Daylight Saving Time in Manitoba: Tips to Help Kids During the Time Change

With daylight saving time coming to an end this year, Manitobans will turn their clocks back an hour on Sunday morning.

This means that dawn will break earlier in the morning and darkness will fall earlier in the evening, which can disrupt the sleep routines of both children and adults.

Child sleep consultant Joleen Dilk Salyn said children will likely still wake up at the time their bodies are used to, so if they normally get up at 7am, they will get up at 6am if the time changes.

“That’s a shame for the parents,” she said in an interview with CTV Morning Live Winnipoeg on Thursday.

“It’s a little bit harder for us to adjust ourselves, and it’s harder for the little ones to adjust to that new time.”

To prepare for the change, Dilk Salyn suggests moving your child’s schedule forward by 15 minutes each day.

She noted that the disruption this year is Halloween.

“Your kids will probably get up a little later tonight,” she said.

“You might not want to try to push everything tomorrow because they’ll be tired.” It’s probably best to keep them on track.”

Dilk Salyn said that once the time changes, the sun helps adjust our internal clocks, which takes about a week or two.

However, there are things you can do to help your little ones adjust over the two-week period, such as letting them stay in the dark and not starting their day right when they wake up.

“So cuddle with them. If you are breastfeeding or nursing, you may want to try that,” she said. “You just want to keep the lights dark and low.”

For toddlers and preschoolers, Dilk Salyn suggested investing in special clocks that provide visual cues to young children. She also recommended letting them slowly get used to their new bedtime.

“We still want to keep some kind of regular routine,” she said.

‘Keep an eye on them for sleep cues. The babies tend to stare out and into space when they are ready for bed. Toddlers become hyper, active, challenging and cranky.”

Daylight saving time ends Sunday at 2 a.m. local time.

– With files from CTV’s Rachel Lagacé