Tips for Surviving the End of Daylight Savings Time with a Preschooler

At Denver Preschool Program (DPP), we want your little learners to show up rested and ready for school, but daylight savings time (DST) can interrupt schedules and sleep. The end of daylight savings time occurs at 2 a.m. on Sunday, Nov 2nd, 2025, and then Colorado families will be on standard time until the springtime shift. 

Known as “fall back,” the start of this seasonal shift signals more daylight in the mornings and less in the evenings. In Denver, this means the sun’s up around 6:30 a.m. and sets around 5 p.m. in early November. The seasonal shift is also the time of year in Denver when the total daylight in each 24-hour period gets shorter until the winter solstice on December 21, 2025. 

For preschoolers, this time of year can mean an interruption in normal sleep schedules and a disturbance to their circadian rhythms, which are the natural patterns any living organism experiences in a 24-hour period. With the end of daylight savings time for this calendar year on the horizon, DPP offers up some tips for preparing and surviving changes in your little one’s sleep pattern during daylight savings time adjustments. 

How to Prepare Your Preschooler for the End of Daylight Savings Time

Any search on the internet will bring up a plethora of tips about how to prepare your preschooler for the end of daylight savings time. We narrowed down the advice to four main tips: 

Shift sleep later: 

• The shift of a full hour later for bedtime might be too much for young children (or anyone, for that matter). Physicians recommend making small shifts back to bedtime–by 10 or 15 minutes or so each night–for several nights before Nov. 2nd. 
• Looking for more advice or guidance on a sleep schedule for this fall? Check out suggested sleep schedules, like this one from sleep specialist, Dr. Harvey Karp, at Happiest Baby. 

Leverage light: 

• Since circadian rhythms and melatonin production are impacted by light, make sure your preschooler (and yourself) avoid screen time at least 30 minutes before bed. 
• To help little ones with the morning adjustment, some children may need their room to be darkened more than usual with blackout curtains until they adjust to the time change. Children who have a tendency to oversleep may benefit from having their shades and windows open to let natural light in and jumpstart their brain activity. 
• A wake device or clock may also be helpful for some children to have a visual cue that it is time to sleep and time to wake. Brands like Hatch ou Mella make toddler ready-to-wake clocks that can be programmed with various colors, sounds, and music. 

Stick with your bedtime and morning routines: 

• Even if you move bedtime later to adjust for the time change, keep your preschooler’s regular bedtime routine.
• Staying consistent will help minimize any disruptions to their usual wind-down routine. 
• The University of Colorado Boulder offers up these great tips for adults and children alike to help you “fall back into standard time.” 

Have patience and understanding: 

• The disruption may lead to more cranky moments and frustration from your child, or even in adults! The good news, according to Partners in Pediatrics, is that these changes should be short-lived and any disruptions should only last a week or two. 
• This blog post from Children’s Hospital Colorado offers tips on how to get your kids to fall asleep and back to sleep if they wake up during the night. 
• If your little one is still struggling to adjust to the time change after a few weeks, you might consider seeking advice from a medical professional or sleep specialist. 

Preparation is Key: More Resources for Preschool Families

Every preschooler is different, so the key to surviving the end of daylight savings time is preparing in advance, having patience, and making subtle changes (and maybe restocking the coffee before Nov. 2nd for adults). 

Looking for more tips about how to manage life and learning with your preschooler? Subscribe to DPP’s bilingual monthly newsletter, Family Dispatch.