Back to School and Sleep

It’s that time of the year again! School bells are ringing and the routine and rhythm to your day likely needs to shift to accommodate the amount of sleep your child needs when in school.

Whether your child is in daycare, kindergarten or the later years of elementary school, it’s highly likely that your family’s evening and daytime routine shifted to a later summer schedule and needs to shift back to an earlier school day schedule.

Where do you start?

First and foremost, I find that bringing dinner earlier is a great first practical step. If you eat earlier, you’re likely going to get everyone in bed earlier. If summer allowed for a 6:30pm dinnertime, my guess is it needs to shift to 5:45pm/6pm now that school has started.

Also, consider your bedtime timing. Did you get everyone to bed at 8pm during the summer because camp started 45 minutes to an hour later than school? With school’s earlier start time, it’s time to adjust lights out earlier by that 45 min to 60 min.

Our suggested bedtimes for older daycare and school aged children:

·  16-20 months: 4-4.5 hours after only nap

·  20 months- 3 years old: 4.5-5 hours after only nap

· 3-4 years old: No nap 12-12.5 hours after waking for the day, with a nap 5-5.5 hours after waking from nap

· 4-5 years old: No nap 12-13 hours after waking for day (7pm) or 5.5 - 6 after 1-hour nap

· 5–6-year-old: 7:15pm

· 6–7-year-olds: 7:30pm

Lastly, the time that you wake up in the morning impacts your bedtime timing. Start to wake everyone up 15 min earlier each day until your children are up with enough time to get ready, eat a healthy breakfast, and leave the house in a peaceful (not frantic) manner to get to school or daycare on time.

Good luck out there! This transition is never easy, especially if you had a great summer.