If your olderish baby nursed often, I have questions.

[awkwardpenguin]

I think waking 4-6x to nurse is likely more for comfort and habit than a true need to eat.

I think most people know about our night waking/sleep training saga. DD was waking 4-6x a night, eating each time, and often taking 20-45 minutes to go back down after a feeding. It was pretty obvious to us this was habit rather than hunger because a) sometimes if it was a bottle feeding she'd only drink 2 oz and b) her night wakings were becoming more frequent as she got older and c) she could go 3-4 hours between feedings during the day.

We did CIO for both bedtime and MOTN when it had been less than 3 hours since her last feeding. In 3 days she was down to 2 feedings and going right back down after them. We're only a week in and bedtime is still a struggle but the night waking issue is basically fixed.

That said, CIO was pretty traumatic for everyone involved and I don't think it's for everyone or every problem. If his pattern is working for you guys, there's no need to change it. But if it's causing problems, there's a good chance there's room for improvement.

I'm guessing he nurses to sleep at bedtime? You could try breaking the nursing to sleep association at bedtime using a no-cry method and see if it helps the night waking. The No Cry Sleep Solution has some ideas of how to do this, and this article has two methods for bedtime no-cry sleep training:

www.parentingscience.com/infant-sleep-training.html

None of the no-cry options worked for us, and DD cried a ton when we tried extinction with parental presence, but I was glad we gave them a shot.

ETA: DD is 6 months and combo fed, but she's eating 90% breastmilk so I think it's relevant.

[awkwardpenguin]

After I wrote all that I realized you weren't really asking for advice on how to "fix" it. If nursing him is what is easiest for you, keep doing it and don't worry about it.

[jsillyfun]

Mine nursed that often motn until she was 2.5 yrs old. It is not necessarily desirable but IMO entirely normal.