Kiddipedia
Author Deb Herdman
Is daylight saving really bad for our health, or is the media hype getting ahead of the science? And what does it actually mean for our children’s sleep?
Recently in the media, it has been reported that there is some concern about daylight savings which begins early October. Creating panic and reporting a ban on daylight savings after health professionals declare it is bad for your health, is in effect, only partly true. The truth of the matter is, sleep or lack of it is bad for your health in general.
Research data from as early as 2014 investigated a rise in serious health conditions that presented to emergency departments in the first one to three days from the beginning of daylight saving.
“Is the media hype real about Daylight Savings?”
Studies in the USA and Sweden found that heart attacks increase by 10 percent in the three days post daylight saving when clocks are put forward by one hour thus impacting sleep by one hour less. In addition to health associated risks, other countries reported increased traffic accidents on the Monday following a return to daylight savings by 7%. Workplace accidents also increased as a result of lack of sleep and poor concentration.
This information highlights sleep is a necessity not a luxury and just how important it is to maintaining health and wellness.
Daylight savings is lamented by many parents who find maintaining a sleep routine impossible when days are longer. The impact of fewer sleep hours leads to sleep debt. This adds to family stress and can affect mental and physical health and safety.
It’s important for parents to maintain a regular bedtime but to do so, means some strategies will need to be implemented in order to have young children settle when the sun is still up and the rest of the household still active.
A dark room is vital to maintaining your ‘winter’ sleep schedule and wind-down time and sticking to the same routine throughout the year is what you should aim for to getting your little one early to bed.
We all know there are likely to be late nights when families are more active during the summertime but it’s best to limit these and keep your children on track with their normal sleep habits. The odd late night will require you, on the following night, to keep to your normal sleep schedule to avoid later settling and ‘sleep debt’ becoming the new norm.
Sleep debt or sleep deprivation easily leads to a continuous cycle of difficulty falling asleep, broken sleep and wakeful nights and early rising. As a parent, we all know how sleep debt impacts family dynamics, health, and relationships. Keeping sleep hours regular mean, the whole family enjoys daylight saving and we surely need some quality family time as we come out of COVID isolation.
Daylight Saving 2026: What Australian Parents Need to Know
For families living in NSW, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and the ACT, daylight saving begins on Sunday 4 October 2026.
At 2am, the clocks move forward to 3am, meaning families effectively lose an hour of that night’s sleep.
Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory do not observe daylight saving.
And while losing an hour of sleep may sound relatively insignificant, the timing of the change is important. The clock changes instantly, but your child’s biological body clock does not.
That distinction is at the heart of understanding why some children can sail through daylight saving while others suddenly seem to have forgotten how to go to bed.
The Clock Changes in One Instant – Your Child’s Body Clock Doesn’t
Your child has an internal biological clock known as the circadian rhythm.
This roughly 24-hour system helps coordinate:
- sleep and wakefulness
- body temperature
- hormone production
- alertness
- appetite and metabolism
- mood and cognitive functioning
One of the strongest signals helping to set this internal clock is light.
The Sleep Health Foundation explains that daylight saving can temporarily disrupt the relationship between our internal circadian rhythm and the external clock, particularly when the clocks move forward in spring.
So, when the clock suddenly says 7.30pm, your child’s body may not necessarily feel as though it is 7.30pm yet.
This is one reason children can suddenly appear to have a second wind when daylight saving begins.
It isn’t necessarily that they have suddenly decided they don’t need sleep.
Their biological timing and the clock on the wall are temporarily out of sync.
Is the Media Hype About Daylight Saving Real?
There is genuine science behind concerns about sleep disruption, but the story is more nuanced than some headlines suggest.
Australian researchers and sleep organisations recognise that spring daylight saving can result in sleep loss, increased sleepiness and temporary circadian disruption. The Sleep Health Foundation notes that moving the clocks forward is generally harder to adjust to than moving them back because people effectively lose an hour.
Australian university researchers have also described the clock change as a form of temporary circadian misalignment, similar in some respects to jet lag.
There is research linking the transition to short-term changes in health and safety outcomes, including cardiovascular events and road accidents. Researchers, however, continue to investigate exactly how much of this is caused by the clock change itself, versus the associated sleep loss, altered routines and circadian disruption.
That distinction matters.
