My 19-month-old is a terrible sleeper.  Ever since she was born, I've had to hold her in some way to get her to fall asleep.  That doesn't bother me so much.  What's worse is that she wakes up crying multiple times during the night.  And the later in the night she wakes up, the harder it is to get her to fall back asleep, such that if she wakes up at 4:00am, I just go sit in the recliner with her laying on top of me and we sleep there the rest of the night.  Lately, this is most nights.

Seems like everyone, including our expensive sleep consultant, suggest some kind of 'cry it out' strategy.  When we finally tried it last night, she cried for two hours, then immediately fell asleep when I gave in and picked her up.  It happened again at 3:00am - she cried for two hours, then fell right to sleep when I'd had enough and picked her up.

The sleep consultant says I didn't execute the plan correctly (which was true) and suggests we try again in a few nights.  Maybe this time she'll cry for a couple hours for the first few days, then magically sleep perfectly.  But what if she cries 6 hours a night for a month with no improvement in sight?  At what point is the cure worse than the disease?

So I'm curious if others found themselves using some 'cry it out' sleep solution.  How long did it take and were things better afterwards?  I think my kid is particularly angst-filled, so other's experiences may not be that applicable, but it would be good to hear some anyway.