Ferber method - am I doing something wrong?

[partytimed]

Started Ferber with 8 month old who was feeding full bottles 4 times a night. He eats a lot in the day.

last night he had a bottle at bedtime at 8pm. Have him a dream feed at 10pm then he woke about eight times in the night. Each time I just patted his back and didn’t pick up and he settled within 10 minutes but why is he waking so frequently?

In the nicest possible way- because he’s 8 months old. Babies wake up, and more frequently when they need something or are going through a transition or learning a new skill. At 8 months old he’ll be starting to have separation anxiety and needs to know you’re still there.

Agree with above poster that many babies wake up a lot at this age and it's just normal. Teething development leaps, illness, separation anxiety. So many things it could be. Should be better by 18 months of not earlier.

I am going to both agree and disagree with the pp.
yes babies do wake and they settle back when they know we are there (hopefully!)

But he is also in the habit of waking. Previously he woke many times a time and fed, so he is used to waking many times a night. As he adjusts to not needing the milk, he will wake less.
Babies go through a process of learning to settle, they naturally have sleep cycles of 45 minutes and at the end of that, they wake, or they half wake, turn over and go back to sleep. He is in the habit of waking, so gradually you are teaching him that he is ok and can turn over and go back to sleep.

But it will take time, and he will sometimes still wake.

Following for similar advice.