Daytime sleep routine - how do I do it?

[gleefan]

I have a 2yo DD and 6mth old DS. DD doesn't sleep in the day as I always used to get her to sleep by rocking/pushchair car etc and can't always do that now I have a baby - determined not to make same mistakes with DS.
Loosely followed the baby whisperer for a bit and DS is really good at going to sleep at night on his own and generally only wakes for 1 feed a night.
Problem is day time sleeps - although he'll sometimes go on his own in his cot this doesn't always work and think this might be because I'm misreading cues.
This is impacting on time I spend with DD as spend a lot of time going up and down stairs trying to settle DS then giving in and carrying him around while grumpy. Think it would make everyones lives easier if I had a fixed time for day time sleeps - say an hour at 9am and 2 hours at 12 (approx).
But how do I do it?? What have other people done. I don't really want to leave him to cry so any suggestions appreciated. Have my parents here for 5 days starting on Thurs so ideal time to concentrate on sorting out DS sleep while parents look after DD for me.
Would really appreciate any advice you can give. Thanks

Anyone? Please!!

Oh dear, it looks like no-one has an answer! I was so hoping to find an answer too. My 7 mnth old dd sleeps goes down well for her night-time sleep, but wakes up at 5am and then only sleeps for about 30 min max stretches during the day at about 7am, 9.30am 12.30. But this is so hit and miss, I cannot really say that there is a pattern to it. If I'm lucky she'll sleep for an hour at lunch time but nothing more. I wait until she rubs eyes and starts moaning, then hold her for a while, often with a bottle, until she drops off, then put her down. I would love to get her to sleep for longer stretches and (like at 7pm for bedtime) settles herself for naps too. But she screams blue murder if I put her in the cot during the daytime for naps (so she sleeps on the sofa in sitting room at this stage).... I hope you get some advice soon. Good luck!

We started at about 4.5 months to put DS down into his cot for daytime naps at relatively regular times. Best to work on the morning nap first. I mainly followed the babywhisperer techniques of getting him to sleep. It went like this.. Dark room, sleeping bag on, holding him, patting his back and shushing just past his ear. And then put him down as he is just about to drop off. If he cries in the cot I would keep shushing and rub his tummy. If he keeps crying I would pick him up again and do the shushing and patting. After a while it got easier and easier to put him down. And to get him into the timing I would usually push around in the pram for his lunchtime nap because I knew he would go to sleep and stay asleep easily. After a while we would do the lunchtime nap at home as well.

But don't put yourself under pressure. It does not always work straight away and they do not always want to settle. The first few days it would easily take 20 minutes or so to get him to sleep.