6 Month Old Eating at Night

I am not sure it is a habit. At 6 months that is a long time to go w/o food. All the babies I have known, including my own, still wake up at LEAST once a night at that age. He is waking up because of hunger, or something his body if feeling. Those are the things that their bodies respond to, not wanting to develope a habit.
I am also not sure if 5oz is enough? I have a feeding chart given to me by my second babies Dr. It says usually at this age they are up to 6-8oz 4-6 times a day, and 2 servings of cereal.
Good Luck, it is hard being a first time mom. I wish I had known about this site when I was. Eventually you will forget about all the sleep deprivation and will wish you could go back to them being a baby again! :)

Dr. Sears has written that most children still wake from real hunger in the middle of the night until they are a year old. 6 months is also when most babies go through a big growth spurt. So, it's possible that your little guy really is hungry. If you really don't want to get up with him, try giving a bottle right before he goes to bed. That might hold him off a little longer.

You said he eats a 5 oz bottle and is hungry. This tells me he needs this feeding. It's not a habit. It's a need. At 6 months he may be going thru a growth spurt and his need for this bottle is likely unrelated to his previous illness. You're doing a good job already of keeping him full. His body isn't able to go all night without food at the present time. He is just a baby with a small body/digestive system, and is growing rapidly.

For someone to tell you not to feed your baby, let them cry......... how cruel!!! All my 3 kids ate during the night. They are hungry. If you don't mind I wouldn't worry about it. Let your baby eat when they want to eat! Also my babies were big and I was told because they were big they could stand to go without at night......... wrong.
Do what you are comfortable with and let your friends have there opinions :)

My son is almost 7 months and I feed him on demand. Sometimes we get up several times during the night, and sometimes he sleeps thru the nite. It depends if your son is going thru a growth spurt or not. Don't compare your son to 'others children and don't allow them to do so either!

At six months your son is growing very rapidly and needs to eat often. My daughter nursed every night at 1:00 a.m. until she was 13 months old. then she didn't need to anymore and didn't wake up. I never even thought about trying to make her stop. If a baby is hungry, our job is to feed them. He will grow out of the need to eat at night very soon.

Do not allow your child to eat during the night. Plain and simple. If he has to cry it out, then so be it. He is way too old to be eating during the night. Eventually he will go back into his regular routine.