It is more accurate to say that the spring clock change can disrupt sleep and circadian rhythms, rather than suggesting that daylight saving itself inevitably causes serious illness.
What About Mental Health?
This is an area where the research has become particularly interesting in 2026.
A recent international review involving researchers from Swinburne University of Technology examined more than a decade of evidence on daylight saving and serious mental-health outcomes.
The researchers found no clear and consistent evidence that the transition to daylight saving causes substantial increases in serious mental-health conditions such as depression, bipolar disorder, dementia, substance use or psychosis.
That doesn’t mean nobody feels different when the clocks change.
You may feel:
- tired
- irritable
- less patient
- foggy
- out of routine
- more emotional
- less focused
Those experiences can be very real.
The important distinction is that feeling temporarily knocked around by a change in sleep timing is not the same thing as daylight saving causing a serious mental-health disorder.
The Swinburne researchers describe the likely short-term disruption as something more akin to a minor form of jet lag for some people.
And if you’ve ever had a toddler wake at 5am after a bedtime that went completely pear-shaped, you’ll understand that even a temporary sleep disruption can feel very significant inside a household!
Sleep Is a Biological Necessity – Not a Luxury
This information highlights sleep is a necessity not a luxury and just how important it is to maintaining health and wellness.
Australian health authorities now explicitly recognise sleep as one of the three major components of a healthy 24-hour day, alongside physical activity and sedentary behaviour.
The Australian Government’s 24-hour movement guidelines emphasise that good-quality sleep is essential for healthy growth, development, health and wellbeing.
And Australian data shows that sleep is already an issue for many children.
According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2023 wearable-device data found that nearly 1 in 3 Australian children aged 5–17 slept for less than eight hours a night on average.
For teenagers aged 12–17, the figure was even higher, at 51%.
So daylight saving isn’t creating Australia’s sleep problem.
But for a child who is already not getting enough sleep, losing another hour or shifting the timing of sleep can be one more challenge.
How Much Sleep Does Your Child Actually Need?
One of the easiest ways to become anxious about children’s sleep is to focus entirely on the clock.
Instead, it helps to understand the amount of sleep children generally need across a 24-hour period.
Australian sleep recommendations
| Age | Recommended sleep |
|---|---|
| 0–3 months | 14–17 hours per 24 hours |
| 4–11 months | 12–16 hours, including naps |
| 1–2 years | 11–14 hours, including naps |
| 3–5 years | 10–13 hours |
| 5–13 years | 9–11 hours |
| 14–17 years | 8–10 hours |
| Adults | 7–9 hours |
These recommendations come from Australian Government 24-hour movement guidelines.
This is also why there is no single magical bedtime that works for every child.
A two-year-old, a six-year-old and a sixteen-year-old have very different biological sleep needs.
GETTING THEM TO SLEEP – TIPS AND HINTS TO HELP YOU
In many households with young children the reality is kids won’t go to sleep whilst the sun is shining. This means bedtime is after 9pm and we all know when children are over tired settling to sleep takes much longer. Then, as is normal when in ‘sleep debt’ night sleeping is disturbed, and broken sleep means you will have to do the resettling. When you finally get them sleeping, don’t expect a sleep in… that’s not how sleep debt works.
As a sleep consultant, I hear so many issues about sleep and one that is a consistent topic of conversation is daylight savings and how it changes the normal bedtime routine leading to sleep latency or longer to settle.
However, with some planning and guidance you will be the envy of your friends when your kids are asleep by 7:30 and your evenings are free.
The good news is that you don’t need to make your child’s entire summer revolve around bedtime.
The goal isn’t perfection.
It is consistency most of the time.
Families will have late dinners. There will be birthdays, BBQs, holidays, sporting events, beach trips and nights when everyone is simply having too much fun to come inside.
One late night doesn’t mean you’ve ruined your child’s sleep.
The problem is more likely to arise when the occasional late night gradually becomes every night.
AVOID THESE PROBLEMS TO HELP YOUR CHILD SLEEP
1. You fill up your evening schedule with activities and miss the sleep cues.
Daylight saving should not alter the perfectly good routine you had in place over the winter months. You still need sleep discipline.
This remains excellent advice.
Australian sleep guidance recommends consistent bedtime and wake-up times, along with calming bedtime routines.
The trick is not to watch the clock obsessively.
Instead, watch your child.
