I too believe there is a time where children need to cry it out, but not as an infant.  I think that 5 minute timer is an awesome idea. That really isn’t letting them go into hysterics. Someone also told me to set that timer and go and reasurre them after that 5 minutes is up. No sooner. Then set it again for another 5 minutes and so on until they fall asleep. But to NEVER pick them up if you are trying to have them fall asleep in their crib or you erase all of your tortured minutes you tried to block your ears and resist going into them. This will only stress you and the child. It makes a long night but they finally get it after a few days I was told. But again that method of just letting them wail until they fall asleep as an infant I think is not a good idea personally. I have to say again, infants only have one language to let you know they need something. By one year old, I can see starting to do the crying it out technique with a timer. They have bulit their vocabulary by this time and have started to have an understanding of bed time. Well most of them do. Of course most of their vocabulary consists of, "MINE, NO, and MINE." But it is there. But like Cherry said, what works for YOUR family is what should work for you. These posts are just pieces of advice and support. It is good to have a mix of ideas. It gives you a nice selection of ideas to pick and choose from. Good luck!