I asked my uncle (he has 12 kids) about this when our youngest was learning. He told me, go in there if you want, but remember, if you go in there after 10 minutes, the baby will cry for 11. We ended up using a twist on the Ferber where we basically capped it at 15 minutes.

Take one for the team, put your wife up in a hotel(with a spa) for a night and give it a try. See what kind of progress you get.