Maggie...
I can understand why many mothers would not consider controlled crying - and that is fine.
But I am a mother whose child WOULD NOT SLEEP - no matter what we did. He would become over-tired and would scream for hours every night. When he eventually went to sleep (from exhaustion) - he would wake up constantly throughout the night.

We tried so much "comforting" and it did NOTHING.

At the end of my tehter, my MCHN recommended a local sleep school. I went for a day stay, which was helpful, but wasn't long enough to really learn. So a couple of months later we booked in for residential stay at the sleep school. My husband came too so that he could learn the techniques as well.

It was the BEST thing we could have done!
They did not teach the controlled crying technique where you leave the baby to cry for XX minutes. Instead you stay with your baby until they calm down... but you don't take them out of their cot every time they whimper. And we learnt to really recognise the tired signs and put him to bed WIDE AWAKE. And we were taught to re-settle so that he could learn to do it himself.

At the time our baby was 5.5 months old. Within 12 hours he was sleeping for 1.5 hours 3 times a day (as opposed to the 15 minute naps he would take previously). After getting the day sleeps sorted out, he was so calm and happy - and would go down at night really relaxed... instead of the stressed out, reluctant boy he was before. He would still wake a couple of times during the night, but that was bearable.

He's now 7 months old (today) - and for about a week or more, he has been sleeping right through the night from 11pm to 7.30-8am. And he wakes up happy. And he is so much happier during the day. And he is happy to GO TO SLEEP during the day or the evening.

You really shouldn't worry about what other people say.
There are a lot of people who bag the idea of any type of sleeping techniques and think that you should get up all through the night, and carry your baby around until they fall asleep. But after 6 months, I was exhausted and stressed out myself. So was my baby. I wasn't doing him any favours! Now we have a happy baby and a happy mummy. And there was no vomiting, no brain damage, and we didn't leave our baby to scream at all.

I can provide you with some information if you are interested in what I have learnt. It is a shame that we can give you links (like the adminstrators are able to) - but you can email me (from any of the business links below) - and I can give you some links so that you can make your own decisions. There is scientific evidence (probably on both sides) so there is no right or wrong way to deal with sleep issues. You just have to work out what you are prepared to do, and how long you are prepared to do it. What is best for your child. Personally I felt that my sleep-deprived child was in worse condition prior to sleep school techniques. Everyone has remarked about his happier state since being there.

this is from one of the sites I can provide you:
Sleep problems in infants and postnatal depression in mothers are common experiences in Australian families. Previous research has shown that 36-46% of parents of infants aged 6-12 months report a problem with their infant's sleep, and up to 15% of mothers experience postnatal depression in the 12 months following the birth of their baby.