schedules... am I the only one?

My little one is almost 4 monthes old. I realize that because I only work part time its not such a struggle for me, but my question is this. I feed her when she is hungry (cluster feeder, only 2 ounces at a time, maybe) I let her sleep when she is tired, she has no nap schedule, and she still isnt sleeping thru the night. Do you more organized mommies find that putting your baby on a schedule has worked and is important? Do you do that for the baby or out of nessecity? I just keep reading about all this scheduling for babies and Im not quite sure about why, because whe are pretty casual here about working around her schedule. Any input??

i love my schedule and don't no where i would be today without it. i mean its not a strict one but i know when she wants to eat and when she'll be tired. it makes my life and planning things so much easier. i feel like they do need to be one a schedule to help them learn when its time to do things and it really helped Olivia learn how to sleep threw the night

YES YES YES..schedules make happy kids!!! I've learned this the hard way!!

Quoting tamirae:“ YES YES YES..schedules make happy kids!!! I've learned this the hard way!!”

they also make happy mommy's!

My daughter just kind of worked out her own schedule. She eats about every 4 hours (she has solids 3 times a day), and naps whenever, usually a late morning and early evening nap. But I really didn't do anything special. Maybe once your daughter starts eating solids she'll begin to develop a schedule.

Well, I have 2 older kids, much older (11 and 14) and I wasnt real scheduled with them either. Now, Im 36 and starting over has been kinds hard (but extremely rewarding) any tips on how to being scheduling??

We have a general schedule.  We feed on demand, but she usually is in bed between 8 and 9.  Naps...we're working on that.  

I just know that we've had a routine since coming home from the hospital and up until Aidan started teething it worked great. He was on a 4 hour feeding, then naps in the morning, noonish, and afternoon... then a bath around 9, down at 9:30 and from 5 weeks he slept through the night... but I think it's going to be different with every baby and with every family's situation...

Now he eats about every 3 hours and doesn't do the noonish nap but thats about all thats changed... he DOES however wake up in the middle of the night around 2ish for a feeding now but goes back to bed and still sleeps till about 6...

and I LOVE our schedule because it helps me when planning out when to go grocery shopping, when to make appointments, because I know when he'll be eating and sleeping and can plan accordingly when he'll be in the best mood, what will be easiest for all of us, etc.

when i started out i wrote down every time i had to feed her and when she needed diapers and when she slept. after about a week i looked back at it and realized she pretty much did things at the same times or with the same amount of time in between. as she got a little older and started solids i just made sure i fed her at the same time every day. be very consistent it will pay off in the end

My son isnt on schedule really, he does whatever he wants....but he always goes to bed and almost never wakes up until I do.  

we learned in our child psych classes that kids love order and knowing what to expect and that kids need schedules. they said schedules equal happy kids. 
that being said i have not been able to get either of my kids on any real schedule. my daughter is 3 and we are doing better. but my son is only 7 weeks and breastfeeds on demand. we have no schedule and it makes our life harder. we can't do anything without having to sit in the car and feed him between every stop. but schedules don't work for everyone. i have school on different days and i don't work every day either so that makes scheduling anything very difficult.

Thank you for all of your input, Ladies!!

Yeah we have a schedaul and it works well for us. Having an older child who is autistic schedauls are a must. So i keep one for all my kiddos. Its hard when DH is home cause he likes to throw things off. But yeah i would try a schedaul and maybe you could get it to where she would sleep all night.

I know when I started Avery on a nap and bedtime routine-schedule, she slept better and started sleeping threw the night.

Nathan is 6.5 months old and we have a schedule that he worked out.  He likes to eat every 3 hrs during the day and then sleeps about 8-12 hrs a night, depending on certain circumstances.  He eats solids 1-2 times a day but has had this schedule since about 3 months old.  I let him sleep whenever he wants, he usually takes a 20-30 minute nap about ever 3 or 4 hrs.  It's just what he wants to do.  He gets a bath after dinner, reading, playing, singing and then bed usually by about 9.  Tonight he didn't want to sleep till 11:30