For a baby sleeping through the night is 5 hours! Of course no one will tell you this including pediatricians. This quote should help you feel better about your babies sleep patter:
"The scientific definition of "sleeping through the night" is five hours, most of us wouldn't consider that anywhere near a full night's sleep for ourselves. Also, some of these sleep-through-the-nighters will suddenly begin waking more frequently, and it's often a full year or even two until your little one will settle into a mature, all-night, every night sleep pattern."
Don't get discouraged, if your baby is hungry, feed them. My daughter is 10 1/2 months old and at 8 weeks started sleeping 12 hours through the night, around 6 months that ended and she was up like a newborn. Now at 10 1/2 months she's up at least once if not twice to eat. Every week they change, heck every day they change. Their little bodies are going through so much growth and development. Do what you feel is right.

4EVERinLOVE - thank you so much for your comment! You did make me feel better. To be honest, I enjoy that middle of the night feeding - he is so peaceful and it's a time for us to cuddle - something that probably won't last too long:) I tried CIO last night and could not stand it!!! He was so restless (tossing and turning) and nothing was going to calm him other than the bottle. This is why I wanted some opinions - thanks again!

Please don't use CIO!! Babies are all very different and can't be grouped into a norm!!!
http://poonamsharma.com/blog/?p=80

God gave babies crying as a way of telling us something. Babies cannot be spoiled and we need to pay attention to what they are trying to tell us. They are not mature enough to manipulate us!
Your baby could be going through a growth spurt or something could be bothering them...

My first child slept 12+hrs at night at 6 weeks old! My second nursed every 1/2 -2hrs until she was 18 MTHS old!! They are ALL different and you need to let YOUR CHILD tell you what they need! Not a third party!!

Opinions is what I am asking for - NOT a third party to tell me what to do. Why all the exclamation points? This is a relaxed discussion group - not for yelling. Thanks.

Not yelling...just passionate about this topic, as you can see from my link...many parents believe that babies are manipulating them and that is impossible for a child that is under 1.
I shudder when I think of a new baby being left to cry or not given what they are crying for...it makes me sad. Thus the exclamation point

It is so hard when you are tired.

My LO is still not sleeping a full night every night at 15 months old. If he is sick, teething or any other random issue sleep goes out the window.

I think given that he is sleeping through for the rest of the night - it would seem that he is hungry. My only suggestion would be too eliminate issues you can fix before the waking ie. room temperature etc. The only other thing you could do would be to do a dream feed for him at 10.30/11pm if that would work better than the night waking.

If he can self settle for the rest of the night then I think the problem would be a discomfort ie hunger. It is frustrating when people keep telling you that your baby should be sleeping through by now. For what it's worth - not ONE baby from my mothers group was sleeping through by that stage with any regularity. Maybe they are telling you fibs to win the perfect parent award :P

First of all, I agree with 4everinlove. In the AAP manual it flat-out says sleeping through the night for a baby is 5-6 hours at a stretch. People always forget that (or aren't told that to begin with).

My daughter is 14 months old and does not always sleep through the night. She is usually asleep by 8pm and gets up by 7am, with one 2-3 hour nap during the day. About half the time she sleeps straight through, half the time she doesn't. She usually wakes up and calls for my partner, who goes in and changes her diaper and nurses her, and the baby is usually back in bed on her way back to asleep within 20 minutes. Generally she does this once a night. Although of course the nights she sleeps through are great, we both feel strongly that she is such a good sleeper those nights that the nights she wakes up she truly needs something.

It is really hard to hear what other moms' experiences are (especially when they are different than yours in a desirable way). I definitely know how it feels to hear something like what your friends are saying and then feel like you are doing something wrong. After the first few months of this, though, my partner and I agreed we needed to do what we felt was right for our daughter, not what other people thought was right, since they didn't know her like we do and also because they didn't have to live with the consequences. So when the pediatrician criticizees us for not using cio, we ignored her because neither of us could live with the trauma that would cause for all of us. When my partner's grandmother asks her "when ya gonna stop nursing that baby?" she ignores her because none of us are ready to stop yet.

Do what feels right for your baby and your circumstances. Personally, at four months it sounds like he is doing pretty well sleep-wise!

My daughter didn't sleep through the night until 4.5 months and that's because we did CIO. We checked with her pediatrician first, and she said if she weighs 12 pounds, she can go without food for the night. Our other problem was that she was not eating in the day, but waking up 2-3 times at night and eating. The CIO worked, but at 4 months babies don't cry as long. Mine only cried 20 minutes at most. Also,we have a video monitor, so I could watch her and feel comforted in that.

I would check with your doctor and see what s/he has to say. But in the end, it's your decision. If you're not comfortable with CIO, then don't do it. For me, I had to get some sleep and my daughter did too. She was a much happier baby after learning to sleep all night.

My daughter is 9 months now and goes to sleep at 7:30-7;45 and isn't up until about 6:30. No waking, no crying, happy baby. I'm rested, too, so she has a happy mom.

Have you read the Ferber book? He has a section on feedings at night and how to reduce them. I haven't tried. You're supposed to reduce the amount of food they take at that feeding slowly, each day, and by the end of the week you're supposed to be done. My DD is 4 months and a half and still waking for feeding, but I give in and feed her still. We'll see! Good luck!

I just wanted to SECOND 4EVER's post. No one tells you that baby's often NEVER fully sleep through the night. The kicker is either figuring out what they need...or teaching them to put themselves back to sleep.

My son was 8 months old before we realized WE were the reason he wasn't sleeping through the night. Once we got past tgat....he slept GREAT but still wakes once in awhile. i've gotten used to his cries and I can tell if he really needs me....or if he's just fussing cause he's mad he woke up and will settle himself without me.

oh...and the dreamfeed was a GODSEND for us. Even now at 11 months...if I feed he hasn't gotten enough food,....I'll sneak in and put a few more ounces in him to top off the tank!