Personally, I think it's all too much stress put on parents that 'you must do this or else your child will NEVER sleep through the night until they are 18 years old'. I think it's baloney. My daughter does self settle sometimes, but really has only been recently, maybe 7 months. But we don't really try to encourage it. I don't think it's a sign of being a good sleeper and there's nothing in the research on infant sleep that self soothing is in anyway beneficial (though it gets misconstrued as such by people who don't understand it). I think if it happens, great. If it doesn't, don't force it to the point of causing yourself or your baby distress. And don't feel like your baby is never going to sleep well if you don't. My daughter sleeps great, goes to bed easily, sometimes self soothes, but sometimes doesn't (and by that I mean she is never left alone or to cry), and often STTN.