must have sleep -how to get a baby to sleep through the night

I not a mom (yet), but I have quite a bit of experience with kids of all ages.  Have you tried swaddling him?  When I worked at day care a couple of years ago we got a few babies who got fussy when trying to sleep, or who had trouble staying asleep.  When we tried swaddling them it seemed to really help them sleep better.

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My daughter was exactly like your baby.  She would not sleep and when she did she was up about 4x's + a night.  For a good month she was up every hour.  I would get up, rock her to sleep and put her back in her crib. and then she was up the next hour.I had tried the "cry it out" method for 3 days in a row, and she cried and cried and I couldnt handle it.  I hated doing that to her and it didnt work! So I stopped that.  I was desperate at the time of doing that method.

Eventually I just picked her up, nursed her and rocked her to sleep...   However I am still BF and she is now 10 months but about a month ago right around her 9 month check up, she FINALLY slept through the night.  She now maybe wakes up at the very least 1x a night or not at all.  I hope this lasts!

I just ended up sticking it out and did what my baby needed me to do, even though I was going crazy nuts!

I hope you find your remedy, and take lots of naps through the day!

UPDATE

put a pillow under little mans sheet to elevate his head (hes caught a little bit of a cold)last night and he slept 6 hours straight. hubby had to wake him up this morning. i also had the ceiling fan running. maybe this is just a freak incedent or maybe my son is just as spoiled as my daughter and likes to live in the lap of luxury with the pampering! =)

I wish I had something to offer, but my sister is going through the sme thing with her 3 1/2 month old.  He seems to sleep best in his swing, for what it's worth. 

This is just my experience. Don't know if you would be opposed to it, maybe you could try it.

Maybe it's the crib. Both of my boys hated sleeping in their bassinet/crib until they were a little older. My oldest slept in his swing. When he was first born I had this uber bassinet that I paid way too much money for all ready for him. And I was determined that he was going to sleep in it. One day, after a few weeks of NO sleep, he fell asleep in his swing and slept for 4 hours, I couldn't believe it. I moved the swing into my bedroom and he slept, swinging away, a little longer each night. At about 6 months old, he decided that he didn't like sleeping in his swing anymore and he started sleeping in his crib. Then, with my youngest, he wanted to sleep in his carseat. He's almost 10 months old and he started sleeping in his crib about a month ago (but he was preemie and didn't come home from the hospital until he was 2 months old.) Sometimes, you gotta break outta the norm with babies. To get what you need, you gotta let them have what they want lol

Another suggestion: White noise. My baby won't sleep without a fan running, even if it is in the door pointing into the hallway so no one gets chilly.

There are only two pieces of parenting advice I truly feel comfortable giving (because but for the grace of... or who the frack am I and what the frack do I know anyway).  Bit one:  you can never change them you can only change how you manage them.  Bit two:  whatever mommy has to do to be happy, everyone needs to be on board with (maybe with the exception of crack and the gardener).

That said, I know none of that helps you and you want something more tangigle than that.  Both my children were nursed and so I got a whoopin' two hours of sleep out of them between feedings.  And they were big arse babies, too both weighing 8 8 and 21 inches at birth so one would think they would have big arse appetites.  No such luck.  Noshers, both of them.  When we declared that one of them "slept through the night" that meant 4 hours in a row. 

So this is my theory.  Parents fall into this weird competitive thing.  They can't lie about when their kid talks or walks, but they can lie about how much they sleep.  Call me nuts, but I think most people are making $hit up when it comes to their babies sleeping through the night. 

There were nights I would have chewed my own arm off instead of waking the baby the finally fell asleep in them.  I used to climb my tired arse into the crib WITH the baby just to sleep in something other than the rocker.  We did everything to get my daughter (now 13) to sleep.  Including that Ferber crap that resulted in my husband dragging my sobbing, shaking body away from the door to the nursery.  In the end, I adopted one rule; Mommy MUST sleep.  And however the F we get that done, that's what needs to happen.  So yes, many a night my daughter slept between us.  It's not like the we weren't both too exhausted for any action anyway.  So no harm, no foul.

I wish I had a magic bullet for you.  Every baby is different.  I would only say that you have to sleep whatever it takes.  At four months he just wants comforted sleep, too.  It's not a power struggle.  Do what you are comfortable with, but do what you have to do to sleep.  Then tell everyone he sleeps through the night after he brushes his own teeth and puts down the toilet seat.  :)