Ditching daylight saving is best for baby, says expert
ABOLISHING seasonal clock changes will help children sleep more easily – and putting the clocks forward one last time next March would be best for baby, a sleep expert has said.
Lucy Wolfe has welcomed the EU proposal to end the tradition of putting the clock back and forward twice a year.
The paediatric sleep consultant at Cork’s Sleep Matters Clinic pointed out that time changes can entirely disrupt a child’s sleep pattern and take weeks to correct.
Earlier this month, the EU Parliament’s Transport and Tourism Committee voted to scrap clocks going back and forward by 2021.
EU states, including Ireland, must decide whether they will choose summer or winter time for good. Member states will make their decision by April 2020.
‘Parents would welcome one fixed time and moving the clocks forward by an hour would be best,’ Ms Wolfe said. ‘Forward challenges the system less. It would be easier if we don’t need to contend with shifting things back and forth. A study in the US suggested that parents worried more about daylight savings than their tax return.
‘It would be one less complication in the complicated nuances of sleep.’
The sleep expert says that the best option for children would be to have early bright mornings which would mean evenings getting darker earlier, on average, throughout the year.
‘Light encourages waking and darkness can encourage sleep,’ Ms Wolfe explained. ‘Brighter mornings can lead to early rising, but that can be addressed with blackout blinds. Brighter evenings, although very welcome, can sometimes make it harder for children to go to sleep at bedtime.
‘If a child’s bedtime is routinely late-delayed to play outside or due to a parenting choice they may be more vulnerable to poor quality and not enough sleep.’
The HSE recommends that children get up to 12 hours of sleep each night.
Ms Wolfe added: ‘Adolescents are particularly at risk of becoming sleep-deprived. Developing good sleep habits is vital for children, as that will follow through to later life which will mean better health outcomes. Sleep and health go hand in hand from childhood.
‘Developing good habits around sleep for children will follow into later life. I see it every day when dealing with babies, children and adolescents who have difficulty with sleep.’
‘Darkness can encourage sleep’
PAEDIATRIC sleep consultant Lucy Wolfe has welcomed the European Union proposal to remove the tradition of putting the clock back and forward twice a year. Ms Wolfe contends that children would get a better night’s sleep and it would ‘be easier if we don’t need to contend with shifting things back and forth’. And she backs up her support for the controversial move, saying: ‘It would be one less complication in the complicated nuances of sleep.’
Ms Wolfe may well be right. It remains unclear, however, if the UK will join the EU in abandoning daylight savings.
And if there are two time zones on either side of the border, it is unlikely anyone trying to farm, do business or go to school in the border area would be able to get a good night’s sleep.