Another CIO question- from a sleep deprived household

My DD's sleeping is getting worse by the day...Where as she used to wake up frequently, but for a very short period of time, has turned into her waking up less frequently but for a really really LONG time w/ crying along with it. ....

We used to at least be able to bring her in our bed and she would fall back to sleep- Even though this is not a great habit, it got us all a little sleep and frankly I didn't care

Now when we bring her in the bed, she's a disaster ! Flipping, tossing turning side-ways, crawling ( attempting to)....

Last night she was up from 1AM-4AM...

We tried bringing her in our room and it was horrible, so I decided to put her back in her crib, first w/ her Twilight Turtle, then we tried the aquarium...She screamed bloody murder intermittently for 3 HOURS !!!!! The good news is that my DS actually slept through it
She would keep turning herself and her legs were going through the crib bars, you name it, she did it ! We would let her cry for a few minutes, then go in re-adjust her etc....Nothing worked


My question about CIO......

Does CIO mean letting them cry themselves to sleep ????

I don't think this is for me...
But in the same breath, somethings gotta give here, she's staying up too long at night !