Needing some reassurance...(sorry kind of long)

Hi!
I am in need of a little reassurance that I'm doing the right thing AND that this phase won't last forever! :D
DS is 10.5 months old and has been demand fed since day one! We have been all over the board with space in between feeds. He was 2 hourly in the very beginning, then did the constant feeding for a couple of days when he went through the 6 week growth spurt! :eek: Eventually as he got older things settled into a loose "routine" (though I don't like that word much) and since introducing solid foods at 6 months DS will GENERALLY have 3-5 breastfeeds during the day.
When he was about 7-9 months old we went through a time where he was having boobie just before bed, then having one big feed in the night (roughly around 1am or 2am) then he would have early morning boobie in bed with us between 6am and 7am. Mind you, during this time he was often waking more often, but would re-settle without any more then the one night feed without any problems - sometimes going back in his bed - sometimes joining us in our bed but going to sleep.
In late November/early December DS got 4 teeth in the space of about 3 weeks and also had a bout of Roseola and ever since then the nights have been totally different. He went TOTALLY off his solid foods with the teeth and the fever so I upped his day and night breastfeeds to compensate. Now he is back on 3 solid food meals a day but is in an independent phase of wanting to feed himself. He'll let us feed him his cereal in the mornings, but he prefers to eat finger food for lunch and dinner so I sometimes worry that he isn't getting enough to eat.
So, my point is this - sorry this is getting long- he is now VERY insistent on having boobie almost EVERY time he wakes up at night (which is on average every 3 hours). I start him in his bed at night and bring him in to bed with me when he wakes for the first time, and I don't have a problem with that. But he is probably having 2-4 breastfeeds in the nighttime.
Am I in a vicious cycle of -- he doesn't want much solid food because he is having so much boobie at night and he wants lots of boobie at night because he isn't eating much solid food during the day?? Or is this a normal thing babies go through and I can look forward to a day when he will happily scarf any and all solid food and eventually not want so much boobie?
I really DO love that I've made it this long with breastfeeding - particularly because we struggled but persevered in the beginning. I guess I'm just feeling unsure of myself because I have my mom on my case (through email from the states) saying I need to wean him from the night feeds and get him sleeping through the night. Mind you she thinks he should be in his own room as well but that is a different story altogether.
I'm really sorry this is so long but I just needed to get it all off my chest and now I hope to hear back from some of you with some good advice and some assurance that I'm still doing the right thing for my son.
I DID realize when I thought about it the other night, that my mom never got past 9 months of breastfeeding with any of the three of us (for various reasons) so perhaps she is "jealous" that I've gone longer?? Don't know... :frown:

I went thru a similar thing with Jacob. now 16 months. He went from normal feeding to waking at night ect ect almost exactly what you described. Now he feeds between 3-5 times a day. Mainly just at sleep times and when he first wakes up and eats throughout the day.

To stop the night waking I simply refused to give Jacob boobie and within 2 nights he stopped waking in the night and now sleeps 11-12 hours. He did get a little upset but not so bad that he would wake his brothers so it was bearable.. but if you are happy with night waking then just keep doing what you are doing.. If everyine is happy thenits ok. If James is happy and content still then let him sort himself out. They get there eventually :)

My DD started waking about twice a night at that age too. don't really know why but b/feeding put her back to sleep quickly so that is what we did. It probably lasted about 2 months but I can't remember noticing she was any less hungry during the day.
by the way, DD is 4 and still sleeps in our room. there are only 3 of us in the house and we don't see why 2 of us should be in one room and the other in a room on her own so we sleep together. Now if there were 4 of us it would probably be a different situation.