I just have to share this alternative method that has helped us get our daughter to sleep through. A week ago she would wake up to 5 times a night and would be nursed back to sleep. I couldnt face the controlled crying and pick up/ put down made my little one very agitated.
It's a swedish method and in short you teach your child that the bed is safe by following a routine at bedtime and using a rythmic patting on her back to settle her in her cot. You then use a jingle, a short sentence like "goodnight goodnight, time to sleep". You say this several times using different tones of voice and train your child to associate with sleep. There is some crying but if your child gets upset you go in and pat her until she is calm.
It really worked wonders for us. She's woken up at night twice since and both times settled after I repeated my jingle 4 times, so less than a minute and I didnt have to get out of bed.
If you want to read more about how to do this look here: www.annawahlgren.com/english/101.htm