learning to soothe?

Morgan
My LO will be 6 months old on Friday. He isn't able to soothe himself to sleep. He loves to be rocked and his back patted. I've tried to put him down tired but he just ends up crying until you get him. He just found his thumb and loves it. He won't take a binky, but loves to feed until he's asleep when he's super tired. Cry it out method isn't something we believe in. Does anyone have any ways I can teach him to soothe himself, so I can just lay him down.