Look for their familiar sleep cues:
- rubbing their eyes
- becoming quieter
- losing interest in play
- becoming clingy
- becoming emotional
- yawning
- slowing down
- becoming less coordinated
And remember something parents often discover the hard way:
An overtired child doesn’t always look tired.
Some children become hyperactive, silly, emotional, argumentative or incredibly busy when they have actually passed their ideal settling window.
2. Your house isn’t prepared for longer daylight hours.
A dark room with no sunlight peeking through is essential to helping your child settle to sleep. Also think about the rooms that your little occupies in that hour leading up to bedtime.
Closing family/living room blinds will also help to begin the settling to sleep mood and environment. Ask other family members NOT to wind up your little one…keep the mood quiet.
This is one area where modern Australian guidance gives us a little more nuance.
A bedroom doesn’t necessarily have to be completely black for a child to sleep, but bright evening light can make settling more difficult, particularly when a child is already trying to adjust to a later sunset.
Raising Children Network recommends a sleep environment that is quiet, dimly lit and comfortable, and specifically notes that daylight saving can temporarily affect children’s settling.
Think of your home as gradually moving from:
DAY MODE → WIND-DOWN MODE → SLEEP MODE
You don’t need to switch everything off at once.
Instead:
Dim the lights.
Close the blinds.
Turn the television down.
Reduce noisy play.
Move away from stimulating activities.
Start the same familiar bedtime sequence.
Those little signals help your child’s brain understand that the day is winding down.
3. Daylight savings mean more noise in the house and traffic in the street
Daylight savings mean more noise in the house and traffic in the street and these extra sounds can be distracting enough to prevent your baby or toddler from being able to settle. Prolonged settling time inevitably leads to increased hyperactivity, whingeing, crying and tantrums and parent frustration.
And sometimes it really isn’t the sunlight.
It is the noise that comes with summer.
Windows are open.
The neighbours are outside.
Someone is mowing the lawn.
The older children are still playing.
Dad is cooking on the BBQ.
The television is still going.
The dog is barking.
The street is simply noisier.
Raising Children Network recommends reducing sudden household noise and notes that soft music, rain sounds or other low-level consistent sounds may help mask unpredictable noise.
The aim isn’t necessarily complete silence.
For some children, predictable background sound can actually be easier to sleep through than sudden bursts of noise.
4. You are in charge of bedtime so be consistent!
We all know Summer activity can lead to late nights and even one of those can completely change sleep patterns. If you know what steps to take to keep sleep consistent, you’re a huge step ahead of bedtime becoming a nightly battle.
Make sleep a priority! Daylight savings should not affect the way your child sleeps if you stick with your routine, keep sunlight under control so sleep hormones can do their job of making your child sleepy. Keep interruptions out of bedtime preparations and include quiet times, as you prepare your baby for sleeping and not playing. Winding down time is very important to helping your little one approach bedtime calmly.
The Australian Government recommends consistent sleep and wake-up times for children, while Raising Children Network recommends a quiet period before bed without screens or stimulating activity.
The word consistent doesn’t mean perfect.
Life happens.
What matters is what happens on most nights.
Your Child’s Body Clock Needs Light – But Timing Matters
It can be tempting to think that all light is bad for sleep.
It isn’t.
Light is one of the most important signals that sets the circadian clock.
Morning light helps tell the body:
It’s daytime. Time to be awake.
Darkness and reduced evening light help signal:
It’s night-time. Time to wind down.
Australian researchers have described how the daylight-saving transition changes the timing of light exposure and can temporarily shift the relationship between our internal body clock and the external clock.
This is why morning light can be particularly helpful after the clocks go forward.
Morning Sunlight: One of the Simplest Sleep Tools You Have
The Sleep Health Foundation recommends making the bedroom bright when you wake, getting outside in the morning sunlight and exercising outdoors in the morning as strategies to help the body adjust to daylight saving.
So rather than thinking only about bedtime, think about the entire day.
Try:
- opening curtains soon after waking
- eating breakfast near natural light
- getting outside in the morning
- walking to school where practical
- playing outside
- having the morning coffee or breakfast outdoors
- getting children moving in natural daylight
Even on a cloudy Australian morning, outdoor light is considerably brighter than typical indoor lighting, and Australian sleep researchers recommend using natural light to help regulate the body clock.
The 4-Day Daylight Saving Sleep Reset
If your child is particularly sensitive to changes in routine, don’t wait until Sunday night to start.
