What harm can be done by letting my 2 week old cry himself to sleep?

He has these episodes every night now...he just starts screaming (kinda sounds like someone is killing a cat). And nothing i can do will help except for giving him a bottle, and after that he goes right back to screaming. I don't see what the difference is if he is screaming and throwing himself around when im holding him, or when his is laying in his motion glider or binet. He calms down alot faster when i leave him alone than when i am holding him. It seems that everyone is totally against letting a baby cry, but can it do any real harm? I have been suffering from extremely painful postpartum headaches, and its much better if he cries from a distance rather than inches from my head.