Ah the boobie monster.....I know that one all too well! Ned is a boobie monster but now will get to sleep himself. It was a long hard road but I bit the bullet when he was feeding 5-6 times at night at 16 months and I had a meltdown.....Here's what worked for us...
- First night was hell. Took him about an hour and a half screaming to get to sleep but I stood by his cot and reassured him that I was there but there was going to be no 'nun nun' (his words for boobs). I BF him in his room in the dark and then put him into his cot awake (yeap I always fed to sleep before too)
- He woke about 3 times the first night. Each time I just stood there calming him (stroking, patting, lying him back down) until he was back to sleep.
- After a few days he was waking only about twice a night, still taking about an hour for him to get to sleep initially with me standing there by his cot.
- After a week or so it was better still, waking maybe only once a night. Still an hour or so t o get to sleep initially.
- I kept the standing by his cot thing going for a few weeks. Some nights he started sleeping through.
- After a couple of weeks I started going out of his room after putting him in his cot. I'd go in if he got distressed at all. It was literally only about a week and he was putting himself to sleep without me there.
- Now I have got to the stage where I feed him and tell him when I have finished feeding him and he comes off himself and points to his cot, goes down quietly and 6 out of 7 nights will sleep through. I have my evenings back (because teh entire feeding and putting to bed only goes for a bout 20 mins) and only get up once a night if any. It was SO worth the hard yards and even though I did it really gradually and it took a long time, I just could not go through CC again.
Good luck (now I hope I haven't jinxed myself................)