Help me figure out a sleep schedule for my 6-month old baby?

My little girl is 6 months old and I'm having trouble getting her on a good sleep schedule - any suggestions? I'd like to find something that works with her natural sleep ';patterns'; but also is predictable enough that I can plan my day around it.





So far these are her sleep ';patterns'; that I've observed: She will sleep for an average of 12 total hrs during a 24 hr period. Her night sleep will be 9-11 hours (with one waking for a quick bottle) and her day naps will be 1-3 hours. When she takes short naps during the day (2 naps of 30-45 min each) she will sleep longer at night (10-11 hours). If she takes longer naps during the day (2 naps of 1-1.5 hr each) she will sleep shorter at night (9-10 hrs). She will only take 2 naps per day (one morning, one afternoon) - if I try for a 3rd nap she will fight it unless we're in the car.





How should I arrange our daily schedule? Should I use set clock times for naps/bedtime? Or should I go by how many hours of awake time between sleeps?Help me figure out a sleep schedule for my 6-month old baby?
You and your daughter will benefit the most from a set pattern. So She wakes up 8 am. Put her down for a morning nap at about 10:30 Have lunch... Second afternoon nap about 2:30.. Then down for the night at 9Pm...





Starting set patterns is really important and set you as the care giver with the mostest...Help me figure out a sleep schedule for my 6-month old baby?
We live by Dr. Mark Weissbluth's ';health sleep habits, happy child.';





http://books.google.com/books?id=WEgoAAA鈥?/a>
I would go by your baby's cues not by a clock. If you go by the clock you are setting yourself up for diaster. For a more predicatable bedtime start setting up a routine when you start noticing sleepy signals-rubbing eyes, yawning. In our house we love bath, books, breast(or bottle if you are not breastfeeding), and bed. It has worked wonders for us and we never had to leave her to cry.





I would invest in the book ';No Cry Sleep Solution'; by Elizabeth Pantly or ';Night Time Parenting'; or ';The Baby Sleep Book'; by Dr Sears. All are great about explaining how babies sleep and gentle ways to get them to sleep. They have been life saver for a group of about 16 of us and they keep getting passed around.