Day 4 of the NCSS

We are seeing some success!  It is definitely slow going but I *think* we are headed in the right direction.  On Monday night, evaluation night, Staci's longest sleep stretch was 1 hour and 54 minutes.  Last night, we got a 3 hour stretch and a 3.5 hour stretch.  There were lots of shorter stretches mixed in, but that is progress.  Also, we have more or less transitioned to getting Staci to fall asleep on her own in her crib.  She did it for the first time in a long time last night, and then for both naps today.  She wasn't able to make it through more than one sleep cycle either nap (one was 40 minutes and one was 50 minutes) and so after the second nap I rocked her for an hour to get some more sleep in her.  At this point, I'm not sure what the best thing to do is.  After she woke up from the first nap I tried to give her a bit of time to put herself back to sleep, but that made her extremely angry and we had to nurse in order for her to calm down.  Then, she messed her diaper and no amount of rocking or back rubbing (I tried for a half hour!) was going to get her to fall back to sleep.  The second nap, I didn't want to chance anything and just went ahead an rocked her until she woke up, because I knew she needed practice sleeping more than one sleep cycle at a time.

So this is my question to all of you.  I know Staci needs 3-4 (if not 5!) hours of sleep per day on top of 12 hours at night--not only from what I've read in sleep books (a few different ones all agree on the amount of sleep an infant needs) but also from when I've seen Staci get that much sleep, she is so much happier.  So, what do I do? is it more important for her to practice sleeping in her crib, or should I rock her to ensure she gets the sleep she needs?  Today I did a combo and it seemed to work out OK, but she still only got ~2.5 hours of sleep, falling a bit short of where she should be. 

Thanks for your help!