I work a very wierd shift. 6PM to 6AM. One week I work 3 nights the next 4 nights, then 3 then 4 etc.
Sleeping during the day is difficult for me, I like a very dark cave-like sleeping zone and also need lots of quiet to fall asleep.
I've found that the thing that works best for me is to plan on between 5-6 hours of sleep. I go to be around 10-11AM and wake up with an alarm at 4:30PM.
One of the most important things for me is to not try and re-set my sleep patterns on my nights off. Took me a few weeks to get into the pattern and now most of the time on my nights off I stay awake until around 4-6AM.
This week I'm on vacation so sleep patterns are all screwed up.
Hope this helps some