Isabella's Torture

Or mine?
Today begins the arduous process of "helping" Isabella sleep longer by teaching her to put herself to sleep. This means lots of crying. Originally (this morning), I was planning to wean her from falling asleep at the boob (in other words, put her down in the crib while tired but still awake). However, after attempting this feat this morning and discovering she was more awake then ever (after a bout of crying), I decided to change tactics. First, I'll change her napping cycle (longer time between naps, so hopefully longer naps). This will obviously include changes in her eating cycle too (since she normally fell asleep nursing, if you get my meaning).
I'm hoping this will induce her to sleep longer during the night (since she'll be used to long bouts of sleeping, right?).
Once/If this works, it may be easier to reduce/cut midnight snacking and have her put herself back to sleep. Theoretically.
Why am I doing this? Was my previous method not working? Well, let's just say, last night she woke 5 times in two hours. 5 times. It was the worst it's been since we started putting her in the crib. Sometimes she sleeps 7 hours straight but lately it's only been 1 or 2 hours. I'm going insane.