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When J was tiny he would just fall asleep or take a few minutes. As he learned how to roll, stand, walk, it took longer and longer because he would want to try out these new skills in his crib.
The best thing for us was just trying to be consistent with the time. If he usually napped at 10am and 3pm, we would put him in his crib then. It may have taken increasingly longer as he grew but he did sleep.

"drowsy" didn't really happen for us past 3 or 4 weeks. i knew he was tired because of yawning and/or rubbing eyes, but he wouldn't get nice and sleepy--he'd just keep chugging along and really fought falling asleep. when he was tired, i'd slow things down, sing him a lullaby and put him in crib. around that age (4 months), it usually took 15-20 minutes of him crying/fussing before falling asleep. and then he'd wake up 45 minutes later. sweet.

When my LO was that age, it took her for-ev-er(!) to fall asleep for naps (and for bedtime . . . I digress). It has gotten progressively better as she has gotten older. The best thing I did was not to wait for her to *look* tired . . . by then it's too late! I just monitored her awake time (and I still do at 15 months), and put her down when I know she should be ready. It really seemed to help.

@BKCaribBaby: Me too! I was holding her for all naps and bedtime, too.

@MsLipGloss: For whatever reason, she never needed the holding for bedtime. Go figure! I still can't believe that was really only 4.5 months ago. It seems like a lifetime.

We nap trained at four months. We had tried earlier and it did not work, but once she got used to falling asleep on her own at night, nap training went much better. Once I see she is getting sleepy we go into her room and do the sleep routine (5 min or so) then I put her down. Takes anywhere from 5-20 min to fall asleep but she's not crying, just rolling side to side, scooting, talking, and kicking her legs.

Before nap training? For. Ev. Er. I'd nurse to sleep which could take 15 or 45 min, and if she woke upon transfer all hell broke loose. It was a dark time in our household.

Agree with lawbee about blackout shades. You can get cheap really effective ones at Home Depot before investing in good ones ($8 a window).

@illumina: Ha I used to worry about this, too, but it hasn't been a problem at all for us. I think once they have their nights and days straightened out for awhile then it shouldn't be an issue.

@illumina: I have a couple of inches of window exposed at the bottom so it is every so slightly less dark during the day, because I had the same (unfounded) fear. But now it's so dark even by 4:30 and her evening nap is the shortest. They somehow do know the difference!

Baby usually goes down in 3-20 minutes. She doesn't cry...she just babbles or sucks her thumb.