Tips to Help My 7 Month Old Sleep Through the Night.

I know feeding her is a quicker way for you to get her to go to sleep but I think you've created a bad habit here. She's learned she can get a meal at night so why wouldn't she wake up, kwim? Since you don't want to CIO I would suggested biting the bullet and just doing console for a couple nights, no picking her up. Go in give her her pacifier, rub her back/tummy and do the shushing sound. If you feel she just can't calm down give her a bottle with some boiled water. It will take the 'edge' off but also let her know that she's not going to get a 'meal'. Also, she doesn't need to be asleep for you to leave her be, just calm. It's actually best if she learns to put herself to sleep. That way if she wakes up during a sleep transition she can put herself back to sleep as well.

I put cereal in my sons bottle at bed time and that worked.

I recommend that you read the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Dr. Marc Weissbluth. He offers sound advice for helping your child sleep through all stages of childhood, from infancy to adolescence. The chapter on infants age five to twelve months is 63 pages long so I can hardly give you a nice paragraph summary. I do want to say though, that your daughter is probably not waking up from teething. Read the book, you'll learn why.

Reading your posting I felt as if we are identical twins...my backgroud is very similar to yours. 36, newlywed (I conceived 1 month before my weeding), stopped working just recently (which I miss terribly). You are lucky in terms of family help, one learn to truly appreciate their moms when they become one.
But enough about that, my 7 month old was sleepin about 5-7 hours a night starting when he was around six weeks old. That all stopped when he was about 5 1/2 month old. He would wake up every hour on the hour. After reading countless articles trying to figure out what was going on, I realized he was going through a milestone around six months; most infants learn to roll over and sitting unsupported around that age and I found my son practicing his new skills many times during his sleep, often waking himself up. Like you I fed him everytime but soon realized he was forming a habit, if your baby is like mine, they will gladly take the offer. I tried letting him cry it out but found it had an opposite effect, he started to view his bed time as punishment. So instead of rushing over to him as soon as he cries, I would stand by the crib, make sure he was ok and let him wait a few minutes before I go in. Graduatlely extend the wait time, when you do go in, comfort her as you normally would without feeding (cuddling and white noise helped mine). If you normally put her down after she falls asleep, wait about 20 minutes before you put her back down or until she is in a deep sleep (when her breathing becomes more slower and calmer). Another suggestion is keep a journal of the time she wakes up, if she has a pattern like my son, you will notice within a few nights. You could try to comfort her by patting her gently without picking her up righ before she is about to wake. If her teething is the cause, rub some rum on her gums (this was my doctor's advice but check with yours before you do).
Hopes this helps. Hang in there, mine started sleeping through the night again, yours will too.

I think I have to wholeheartedly disagree with most of the advice given. My daughter did the same thing when she was teething. This occurred three times since her top teeth, then her bottom and then her molars, all came up at once. I would get up and nurse her during this time and then immediately put her back to bed. Once the teeth broke through, her sleep habits regulated again and she went back to sleeping through the night. She will have a day or two of occasional waking but it doesn't last beyond that unless she's getting a cold.
My daughter is like clockwork and regulated her own schedule and body clock and I always responded to her needs. I've never done the cry it out method with her and I didn't do it with my now 12 yo son. He sleeps independently and we've never had a problem with it. My daughter is 17 months old and except when she's sick or teething, sleeps from 9pm to 7am (really, like clockwork) and naps at about 10am (sometimes my own schedule offsets this) or at the latest 1pm and sleeps for 2 1/2 hours sometimes 2 hours and 45 minutes.
The teething waking lasted about a month all three times. With a cold, it lasts about a week.

I also wouldn't put cereal in her bottle. This is recommended against for a host of reasons but the primary one is it contributes to obesity later in life, because it teaches them to overeat (there are studies that show cereal in bottles short circuits their ability to know when they are full and it's a major indicator later that contributes to obesity). So you might get some extra sleep but you may be saddling your child with a lifetime of weight issues. (If your baby was younger, there would also be the fact of increased incidence in developing allergies by introducing your kids to solids too young...)

I didn't do this with my daughter but I did use the homeopathic teething tablets with my son and they helped a lot. You can pick them up at Babies R Us and I think even Wal-mart. He was formula fed. I didn't co-sleep with either of them but I did keep their cribs in our room.

I really loved the Sleep Lady Book--it worked great!

I have 2 boys, one 4 now and one 2. The first one I would nurse to sleep and when he woke up during the night. Then my Dr. & my sisters daughters Dr. told us to let them cry it out. I started with the last feeding first and took them away slowly, one at a time. Then I stopped "nursing him to sleep" I would nurse, burp, change diaper and put him down awake. He did cry...a lot. But after 2 nights of that he was done. Don't get me wrong...it was HARD, I cried along with him, in my own room. But he learned to sooth himself. He was a great sleeper after that. So for my 2nd son I never nursed him to sleep. I would nurse him, talking to him a lot and allowing noise so he wouldn't fall alseep, then burp & change diaper and put him down in his crib and walk out (and listen at the door a lot). He never knew any different so he never cried. He would babble & coo to himself (so cute) but didn't cry.

Maybe stop one feeding at a time and increase every few days. If you think it may be teething, try giving her tylenol before bed or the first time she wakes up. If that works, you know it's that! Good luck!

HI..I know its hard to let them cry it out, but here's what happened to us that forced me to finally do it. My son was sleeping thru the night until 6 mo. Then he started waking up once or twice and I would just give a bottle each time. By 10 months, I was SLEEPLESS!! He started waking every single hour on the dot! His Dr. said that once they start learning that we will come running once they cry, then they've got us. I could barely function during the day, his 2 hour nap was my favorite time of day! It took 3 days of crying, but finally he was sleeping thru the night again. Be strong, beofer it gets worse...Good luck