4 to 8 months:
At four months we were focusing on working with naptimes around the clock like the: 9,12,3 schedule (these times are just guidelines to work with and most likely based on a 7am wake time, depending on the wake time the first nap can occur anywhere from 8-9:30am). You might sometimes find that these naps are short and maybe only lasting about 30 minutes which is very common. In this instance you would apply the hour rule of trying not to go to your baby for the last 30 minutes to see if she would put herself back to sleep (if the nap is 20 minutes you would try to wait out the remaining 40 minutes). The more you consistently do this the more likely your child will fall back asleep unassisted and create longer napping.
Additional Note: In my experience I have found that naps during this age range can be short for quite some time (even when you have implemented, waiting out the full hour). What I recommend in this situation is to be consistent as possible on the time that you put them down for the naps. You need to put your child down for those naps consistently at around the same time everyday. You might have to stretch the wakeful period from the morning wake time to get to the first nap. Use a best scenario to worst case scenario timing for these naps and follow it as consistently as possible. Let's say she woke up earlier than usual, before 6am. In this case this might be a worse case scenario day where you will attempt a nap at around 8-8:15am instead of your 8:30-8:45am nap. Naptimes should be flexible but within a short time frame, from your typical schedule you might start the nap 1/2 hour either way depending on the wake time.
Being that 4-5 months is still the beginning stages of your baby's ability to have organized day sleep you have to be: patient with it, consistent about the times you are putting your child down, and leaving your child if she wakes up prematurely from a nap. The reason I give an hour is that since daytime is so short you have to limit the time you leave them to go back to sleep somewhat, and let's be realistic in that you can't spend your whole day trying to get her to sleep. The hour seems to work well with most of my families. Remember, this is up to the individual family, if you are not comfortable with your baby fussing at all, then try staying with your baby and rubbing her back and shushing her to sleep for the rest of the hour. On the other hand, if you feel your baby is okay and is not fussing hard, you may choose to leave your baby longer than the hour. You know your baby so you have to go with what you think is right.
At about 6 months your baby will probably be taking 3 naps a day for about an hour or more (3rd nap may be shorter) pretty consistently. However, some babies at this time are taking two longer naps and are not able to take a third nap because it starts too late in the afternoon. The times for these naps may be around 9am and 1pm. For babies who were colicky as infants or premature, day sleep still might not be as organized and naps can be short and inconsistent. For these babies it is important to keep pushing the schedule and keeping with an early bedtime.
At about 8 months those babies who already were taking 2 longer naps a day are continuing their sleep routine. Some though who previously were taking 3 naps a day are starting to take a longer morning and afternoon nap which occurs closer to 1pm. The child is not sleeping for the third nap and/or the nap can only occur late in the afternoon which pushes the bedtime too late.(a third nap starting past 4pm could be too late). Babies who are premature or post-colicky might now be taking 3 naps a day somewhat regularly and might still need to continue the third nap for a couple of more months.
http://www.familysleep.com/
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