I was about to ask a similar question, so slight hijack - continuing of discussion here.
DS is nearly 10months and demand/request feeds. We have tried getting him to sleep through the night without needing feeds. Typically he will wake 1 -3 times a night. We can get him to go back to sleep without a feed some wakes - and he has gone through some whole nights without any feeds, but other nights he just wont settle back to sleep properly unless we give him some milk. We have tried settling him, but he will just grizzle on and off for hours some nights until we give him milk.
I suppose we just keep doing what we are doing, but its hard to know when he actually is thirsty and when he is just needing to go back to sleep. I guess Im hoping someone can offer advise about how to deal with the nights? I was wondering if we should keep a bottle of water by his bed so if he dosent settle back to sleep after a short while then we just give him some water?, as Im sure its thirst and not hunger during the night at his age.