Morah,
Since you’re a first time mother, you may be feeling a little uncertain about your judgment. Remember that YOU know your baby best!
There are ways to get a baby to sleep that DO NOT involve crying. “The No-Cry Sleep Solution” is a fantastic resource with multiple methods (you choose what works best for you) to get a baby used to sleeping on his/her own.
The biggest problem with the Ferber/CIO method (in addition to being mean to the baby, who isn’t crying to manipulate you, just because they are scared/lonely) is that it isn’t permanent. They will need to be retrained again after an ear infection, teething, long trip, etc… Not pleasant for anyone.
The trick is to teach the baby to fall asleep on their own, but that does NOT require crying.
I could go on longer on this topic, but please, don’t just let your sweet baby cry and cry in the name of teaching him/her to sleep. Baby is used to nursing to sleep… and now you’re teaching to CRY to sleep. Imagine if it was someone trying to teach you to sleep without a pillow and blanket, or to sleep on the floor. For the baby, YOU are as comfy and reassuring as your bed and pillow and blanket.
Remember that small babies don’t have a sense of time. There is no such thing as “only 5 minutes.” For a baby, it’s the equivalent of saying “I’ll be back in 2 hours” and then showing up 5 minutes later.