Help. My 5 month old keeps waking up at night at the same times. He is not hungry or at least shouldn't be. He is not teething and it is not a growth spurt (it has been happening for over a month). He gets 8 oz of formula at 7:00, falls asleep at 7:30 and is up crying at 10:30 then again 3 to 4 hours later. The Dr. said to just let him cry it out because he needs to break that pattern. We tried that for a few nights. He would cry for literally hours and then I would feed him around 1 and he would go right back to sleep. The only thing to calm him down is food. We tried rocking him and as soon as he was calm we would put him back in the crib and he would wake up crying. Any suggestions, I need sleep! Thanks.

Why do you think he shouldn't be hungry? Not trying to sound roud but if eating is what calms and puts him back to sleep then he's trying to tell you something. If you are trying to break the pattern and getting him more on your schedule try giving him less before he goes to sleep at 7:00 and then topping him up with 5-6 ounces before you go to bed (or whenever it is that he wakes before midnight). My ds slept from 6 weeks - 4.5 months from 9pm-7am and then started waking to nurse once a night, then twice, then 3 times. It was super annoying but nothing worked until he was ready to make it work. I give him cereal about 7:45 and nurse him and put him to bed at 8:45 and just recently (he's 8 months) he's started sleeping through till 5:30 or so.
This changing sleep patterns was hard for me as his older brother slept from 10:30-7:30 from 6 weeks till he was 10 months...then he went to bed earlier and got up at 7:00. All kids are different but if they are hungry, there is little you can do to change that other than change when they are fed before they go down for the night.
Good luck!!!

Thanks for your reply. I am going to try giving him about 4 oz at 7 then another 6 oz between 9:30-10:00. Hope this works.