Allen and the Modified Sleep Routine

For the last six months or so, I had been happy because it had become rather simple to put Allen to bed. While he'd still scream and uncooperative to get dressed for bed, once he'd settle down to nurse, he'd calm down. When he was done nursing, he'd unlatch, I'd get up and carry him to the crib. He would fuss and clutch onto me, but once I'd plop him in bed he'd roll over and fall asleep. However, something changed last week. Now, when he starts nursing he won't unlatch, but will suckle for half an hour or more. I don't think he's actually nursing, I think he's just suckling and has figured out that as long as he doesn't unlatch that I won't let go of him. I've tried giving him milk instead but he wants me. I also don't want to get him into the habit of nursing himself to sleep with a bottle in his mouth (I'm still haunted by my irrational and unwarranted anxiety of Ivan's rotten teeth). So after 30 or more minutes of nursing, I have been unlatching him and taking him to his crib. He hates it. He clings and clutches onto me with all his might. After I put him down, sometimes he cries a few minutes and falls asleep (or at least quiets down--it's tricky to go into his room to check because if he's awake it will restart the entire cycle) other times he cries for a long time. That's when we've tried the milk bottle (Andy, not me), or I pick him up and nurse him some more. I don't know what happened this past week that triggered this change. Maybe he's somehow sensing that his babyhood is ending and toddlerhood is beginning (not that babies are capable of such self-reflection), or maybe he's just smartened up about it, or it's a side-effect of him being overall more interactive, talkative and also afraid. Unlike before, he's now afraid of strangers, of unexpected noises, etc. It's also making it more difficult to try to stop nursing him. Not that I have really tried yet. I don't want him to stop, like Ivan did, rather than me stopping it for him. Personally, I also don't want to stop nursing him because then my baby will be all "grown up," and those baby moments will be behind me forever.