Ok, so I rocked, fed, walked, pushed in buggy, drove in car seat - everything to get our daughter to sleep, for 5 and a half long months. Trouble is she was waking every couple of hours or even more frequently in the night and needing the same treatment to get back to sleep.
We finally said 'enough is enough' and embarked on sleep training. I didn't leave her to cry on her own but I did put her in her cot and then stay with her and pat and comfort her with words until she finally dropped off. Sometimes I also leaned over to sort of cuddle her in her cot, but all without lifting her out or feeding, etc. That took 2 hours the first night, slightly shorter the second night, and night 3 there was no crying, just some biffing around and grumbling, and then she was out within 15 minutes. Plus, the night-wakings reduced very dramatically, too.
I am not sure whether this would have worked had we tried it when she was much younger, I just don't know....might have done, might have not. I think it is so important for them to learn to go to sleep on their own without a prop, but it is obviously harder for some babies than others and I am not suggesting letting your baby scream and scream for hours and hours if he or she is clearly very worked up. TBH I also think that DD being able to roll onto her tummy and sleep that way has helped her self-settle - but I am certainly not recommending that to anyone because of risk of SIDS.
Lucy