The Sleep Health Foundation recommends moving bedtime 15–20 minutes earlier for three to four nights before the spring transition.
3–4 nights before
Move bedtime forward by approximately 15–20 minutes.
2 nights before
Keep the earlier bedtime and maintain the same calming routine.
Saturday night
Keep the evening relatively calm.
You don’t need to cancel family life, but avoiding a huge late-night event can make Sunday easier.
Sunday morning
Get everyone up and exposed to natural morning light.
Sunday evening
Return to the familiar bedtime routine.
The objective isn’t to force sleep.
It is to gently move the entire rhythm forward.
What If Your Child Simply Isn’t Tired at the New Bedtime?
This is where parents can become frustrated.
You have done everything right.
The blinds are closed.
The pyjamas are on.
The teeth are brushed.
The story has been read.
And your child is suddenly wide awake.
Take a breath.
Your child may simply be experiencing a temporary mismatch between sleep pressure and circadian timing.
The clock says bedtime.
Their body is still catching up.
Australian sleep guidance recognises that daylight saving can temporarily affect children’s settling and that these changes commonly resolve as the sleep cycle adjusts.
Try not to turn bedtime into a battle.
Keep the environment boring, calm and predictable.
You don’t need to entertain them until they’re exhausted.
The message is simply:
The day is finished.
Don’t Chase the Clock – Watch the Whole Sleep Picture
Parents can become understandably focused on whether their child falls asleep at exactly 7pm, 7.30pm or 8pm.
But sleep is more complicated than a number on the clock.
Think about:
Sleep duration
How much total sleep is your child getting?
Sleep timing
When are they sleeping?
Sleep consistency
Does their routine vary dramatically from one day to the next?
Sleep quality
Are they waking repeatedly?
Daytime functioning
Are they alert, functioning and coping during the day?
The Australian Government’s 2026 adult movement guidelines also recognise the importance of sleep consistency, although there are not currently specific quantitative national recommendations for exactly how much day-to-day variation is acceptable.
For children, consistent bedtime and wake-up routines remain part of Australia’s sleep recommendations.
What About Naps?
For babies, toddlers and some preschoolers, naps are still an important part of the 24-hour sleep picture.
Australian guidelines recommend:
- 14–17 hours for babies aged 0–3 months
- 12–16 hours for babies aged 4–11 months
- 11–14 hours for toddlers aged 1–2 years, including naps
- 10–13 hours for preschoolers aged 3–5 years, with some children still needing naps.
Daylight saving doesn’t mean you automatically need to throw your child’s nap schedule out the window.
If your toddler normally sleeps at 1pm, the goal is generally to adjust the routine gradually rather than suddenly changing everything.
And if your preschooler has naturally stopped napping, don’t try to bring a nap back simply because daylight saving has arrived.
Screens: The Modern Bedtime Disruptor
There is another factor that wasn’t nearly as prominent when this article was first written:
screens.
Longer summer evenings can make it tempting to let children stay up watching television, gaming, scrolling or using devices.
Australian Government recommendations for children and young people aged 5–17 include avoiding screen time for one hour before sleep and keeping screens out of the bedroom.
This doesn’t mean one episode of a favourite show will ruin your child’s sleep.
It means that when a child is already adjusting to a changed sleep schedule, adding stimulating screen use right before bed may make the transition harder.
Try replacing the final hour with:
- reading
- drawing
- puzzles
- quiet conversation
- a bath
- gentle music
- cuddles
- preparing school bags
- choosing clothes for tomorrow
- quiet imaginative play
The aim is to give the brain a chance to shift gears.
The Summer Bedroom Matters Too
Summer brings another challenge:
heat.
A room that is too hot, too cold, too bright or too noisy can make settling harder.
Raising Children Network recommends a sleep environment that is comfortable, quiet, dimly lit and neither too hot nor too cold.
You can help by:
- using appropriate bedding
- keeping the room comfortable
- closing blinds during the hottest part of the day
- reducing unnecessary evening noise
- using curtains or blinds to block late sunlight
- ensuring airflow is comfortable
- keeping the sleep environment familiar
You don’t need to create a laboratory.
You simply want a room where your child feels comfortable and ready for sleep.
The Sleep Debt Trap
Sleep debt or sleep deprivation easily leads to a continuous cycle of difficulty falling asleep, broken sleep and wakeful nights and early rising.
