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Hi there,

It would most likely help things significantly if you worked on feeding him less at night which would make him hungrier during the day and then he would eat more during the day. With babies and toddlers, they will eat when they are hungry. At this point, his body has been trained to believe that he is hungry at night.

If he's waking 10-14 times per night then he's not getting the restorative sleep he needs for functioning and for development. So, if he does cry a bit as you work to teach him to learn to sleep without eating, then that may be the case. It's good to keep in mind that children also cry not because they feel like you are not meeting their needs, but they also cry out of frustration. He wants to learn to sleep just as much as you want him to sleep but he needs you to teach him how.

There are sleep training methods that are geared towards no crying or very limited crying and you may want to get Nicole's ebook which covers those methods. You can find that book here: http://babysleepswell.com

At his age, if he needs to feed at night, it really shouldn't be more than two times a night. I would start with deciding how often and how much you are willing to feed him at night then create a plan around those feedings. He's going to need your help to learn how to sleep without using you as a pacifier and it's going to require you to take the lead with that and teach him what the limits are.

When you feed him at night, you can also try the gentle unlatch method, where as you notice he's starting to slow down in his sucking, then gently unlatch him so that he then falls asleep on his own and not with your breast in his mouth, which he would then just be using as a pacifier. That's often a method used by parent's who are trying to avoid too much crying.