Hi J.,
Sounds like I had the exact same problem with my daughter.. so, I may know how you feel. It is so hard to be awakened for hours at a time for 6 months straight. We got a lot of advice which we tried with no success. The Dr. Karp methods, white noise, I cut out dairy, glutens, soy, berries and nuts from my diet. Tried NAET for my baby and myself, saw a pediatric GI and much more.
Still, nightly, we would be up for hours trying to help our little baby (and, us) get some sleep. All the Dr. Karp stuff worked to a degree, but, after we got her to sleep, stopped the shhing, bouncing, etc. and put her in her crib, she would be up and we would need to start all over again. We began to dread the nights.
I never thought I could let my baby cry it out, but, I did the sleepy planet workshop just to see what it was about. Later that week, we couldn't get my daughter to sleep. After two hours of trying, she was wide awake, so we broke down and did the method. She cried for 45 minutes and fell asleep and woke only once briefly. The next night 20 minutes, and the next not at all. Naps took a little more work, but, in the end, she was sleeping better and we all felt much better and could enjoy each other more too.
I know some people will disagree with cio, as I did, but, I guess after what we went through, I can see that it is helpful in some cases. My daughter seems more content now that she can help soothe herself. And, during teething or other times of discomfort, when I go to her in the night, I am able to hold her, sing to her, calm her and then place her back down to fall asleep.. and, she does.
She still knows that she can rely on us to help her through things when she is not well, but, she also has the self confidence that she can help herself at times too.
Please let me know if I can be of any more support.. I know how difficult this time can be.
all the best to you and your family...
oh, I should add, once our daughter started getting the right amount of sleep, her tummy issues and possible allergies (we never had anything diagnosed, just a lot of speculation from docs) all seemed to resolve themselves too. i think it is often time that cures these things, but, every case is different, so it's best to check with your doc before doing anything.