Do you believe in 'cry-it-out' sleep training?

Parents, you can let your babies cry themselves to sleep. 

New research out of Australia suggests parents can use sleep training methods  without any short- or long-term consequences. The study was released this week in the journal Pediatrics.

The study is the latest entry in the long-standing debate among parents over how best to get infants to sleep. While some promote sleep training like, "cry it out," others believe letting babies cry has long-term health impacts. 

The new study focused on parents of children between six and 16 months using three methods. One group put their babies down and left the room within one minute, gradually extending the amount of time before they went back into the room to comfort a crying child. (Researchers call this "graduated extincition." A second group used "bedtime fading," where they put the baby down at bedtime and stayed in the room until they slept, and a third control group simply received information on infant sleep. 

The results found no short or long-term stress to children using either sleep-training method. Babies who cried it out fell asleep, on average, 15 mintues faster than the control group, while "bedtime fading" babies fell asleep 12 minutes earlier. Here's that conclusion in scientific lingo: 

Both graduated extinction and bedtime fading provide significant sleep benefits above control, yet convey no adverse stress responses or long-term effects on parent-child attachment or child emotions and behavior.

Here's more on the study. 

Need more input on sleep training? Check out this mom's plea to parents to take it seriously (even if you're sick of hearing smug advice from parent know-it-alls). And here's one from Slate.com in defense of absurdly early bedtimes.

What are your thoughts on sleep training? Can science sway your opinion? Take our poll and add your thoughts in the comments.