To Ferberize or Not To Ferberize

That is the question. We let Merrina "cry it out" last night. Needless to say, it was a bit traumatic for all involved. My question really, is whether you think it's necessary if you already have a good sleeper. See, Merrina (6 months old) sleeps all night from about 6:45 PM until 6AM. What I'm trying to do is have her learn how to go to sleep on her own. The ritual is: nurse her at 6PM, then change her diaper and put on sleep sack (if she had fallen asleep during nursing, she totally wakes up at this point, which is good because I don't want to 'nurse her down'), then I rock her while singing some songs and then put her in her crib. It works beautifully if she falls asleep rocking, and it also works very well if she is just barely-barely awake when we stop rocking, but if she is still fairly conscious when I put her in her bed and walk out, she starts crying after 5-15 minutes (once she realizes she's alone and/or drops her binky). A few times she has stayed asleep or just stopped crying before I went back in, but usually, I go back in after 5 minutes of crying and if I hold her hand until she falls back asleep, we're good for the rest of the night. I guess I just wonder if she really needs to learn how to fall asleep without holding my hand (and maybe without the rocking???) Don't get me wrong, I love this night ritual- but I just wonder if I'm doing her a dis-service? On the other hand, maybe she'll just grow out of the need to hold hands/rocking to the brink of sleep...? What do you think? Last night seemed bad:she cried for 5 min, then I went back in very briefly to put her binky back in and when she saw me walk out, started bawling for another 10 min, and then when I went back in again, I may have stayed a little too long holding her hand (about 3 minute), but she finally fell asleep. Just wondering what you think...