Should I give up controlled crying? 😭

[Daddypigpig]

Our LO had issues at birth with tongue tie, reflux and CMPA, all of which created sleeping habits that neither of us wanted but due to circumstances had to do, mum also had mastitis several times due to LO not being able to clear milk resources. LO either slept in bed crib or co slept with mom and for what felt like forever actually slept on mom which obviously had a detrimental effect on moms/our sleep. This whole process lasted till we managed to get to the bottom of allergies and tongue tie issues (approx 6 months) then after we had a period of time of calm, and let baby and mom have comfortable feeds and LO put weight back on we tried to create some sort of pattern in all the chaos, but try as we might LO would not sleep or nap with out her crutches. With the looming threat of mom needing to go back to work We decided to try controlled crying. Neither of us were keen but we’re committed to helping our LO to self soothe.
Her bedtime is strict routine of 7pm bath, bottle, bedroom, storybook, goodnight kiss, bed (own crib, own room). If crying (not moaning/murmuring) we go in at 2mins, 4mins, 6mins, 8mins then 10 mins (repeating the 10 mins however many times necessary) when we go in we just shush, no eye contact, gently stroke back or belly then leave after 1 min regardless of crying or not crying. She naps twice a day also with same routine minus the bath.
Nighttime she sleeps for around 11 hours (usually wakes at around 4am and murmers for a few mins then goes back to sleep)
Naps, she goes down between 9 and 11 then again between 1 and 3, sleeping anywhere between 45 mins to 2 hours (usually about an hour each)
THE ISSUE—- you might be thinking WOW! That sounds great! And tbh in comparison to what things were like it really really is BUT, 95% she cries when we put her down, and 40-50% of the time she cries a lot, and for around 45 mins to an hour!! The other times, she goes down well and within the first 2 checks.
IS THIS OK?? It is so hard listening to her cry like that and we have honestly been really committed and stuck to the routine. We even took the dummy away the first night we tried it and it is now gone. We instead introduced a night time snuggle blanket which she has started to connect with sleepy time (she clutches it when asleep).
We have been doing this for 4 weeks and there is no pattern that we can see to her crying or not crying, it’s not getting worse or better but I need to know if I should stop! Does the crying effect her beyond the initial upset? Or is it just us? She wakes up chirping and bubbly. Any help, words of encouragement or instruction to stop would be appreciated thank you.

Note - she has only ever slept through the night since trying controlled crying.
Mom no longer breast feeds (stopped 2 weeks before controlled crying) and she does not have a bottle in the night.

This is a very emotive issue, OP. No one should judge you for doing what you think is best to support your child to get the sleep she needs. A few nights crying to support them into a long term healthy sleeping pattern is unlikely to harm your child. That being said, your maternal instincts are clearly telling you that your child is distressed. Crying raising their cortisol levels (the stress hormone) so your child is going to sleep alone and stressed not understanding why you don't respond to their calls. She will eventually stop because she will learn that you won't come when she asks for you. Is that what you want? There is evidence that they can measure the stress hormone in children for a long time after stressful periods have ended. There is a book called The Gentle Sleep Book which has a more gentle way to do this but it will take longer.