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Key takeaways
- Almost three-quarters (73%) of parents wish Congress would end twice-yearly time changes.
- Almost half of children (46%) take four or more days to adjust to time changes, their moms say.
- Moms also say they lose 1.6 hours of sleep, on average, in the week following DST.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Sunshine Protection Act this week, a bipartisan bill that aims to get rid of twice yearly time changes once and for all. While the Senate still has to vote on whether this should become law, parents are clear: The clock-switching needs to end.
According to a new BabyCenter poll with 288 respondents, 73% say they want the time to stay the same year-round. Slightly more than half (52%) would prefer to keep Daylight Saving Time and its sunnier evenings, while 21% would rather have permanent Standard Time and its brighter mornings. Only 27% want to keep things the way they are.
If the Sunshine Protection Act passes the Senate, the Trump-backed bill would enable states to make Daylight Saving Time permanent but also allow them to opt out. (Hawaii, most of Arizona, and U.S. territories already observe Standard Time year round.)
Many sleep experts and professional organizations, including the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, support getting rid of the moving clocks – but by making standard time permanent, not daylight saving time.
"That's actually better aligned with our circadian rhythm," says Funke Afolabi-Brown, M.D., a pediatric respiratory sleep medicine physician and the expert host of BabyCenter's Baby Sleep 101 course. The brighter mornings and darker evenings sync up more smoothly with our internal biological clocks – especially in the case of young kids, who are natural early risers, she says.
Children and parents are both negatively impacted in the days following time changes
According to a previous BabyCenter poll conducted in 2024, 46% of kids under 5 take four or more days to adjust to switching clocks. And they're not the only ones affected.
"Children will be maybe a bit more irritable, a bit sleepier, a bit more fussy, but there's a lot more serious things going on with the adults, too," Dr. Brown says.
Of the 453 moms in BabyCenter's 2024 survey, 91% also said they experience at least one symptom in the day or two following the change to Daylight Saving Time, including exhaustion (38%), grumpiness (34%), and decreased productivity (28%).
How parents can help children adjust to daylight saving
For now, Daylight Saving Time will end as planned on the first Sunday in November. You can prepare your children (and yourself) for "falling back" by making some tweaks to your schedule.
"What you're trying to do is make an adjustment to that circadian rhythm, which is the internal clock, but there are also external cues that our body responds to that help that adjustment," Dr. Brown says.
Dr. Brown suggests that parents and caregivers move their family's bedtimes, mealtimes, and other routines slightly later for the three to four days leading up to the time change. About 15 minutes per day should do the trick.
If that's too complicated, working in a 30-minute adjustment on Saturday can also buffer against that sudden shock of the time change. Families can also resync their systems by spending time outside in the daylight in the mornings.
As a busy parent, you're not alone if these schedule changes have you feeling overwhelmed. "If you're not able to start a few days ahead, there are still things that you can do to make that adjustment easier," Dr. Brown says. "And that will be jumping right in and making sure you align yourself very, very quickly to the new time change as soon as possible.
Ultimately, you and your kids will probably adjust within three to five days, she says.
Methodology
The BabyCenter Snap Poll was conducted on July 15 and 16, 2026. We surveyed 288 respondents.
The Talk to Moms Monthly Poll was conducted by BabyCenter between January 25 and January 29, 2024. We surveyed 453 respondents who are currently pregnant or have children up to 5 years old. The survey was fielded among the Dynata Research Panel.