The reality is a little more nuanced.
One late night isn’t necessarily a problem.
But repeatedly missing the amount of sleep your child needs can accumulate into a pattern of insufficient sleep.
And an overtired child can become increasingly difficult to settle.
Then bedtime gets later.
Then the child wakes tired.
Then everyone is cranky.
Then the next evening becomes harder.
And before you know it, the whole household is caught in a cycle.
That is why the goal isn’t to make every summer evening perfectly predictable.
The goal is to prevent occasional late nights from becoming the new normal.
AVOIDING SLEEP DEBT NOT JUST FOR KIDS
Be sure not to burn the candle at both ends too many times over the Summer. Sleep debt will catch up with you and affect your mood. Lack of sleep is detrimental to general health, emotional health and family wellbeing. Make sure you take the time to get between 7-9 hours sleep for yourself so that you really enjoying family time rather than survive it.
Sweet Dreams
And this really does deserve more attention.
Parents need sleep too.
It is incredibly difficult to remain patient, calm and emotionally available when you’re exhausted.
Australian Government guidelines recommend 7–9 hours of good-quality sleep for adults, together with consistent bed and wake-up times.
That doesn’t mean every parent will achieve nine hours every night.
Babies wake.
Children have nightmares.
Someone gets sick.
A school project is due.
Life happens.
But if you are continually running on five or six hours, it is worth recognising that your sleep matters too.
Australian sleep-health organisations emphasise that inadequate sleep can affect health, mood, wellbeing, productivity and safety.
And there is another practical reason parents need to think about their own sleep:
A tired parent is still expected to drive, work, make decisions and care for children.
Sleep isn’t selfish.
It is part of looking after the whole family.
What About Teenagers?
Teenagers deserve their own conversation.
Adolescence is a time when sleep timing naturally shifts later for many young people. At the same time, school, homework, sport, social life, screens and early morning commitments can all compete with sleep.
Australian guidelines recommend:
8–10 hours of sleep for 14–17-year-olds.
Yet AIHW data shows that 51% of Australian 12–17-year-olds slept for less than eight hours per night on average in 2023.
So if your teenager suddenly seems even more reluctant to go to bed after daylight saving begins, it is worth looking at the bigger picture.
Ask:
- What time are they actually falling asleep?
- What time do they need to wake?
- How much screen time is happening late at night?
- Are they sleeping much later on weekends?
- Are they getting morning light?
- Are they getting enough physical activity?
- Are they regularly trying to catch up on sleep?
This is less about enforcing a particular bedtime and more about protecting enough total sleep and a reasonably consistent rhythm.
One Late Night Doesn’t Mean You’ve Ruined Everything
This is worth saying again because parenting can sometimes feel like a constant exercise in getting everything exactly right.
You don’t have to.
Your child may stay up late one Saturday.
They may fall asleep in the car.
They may miss a nap.
They may have an exciting summer evening.
They may wake at 5.30am.
You may have absolutely no idea why.
That’s parenting.
The important thing is what happens most of the time.
After an unusually late night, returning to your child’s familiar routine the following day is generally more helpful than allowing bedtime and wake time to drift further and further.
Think:
reset rather than panic.
A Five-Minute Bedtime Reset for Those Nights When Everything Goes Wrong
If tonight has already gone completely pear-shaped, don’t panic.
Try this:
1. Dim the lights
Start telling the brain that the active part of the day is finished.
2. Close the blinds
Reduce bright outdoor light.
3. Stop stimulating activities
No rough-and-tumble games or exciting new activities.
4. Put screens away
Give your child’s brain a chance to wind down.
5. Start the familiar routine
Bath, teeth, pyjamas, story, cuddle — whatever works for your family.
6. Keep your voice calm
Your child’s nervous system is taking cues from yours.
7. Don’t turn sleep into a battle
The harder everyone tries to force sleep, the more frustrating bedtime can become.
8. Try again tomorrow
One difficult night doesn’t define your child’s sleep.
Myth vs Fact: Daylight Saving and Children’s Sleep
MYTH: Daylight saving is dangerous for everyone’s mental health.
FACT: Current research involving Swinburne University researchers found no clear and consistent evidence that daylight-saving transitions cause substantial increases in serious mental-health outcomes. However, temporary sleep and circadian disruption can still occur.
