Sleep - Wake - Play - Repeat

Being a full time mom is a full time job. Anyone who thinks otherwise is invited to spend a week with Sophie. Our weekday schedule revolves around 3 naps a day. So if you want to phone me, these naptimes are the usual windows (give or take a 30 min margin):

Sophie generally wakes at 7:30am, and we will have some quiet play for around an hour before we both have a Long Morning Nap till around 10 am. The short midday nap is from noon to 1pm. It is pretty convenient because I eat lunch at home when she sleeps, or she wakes up at 1pm in time for me to have lunch with my friends. The Long afternoon nap from about 2pm to 4 or 5pm, where I usually try to post this blog, call and email friends and family. THIS IS THE BEST TIME TO PHONE ME. When she gets up, we go out again, usually to the park near my home or run errands, before coming home to have some rough and tumble.

Bath time is at 6pm, and we change into PJs and read bedtime stories. Fabien usually comes home at 7:30pm and soothes her to bed while I make dinner. She's asleep by 8pm normally, so we can dine in peace and talk about our day. If it is Friday night we usually rent a video, eat pizzas and beer and veg out.

Because she sleeps so early, she still gets up to eat at around 2am, and I will try to wean her off that feed when she is about 7 months old. But it basically means that I have not had an unbroken night of sleep since she was born. This explains why I need to take naps just like her!

The difficulty now is that I am learning how to drive, and I have to leave Sophie with a babysitter for various times in the day, and the sitters don't lay down the law with her enough to make her stick to the programming. They tend to pick her up when it is time for her nap if she starts fussing and crying. This screws up the nap schedule. I have come home from nights out with Fabien at midnight and she is still awake.

The reason why I am such a nazi when it comes to keeping her on a regular sleep cycle is because I am totally sold on the idea that sleep deprivation is akin to torture. It must be working, because Sophie exhibits all the signs of a well rested infant who :

1) can play quietly by herself for about 30 minutes at a time
2) is adaptable to new surroundings/ slight changes in routine
3) is confident and sociable
4) can be comforted relatively easily (e.g. when she got vaccinated recently she didn't cry)

As a completely random aside, I am looking around in Italy to buy this kind of exersaucer for Sophie, but it is pretty close to IMPOSSIBLE...