It’s worth looking at what time your child will nap when at school. You can try to aim for naptime to be the same or at a similar time so their day isn’t vastly different when they start school. This is important if your child has a shy sleep personality.
YOUR CHILD MAY NOT SEEM TIRED AT BEDTIME
The earlier bedtime becomes, the harder it may be for your child to fall asleep. As they are used to falling asleep at the same time each night, they’re not used to the earlier bedtime, and it may take longer for them to fall asleep.
Don’t worry; their bedtime will catch up.
INITIALLY, YOUR CHILD WILL MISS OUT ON SLEEP
As you’re waking your child earlier in the mornings and they may struggle to fall asleep at the beginning of the night, they will be missing out on some sleep for a little while. We want this to happen, so they need to fall asleep earlier in the evening.
DON’T LET YOUR CHILD NAP LONGER THAN THEY USUALLY DO
Make sure your child doesn’t make up for the missed night’s sleep by adding it to their nap. If they nap longer than usual, they won’t need to fall asleep any earlier.