MYTH: Children cannot sleep while the sun is still shining.
FACT: Children can sleep during daylight, but a dim, comfortable sleep environment can make settling easier when sunset occurs later.
MYTH: One late night creates permanent sleep debt.
FACT: One late night is very different from a repeated pattern of insufficient sleep. The aim is to return to a healthy routine rather than panic about an isolated disruption.
MYTH: The body clock changes as soon as the clock changes.
FACT: The wall clock changes instantly. Your circadian rhythm takes time to adjust.
MYTH: You should keep children indoors and away from daylight in the morning after daylight saving begins.
FACT: Morning natural light is actually one of the strategies recommended by Australian sleep experts to help the body adjust.
MYTH: Bedtime has to be exactly the same minute every night.
FACT: Consistency matters, but family life isn’t a laboratory. A familiar routine and generally consistent sleep and wake times are more realistic than expecting perfection.
The Daylight Saving Sleep Toolkit
Morning ☀️
Get outside
Natural morning light can help anchor the body clock.
Move
Morning physical activity can help establish a healthy rhythm.
Eat breakfast
Keep meals reasonably consistent.
Afternoon 🌤️
Let children be active
Australian guidelines recommend substantial daily physical activity for children and young people.
Protect naps where appropriate
Babies and toddlers still need developmentally appropriate daytime sleep.
Avoid letting the entire day drift later
The more the schedule shifts, the harder bedtime can become.
Evening 🌙
Dim the lights
Close the blinds
Reduce noise
Put screens away
Slow the pace
Start the familiar bedtime routine
Bedtime 🛏️
Same sequence.
Same cues.
Same expectations.
Calm environment.
Give your child’s body time to catch up with the clock.
When Should Parents Seek Help?
Most short-term sleep disruption around daylight saving settles as children adjust to the new routine. Raising Children Network notes that sleep difficulties related to changes such as daylight saving commonly settle within around a week as the sleep cycle adjusts.
However, daylight saving shouldn’t be used to explain away persistent sleep problems.
Speak with your GP, child health professional or appropriate sleep specialist if your child’s sleep difficulties:
- continue well beyond the adjustment period
- significantly affect daytime behaviour
- affect school or learning
- cause substantial distress for your child or family
- involve frequent or prolonged night waking
- involve loud or persistent snoring
- include pauses in breathing or unusual breathing during sleep
- leave your child excessively sleepy during the day
- are causing ongoing concerns about their health or development
A sleep routine can help many children, but not every sleep problem is a bedtime-routine problem.
Sometimes there is an underlying issue that needs professional assessment.
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
☀️ Daylight saving begins on Sunday 4 October 2026
Clocks move forward one hour in NSW, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and the ACT.
😴 The spring clock change can temporarily disrupt sleep
The transition can cause sleep loss, sleepiness and circadian disruption, particularly because we lose an hour when the clocks move forward.
🧠 Your child’s biological clock doesn’t instantly change
The clock on the wall changes immediately, while the body’s circadian system takes time to adjust.
🌅 Morning light can help
Getting outside into natural morning light is one of the strategies recommended by Australian sleep experts.
🌙 Evening light matters too
Dimming lights and creating a darker sleep environment can help children wind down when sunset occurs later.
📱 Screens can interfere with bedtime
Australian guidance recommends avoiding screens for one hour before sleep for children and young people aged 5–17 and keeping screens out of bedrooms.
⏰ Consistency matters
A familiar bedtime and wake-up routine can help children adjust.
❤️ One late night isn’t a disaster
The aim is healthy habits most of the time, not perfect parenting every night.
👨👩👧👦 Parents need sleep too
Adult recommendations are generally 7–9 hours of good-quality sleep each night.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does daylight saving affect children’s sleep?
It can. Moving the clock forward by one hour can temporarily disrupt a child’s sleep timing and circadian rhythm. Younger children can also find it difficult to understand why bedtime suddenly occurs while it is still light outside.
How long does it take children to adjust to daylight saving?
Many children adjust within several days, although some may take longer. Raising Children Network notes that sleep disruption associated with routine changes such as daylight saving commonly settles within around a week.
Should I put my child to bed earlier before daylight saving?
For children who struggle with changes to sleep timing, gradually moving bedtime 15–20 minutes earlier for three to four days before the spring transition is recommended by the Sleep Health Foundation.
How can I get my toddler to sleep when it is still light outside?
