Shelby,
Maybe it’s the difference between waking happy or waking screaming? He might wake frequently partly by habit and partly by pain? Has the screaming/ unhappy waking at night decreased on the diet or changed at all with med changes? It could be that he will wake no matter what until he can learn about going to sleep in alternative ways….but it’s the pain that might be the indicator…?
I also kept nursing partly because it seemed to help in the sleep department. It seemed the only way to keep what little sanity I had left. I could nurse him and stay nearly asleep myself sometimes.
Hang in there!