I don't know any child who was traumatized by Ferber or the more extreme CIO. If your child has certain health issues, I understand some mds are against it and that makes sense but sleep is a gift. We have always allowed DD to cry at night once we were ready for sleep training. The actual sleep training to begin with took a few days and then she never cried more than 10 mins before falling asleep. She only cries now if we are in a hotel room together. Otherwise she goes to bed easily or with a small whine. She always wakes up happy and has from the day we sleep trained her.