Hi there! I really hope someone out there can help me! My beautiful little girl is just over 6months old and although she has a fantastic night time routine we are all over the place during the day. She has always been a good sleeper at night and the days have always been trouble for us right from when she was about 3 days old and would be awake for anything up to 9 hrs straight!

Generally she is asleep by 8pm and wakes between 7 and 8am. She will always have a nap 2 hrs after waking - and this is where our routine starts to fall apart. If she naps for 1hr+ she wakes up happy and content. However more often she will wake after just 30-45mins and she will go through the day having a series of short naps. The problem is that she is unhappy after short sleeps; finds it impossible to play by herself; cries; wants to be constantly held etc etc. Is there anyway I can encourage her to have one or even two 1.5 hr naps in the day so that she is happier and so that we both know what the days routine is going to be?!! I hve tried keeping her up longer before naps and this rarely works but if anyone can suggest a timetable for the day I'd be happy to give it go!

Hi hkmk and welcome to the boards. I can't suggest a timetable for the day because the 4,6,9,12 formula is for the main sleep at night.

Do cuddle and hold her more if she wakes unhappy- she could have been frightened by her dreams, and may have woken suddenly from a deep sleep. Look at the times for a 'good' day and see if you can pick out a pattern.

Good luck, Trisha

Hi hkmk,
It does sound like your little girl would benefit from a tighter routine during the day (if this would suit your lifestyle of course!). Gina Ford's Contented Little Baby routine might help - Gina basically suggests that all children thrive when they know what's happening when during the day and offers several schedules to follow. I found that it helped a bit with my little boy (although to be honest with you I also wanted him to be flexible so that I wasn't tied down too much by his routine). It might be worth taking a look at the book to get some advice and to pick up some tips.
There's also a bit of advice in 'Sleep Tight' in our Parenting zone under Me + My Baby.
Good luck!
Jane at UKTV Style

Hi hkmk
try putting your baby to sleep at 3pm for atleast two hours never let her nap after 6pm ! before she sleeps at night give her a full filling meal, if she drinks a bottle at night or napping time let her have her bottle
see how it works

try soothing music and get in a routine of playing this for 10 minutes or so before her sleep - perhaps start with it at night so she can associate it with sleeping then introduce it during the day at the times you would like her to nap. I found these great and then moved on the story tapes - my son is 13 now and he is lively, and very literate and still loves story tapes whihc have helped him with literacy enormously.
good look and keep positive -as they always say "it's a phase"