It might just be that we've been very very lucky; that the baby wouldve slept anyhow, but what we did was put the baby in a seperate room [Against the written 'advice' but it was either that or no sleep] and put her straight down and left her.
Since about 2 weeks she slept through the night, 1am to 9am, and from 4 weeks she slept midnight to 10 or 11am and still does at 8 months old.
- I think having the baby in another room helped us all to sleep, and leaving her, so she didnt get to rely on rocking etc to get to sleep.
I know some people find it hard to ignore any crying at all, but it can help to do so sometimes.
I don't know how parents cope with weeks/months of disturbed sleep, I'd snap after just a few days. I wish you all luck and hope you can get the sleep you need.