Popsycal don't despair I reckon he is getting to the age where they can start to understand certain things iyswim.
DS was like this although I BF him back to sleep at each waking (by 11 months usually twice, sometimes once if lucky), without much question until 13 months, when I went cold turkey.
Agree with deciding on approach & sticking to it (I had several failed attempts when couldn;t handle it so know where you're coming from).
You have to be ready & feel he is too.
Things which worked for us:
Putting down for daytime nap at same time each day without a feed beforehand helped him understand about going to sleep in cot on his own & seemed to dramatically improve night waking.
Stuck to a strict routine for a fortnight (gave up as many social arrangements etc as possible for the duration) - meals, feeds (one before bed), naps (one, after lunch, for 1hr 30) at same time, etc. was draconian in following it.
Dropped feeds down to one before bed as mentioned, possibly thus avoiding his need to wake for any nutritional reason (?).
After a couple of weeks he was only waking once at 5.30am, so did a very small amount of cc (he was whingey crying, I ignored for up to 10 mins), after 5 days he stopped waking at all.
Since then has only had one unsettled spell when on holiday and he was ill.
If he does wake or seem unsettled I now do the shhing patting thing which seems to suit him better than picking up, in fact often this makes him worse.