hon...i seriously could have written your post.....coz its almost exactly my situation here...
My H is 7 months....b/fed, wakes 3 hourly....im okay with it now...around the 4mth mark i went thru something (dunno what you would call it ) but was finding it really hard, and really frustrating that my lil man wasnt sleeping through. Got over that....and just prod along now.
Like your son, hes a happy, content lil boy. H will have a sleep 1.5 hrs after waking up (usually 7am), then have a afternoon nap that is usually 2 hrs (first sleep is anything from 45 mins to 1 hr max)...so very similar to your DS....
I have family and friends saying i should go to sleep school, he should be sleeping thru by now, blah, blah, blah...well you know what...he's not, and im ok with that, my DH is ok with that, and my other children arent bothered by it. So who else should care....really ?????
For what its worth...your lil boy sounds divine, and sounds like he is doing just fine...just like you and DH......so enjoy him, coz this first year zips past so fast......and hon...one day, one day he will sleep through.....he's just not doing what the text book says....
Hun, he sounds perfect! All those gorgeous sleeps during the day and following a gentle routine and all the lovely cuddles in the late afternoon! PPPFFFFTTTT! to anyone who thinks he *should* be doing anything. He's doing exactly what he needs to do, eat, sleep & grow. Honestly, the Should Police need to be issuing a few more fines to anyone who dares mention *should* around babies!!
There is no sleeping problem I can see - blow a raspberry at those who *suggest* otherwise. Or tell them it isn't problem for you so it shouldn't be a concern of theirs!!!
DH used to joke about sleep school, but has learnt that even the jokes upset me. He's wonderfully supportive though. He doesn't like to hear DS cry either, so he's more than supportive of the gentle approach. I would never judge anyone that goes down the CC/CIO path because I'm sure they have their own reasons and beliefs (like my SIL who had to go back to work at about 8 weeks, therefore really had to get sleep sorted out quickly...) but for our little man I just feel so comfortable with gentle methods.
Oh, and mbear, like you I went through a phase where what people were saying started to get to me and I started feeling rather down about things and started to actually feel tired. Once I accepted that Kyson just needs to wake up for a couple of extra feeds a nice and rolled with it I found myself much more at ease with the whole situation and I don't tend to feel tired anymore. Well, we do have the occasional bad night where he is unsettled and I find myself spending half the night settling him, but those nights are pretty rare.
My DS has had routines like that in the past, and he's had better and he's had worse. He has tended to wake 4 hourly overnight but we've had long stretches of horrible day sleep patterns and periods like atm when he wakes 1-2 hourly overnight and it seems so random as to why his sleep improves or deteriorates. We've had periods of improvement at 7 and 8 months respectively when he started sleeping longer stretches overnight (the record being 10 hours) and actually started having afternoon naps that went longer than 40mins! (I actually posted in a thread of mbears to say 'chin up, it does get better' before it all went downhill again ). Since he was about 8.5 months old, the day sleeps generally stayed good but the nights have deteriorated again, especially since Christmas. Whatever pattern he has found, it has never lasted long. I think if your DS is in a good routine then to him.
I have had the same responses from people, (family-friends-professionals) about what he "should" be doing at his age. At first it was upsetting me but now I find if I don't mention his sleep, it doesn't get discussed half as much. Some people still ask about it specifically but I try to keep it vague (before I was often listing the times of his feeds the night before because I was really focused on what he was doing ). I am sick of hearing the advice to CC or CIO - like you I don't have a problem with what others do but seriously, people were suggesting it even if I was just talking about my child's sleep (not complaining about it) and they make out like it's some kind of new technique or like it's something I haven't thought of doing before.
Sorry to rant on in your thread! You're definitely not alone (except I genuinely am tired from all the broken sleep I've had lately). My strategy atm is to not mention it to others. Your son is not a textbook baby, he's a real, live, healthy, happy, cuddly little boy.
Tell those who feel that they know everything that YOU are his mother and therefore YOU are the expert on him and his behaviour/sleeping and THEY can....well you can imagine or insert whatever you want to tell them.
My DS wakes twice a night for feeds too. 20 mins tops and straight back to sleep. He needs them obviously - and I love that he knows that Mummy is always here - no matter what. Those night feeds really create and strenghthen our bond I feel and I will miss them when they do go, the time is flying far too quickly as it is! I mean - hello - he'll be a year old soon! Wasn't it only yesterday when I found out I was PG???? KWIM?
I can understand how annoying this kind of thing is.
What do you usually say in response? Maybe you should try and shut it down in a nice way. People that are saying these things are probably just thinking it must be hard to wake through the night and feed and they are probably thinking you are doing this for the first time (i think by ur sig?) and so maybe they are just trying to be genuinely helpful?Maybe just say yea ppl always say things like that and it gets a little upsetting or annoying etc and that you are all really happy with your routine etc
At your ds's age yea physically he probably doesn't need to wake that much so its probably an emotional comfort thing that he loves having cuddles with his mummy and you have obviously made the educated conscious decision that this is how you want to do things. I guess that its not the *default* way of doing things...wanting your baby to sleep through and wanting to do anything to make that happen iykwim so I think ppl are just assuming well your baby isn't sleeping through so you MUST be looking for ways to stop it happening etc etc and they are trying to help even though they aren't helping! Maybe even go on and on about how much u love the special middle of the night cuddles etc
I hope this isn't annoying or that its not the kind of response you are looking for but just thinking ppl probably don't mean to upset u and maybe saying something will stop future comments??
) but was finding it really hard, and really frustrating that my lil man wasnt sleeping through. Got over that....and just prod along now.
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ikwym- all my rellos are stressing about ds talking atm 
Sheesh, give the kid a break...
to him. 
). I am sick of hearing the advice to CC or CIO - like you I don't have a problem with what others do but seriously, people were suggesting it even if I was just talking about my child's sleep (not complaining about it) and they make out like it's some kind of new technique or like it's something I haven't thought of doing before. 
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