I'm not sure if him not sleeping through the night is a new development or an ongoing thing? Or how long he is up for when he wakes up?
Our son is a very poor sleeper. We went through about a year of him waking up every half an hour or hour throughout the night, almost every night, and he would be up for a long period of time. I do not know why he was waking, but to me it indicated something was wrong. Finally, he slowly improved, getting up less and less often, and around 19 months, he started to sleep through the night. He still gets up some nights, but he is also teething, and that really bothers him. This is based on our experience only, and everyone needs to decide what they are comfortable with trying. So, here are just some of my thoughts.
Book recommendations: the books that I found to be the most helpful, and was the most comfortable following some of the ideas (and believe me, I was desperate read a lot of books on the subject), were books by Elizabeth Pantley, Dr. Sears and Tracy Hogg. I read the Healthy Sleep Habits, Healthy Child and found it to be a very good resource for learning about children's sleep. However, for me personally, I was not able to follow his advice.
I am not sure if you have introduced solids, but if you have, have you kept track of what you have been introducing, and noticed one common food or groups of foods that those nights seem to be worse? Also, since you are breastfeeding (congratulations on that), could something you are eating be bothering him? Is it possible he has an intolerance or allergy you are unaware of? One child I know cannot have food high in fibre, so all beans, lentils, etc had to be cut out. This could be anything, not just food - the material of the clothes he is wearing, anything in the air....
Teething can bother some children quite alot, and wake them. Have you tried any painkillers to see if it helps?
Is his routine working for him? Could he be overtired or undertired by the time he gets to bed, and is waking because of that?
How is he falling asleep? If every time he is falling asleep in your arms or at your breast, when he starts to transition through his sleep cycles, he may realize something is different, and wake up to be comforted back to sleep the same way.
You say you feed him right before bedtime. Is it possible his stomach is bothering him?
Some people are just very light sleepers. Could something in his sleep environment be waking him? Is it too light in his room, and waking him as he transitions through his sleep cycles? Could he be too cold or hot? Is his sleep surface comfortable for him? Or maybe he just senses mommy and wants a snack?
I don't know how comfortable you would be with alternative therapies, but have you considered trying one? An osteopath or cranio sacral massage therapist may help him be able to relax, or relieve any pressure in his body. If he is out of alignment, a chiropractor may be able to help. A naturopath may be able to recommend supplements that would help. Or a homeopath may work for you. I don't know if it was related or not, but when our son first started to sleep through the night, it was a couple of weeks after visiting a homeopath. She hooked him up to a machine, which gave a reading on what his body was doing, and we went from there.
I hope you can get some sleep soon!
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Now I have that song in my head. 
), as most of our friends give me a blank stare, and tell me their opinion on why it isn't good for our son. I have tried to explain my position, but it has never really helped. So I have given up and try to make that one of the topics we avoid, just as we avoid talking about some of our other choices. When anyone exclaims how smart he is that he knows his letters at 22mo, I try to downplay it and change the subject. 
