We started sleep training our 8 month old DD last week because she was waking up every 3 or 4 hours in the night still which was killing me (I know, I know it could have been a lot worse...) The first thing we did was I changed our bedtime routine so I fed her in her towel after the bath, and then put her pyjamas on, read her a story and then put her in the cot completely awake....I was terrified to do this (so much so I started popping up her bodysuit with no nappy on the first night! 
) this was to break the feed to sleep association. Amazingly she didn't protest to this at all...but maybe that's because she already knows how to self-settle as she does for her daytime naps, but I just hadn't given her the chance to do it at bedtime.
We also put white noise in her room (radio on static) I thought she was too old for this but it has worked so well....She woke up crying at the same times throughout the night but just settled herself within under 5 mins of crying (which was the time we had set that we'd go in a comfort her) so we never had to go in there ! It was like a miracle ! So on the third night of not very much crying she slept through the night for the first time since she was 3 months old !!! So chuffed. And would recommend white noise to anyone struggling ! I got my ideas & information for the sleep training from Wee Bee Dreaming sleep consultant blog. ANyway..
We also have dropped her 3rd nap which was only a catnap and too close to bedtime really, it was hard to fit it in before 4pm. So at the moment she is having an early bedtime because of this. I've been finding it really hard to work out how long she should be awake before I put her down in the morning for the first nap...it was 1.5-2 hours before on the old schedule but we've been trying to stretch it to 3...but that seems too long..this morning she was yawning her head off & cranky after 1 hour of being awake (Slept 6.00-6.00 with one feed at 1am) Also what about between last nap and bedtime?
I read about the 2-3-4 schedule and I wonder has anyone tried this? I just can't imagine my DD being awake for 4 hours before bedtime...3 hours and she is starting to lose it ! And is 2.5 hours between last nap and bedtime too short?