Start the wind-down routine before bedtime, dim the lights, close blinds or curtains and keep the bedroom quiet, comfortable and dimly lit.
Should I change my child’s nap when daylight saving begins?
Not necessarily. If your child still needs a nap, aim to maintain the familiar routine and adjust gradually rather than making a dramatic change overnight.
Does morning sunlight really help?
Yes. Natural morning light is one of the environmental signals that helps regulate the circadian rhythm, and Australian sleep experts recommend morning sunlight as part of adjusting to daylight saving.
Can screens affect my child’s sleep?
Yes. Australian Government recommendations advise children and young people aged 5–17 to avoid screen use for one hour before sleep and keep screens out of the bedroom.
Can white noise help?
A consistent, low-level background sound can help mask unpredictable noises for some children. Raising Children Network suggests soft music, rain sounds and other low-level sounds as possible strategies where sudden environmental noise is disrupting sleep.
What if my child suddenly starts waking early?
Look at the whole sleep environment. Check whether the bedroom is sufficiently dark, whether morning light or household noise is waking them, whether bedtime has shifted, and whether they are getting enough total sleep.
Is daylight saving itself bad for mental health?
Current research involving Swinburne researchers found no clear and consistent evidence of substantial effects on serious mental-health outcomes from the clock transition. That doesn’t mean individuals cannot feel temporarily tired, irritable or out of sorts following disrupted sleep.
The Bottom Line for Parents
Daylight saving can certainly knock a family’s sleep routine around.
But it doesn’t have to turn your summer into a nightly battle.
The most useful thing to remember is that your child’s body clock is biological, not digital.
The clock changes in an instant.
Your child’s circadian rhythm takes a little longer.
So instead of panicking when bedtime suddenly becomes difficult, think about the things you can control:
Morning light.
Daytime activity.
Consistent sleep and wake times.
A calm bedtime routine.
Less evening stimulation.
A dark, quiet and comfortable bedroom.
Less screen use before bed.
And perhaps most importantly:
Don’t aim for perfect sleep. Aim for healthy sleep habits most of the time.
Summer is supposed to be enjoyed.
There will be late nights.
There will be family dinners that run late, beach days that somehow turn into evening, children who fall asleep in the car and nights when the routine goes completely out the window.
That’s okay.
Reset. Return to your routine. Keep going.
Because good sleep isn’t about getting every night perfect.
It’s about giving your child’s body, brain and nervous system the best possible opportunity to get the sleep they need.
And yes, that applies to us parents too.
Sweet Dreams.
Australian References & Further Reading
Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing. 24-hour movement guidelines for all Australians. Updated 28 April 2026.
Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing. Recommendations for infants, toddlers and preschoolers (birth to 5 years). Updated 13 March 2026.
Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing. Recommendations for children and young people (5 to 17 years). Updated 13 March 2026.
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Health of children – Sleep. Australian Government. Current Australian data from the 2023 National Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey.
Sleep Health Foundation. Daylight Saving and Sleep. Updated March 2025.
Sleep Health Foundation. Sleep Hygiene: Good Sleep Habits. January 2024.
Raising Children Network. Sleep problems in children & how to solve them. Australian Parenting Website, updated 2026.
Swinburne University of Technology. Swinburne researchers debunk daylight savings mental health myth. July 2026.
University of Sydney, Charles Perkins Centre. Complete guide to daylight saving time: dates, impact, and tips. 2024.
University of Melbourne. Scaring the daylights out of our body clocks. Sleep and circadian rhythm research commentary.
University of Queensland. How the switchover to daylight saving time affects our health. School of Biomedical Sciences.
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare / Australian Government. Australian 24-hour movement guidelines and evidence base.
Deb Herdman is a mother, registered nurse, and baby & child sleep consultant.
As the composer and developer of the Nigh’ Nigh’ Sleepy Head brand, Deb has spent over 7 years helping families conquer sleep debt using her gentle system that aligns with best mental health practice to improve family cohesion through better sleep.
She is the author of 2 digital books and has been published in print, online, and featured in the media in Australia and internationally.
Deb presents interactive sleep workshops to parents with children aged 0 to 5+, parent groups and health institutions and virtual consulting. Opening the world’s first music and play therapy Baby Sleep School her resources are evidence based and different from other sleep resources. For more information visit https://www.nighnigh.com.au
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