Some parents choose this method because they believe it's the quickest, most effective way to fall asleep for their baby. Others actually resist the purported advantages of sleep training entirely - believing that yes, despite its challenges, parenting is just too gratifying to stop now. Surveys show that parents are split evenly on which strategy they find best, but research seems to indicate that many intuitively reluctant or sceptical parents eventually come around to an 'everything in moderation' approach after months of using laissez-faire methods with varying degrees of success.
The benefits cited for Cry it out methods seem somewhat dubious considering the preterm or low birth weight baby, and it's just plain cruel to think of leaving a newborn alone for hours at a time. There are gentler sleep training methods that have been proven to be effective without resorting to crying. These include graduated extinction, camping out, and fading. If you're looking for a gentle way to get your baby to sleep through the night, try one of these methods.