My daughter is 10 months old and has always been an unpredictable napper. We went to a sleep doctor who advised two sleep windows during the day: 10-12 and 3-5. He said our schedule seemed fine, although I was concerned that the baby was up too late. He said we should keep her up from the end of a nap until the next "sleep window"--that it would create a schedule. The only thing that has happened is the naps have gotten shorter and total sleep less.
My daughter has been pretty consistent at night. She wakes up a few times but can go back to sleep on her own most of the time. I am so worried I am going to mess up the nights if I make a change...
Our usual schedule looks something like this:
8:00 am wake-up
8:30 bottle
9:30 breakfast
10:15 put down for a nap with a bottle
Lunch when she wakes up
3:15 put down for a nap with a bottle
Dinner when she wakes up
8:45-9:00 bedtime with a bottle
She is never asleep or too drowsy with the bottle before sleep, so we have kept doing that. I am open to any suggestions! The naps have been so short lately--30 minutes.
