Daylight Savings Time….
So, as many of us know and realize, daylight savings time has ended. Many of us rolled our clocks back an hour before we went to bed on Saturday, and others let the automatic settings do their thing. I remember how awesome it was to gain that extra hour, to sleep in and feel refreshed and ready to take on the day, to have that internal clock ‘reset’. Well, parents-to-be, here is something that is not mentioned in all the manuals and through most of the advice that you are gleaning. Daylight Savings Time, that thing that we all tend to forget about until it is almost year and which during the fall we rejoice over and spring we are filled with disdain for…. When you have an infant… it means nothing. If your beautiful bundle of joy wakes up between 6:30 and 7 am and is ready to take on the day… they will wake up at 5:30 am, more than ready for the day, regardless of that precious hour that you we looking to gain. Furthermore, it is accepted that it takes, on average, 4 days for a child’s circadian rhythm to set for time change. Circadian rhythm is the biological process for setting the regular recurrence in cycles of approximately 24 hours, also known as our internal clock. As adults we are more prone to the effects of zeitgerbr’s (exogenous cues that aid in the synchronizing of things such as a circadian rhythm) most notably the changes in light/dark patterns (sun rise to sunset). Infants, having spent nine (or so) amazing months in a nearly dark environment, are not born with a Circadian rhythm, but take about 4 months to establish one.
So, why do I spew forth this awesome nugget of knowledge… because my darling, sweet, amazing, beautiful six month old daughter Zoey does not care that the clocks were set back, or that it is 5:30 in the morning, or that mommy and daddy were so looking forward to sleeping in. *sigh* such is one of the awesome joys that many parents-to-be are not informed of. Well, dear readers, if you are a parent-to-be, or just plan to be a parent someday… you have now been informed… don’t say that I never did anything for you. As for my fellow parents-in-arms, I feel your pain. I think that I should email this to myself to proof before I submit.
I AM A DAD, I am scared out of my mind, and where is my coffee.
** Upon review I realized that I should remove many of my expletive filled portions of my posting. After all, my daughter may be reading this someday.