I second what Laura recommended--you are looking at a multi-step problem, so you will need to break it down into different steps and work on one thing at a time. We had some similar problems (at 7 months, still feeding 3 or 4 times a night, not going down on her own, needing us to rub her back for an hour sometimes, multiple night wakings besides for feedings. . .) It took us a long time to get it all sorted out, although some of that was from some hesitancy on our parts.
But I wanted to encourage you because the sooner you start, the sooner it will get better. We got rid of the last night feeding at 10 months or so, and then, switched our schedule for the evening wind down so she wasn't bf to sleep, and finally, at 13 months, we were able to leave the room while she was awake and she would go to sleep on her own. It all required mini changes--just a little tweak at a time and let her get used to that, and then change it a little more. For instance, for the night wakings, dh started getting up with her for the first few--we picked a time that I would feed her if she woke after it--she was mad at first, but got used to not being able to eat those times and slowly, we lengthened the time until she was only eating around 4 a.m. It took a couple weeks, if I remember right, and it didn't stop her from waking up :? , but at least she wasn't eating :lol:
Definately post again when you've read the books and have a better idea of how you want to start this.
~Kim