When I IFed I would skip breakfast, eat PWO (lunch) and then dinner. Dinner was right before bed so I was going to bed on a full stomach. I always slept very well that way. In the morning, while not full, I was not hungry. Prolly cuz the pre-bed dinner.

"Do I need to give my body time to adjust to my new eating schedule?"

--If you're using a schedule, it is not intermittent

Would eating, say, a little bit of fruit in the morning and a pre-bed snack help, or would that prevent me from experiencing the benefits of IF?

--If you're eating it's not fasting.

I had been doing 18 hour fasts and simply skipping breakfast and then eating very late lunch + supper. Last week I tried an extended 23 hour fast but skipped supper instead and found it much much better. I never feel hungry during fasts because I eat vlc normally and I think this makes fasting easier hungerwise. My hubby eats tons of carbs and simply cannot skip meals without hunger and fatigue. My goal is to do 1 or 2 24 hour fasts per month - maybe once per week eventually. All I have during the fast is black coffee and clear teas (green/oolong/black) and water + salt. Going to bed with an empty stomach really seems to improve deep restorative sleep. When I was doing the reverse and fasting most of the morning and afternoon -- I would overeat late in the day and this does a job on restorative sleep for me.

I IF 24-36 hours at a time, do not have trouble sleeping at all, in fact I feel my sleep is better with no digestion going on. I have gone 72 hours multiple times with no negative effects. I have been LC to VLC for years.