I think what helped the most is that my son takes bottles (he didn't at first. We introduced a bottle a few times for the first month, but he was ALWAYS with me, so we didn't stick with it. By 8 months, when I started actually needing him to take a bottle, he wouldn't anymore
But then around 13 months, we tried again and now he LOVES his bottle! And I am all for that. I know there's some controversy around bottles and 12+ month babes, but I figure, it comforts him and gets us all more sleep, so I use it.) He also has taken a soothie pacifier since about 6 weeks old. So, despite him having very high sucking needs, he gets his needs met by more than just my breast.
Also, I got pregnant right before his first birthday, and though I'm still producing some milk, it has decreased significantly. So I think the lack of milk has decreased his motivation to nurse, which probably helped also.
And finally, I enlisted my amazing husband to help with nighttime care, so that I didn't have a fussy babe pulling on my shirt in the middle of the night. For the last 2 months or so, my husband has taken over almost all the night wakings (although I'm starting to be able to again, because he doesn't ask for boobie anymore at night.)
So around a year old, Wyatt was still nursing 2-3 times a night, We started putting him to sleep in his pack and play in our room, in an attempt to get him to sleep longer chunks (before he'd be going to sleep around 6:30-7pm, and waking to nurse when I came to bed around 10pm). Putting him in the pack and play got him sleeping solid 5-6 hour stretches. He'd wake around midnight and I'd move him into bed with me and nurse him. Then he'd wake again around 4-5am to nurse before waking for the morning at around 6am. So that got him down to 2 nursings a night, and sleeping longer stretches.
Next I started offering his soothie and/or water when he woke for his 4am nursing session. At first it was 50/50, and I would still nurse if he wouldn't go back to sleep with water and a soothie. But within a few weeks, he was only waking up for that nursing a few times a week, and would usually go right back to sleep with just his soothie.
And then we worked on cutting out the middle of the night, last nursing session. It slowly moved later and later, and now, if he does wake up, it's not until 3am. Again, I started offering water and a soothie instead of the boob, and then enlisted my husband to do so. If Wyatt wouldn't go back to sleep within 10-15 minutes, I would still nurse him. And a few weeks ago, he slept a full 11 hours without waking at all!
So this took about 3 months to implement, but it was so gradual it really wasn't a big deal. Also, he does still sometimes wake at 3am, but we give him some water and he generally falls right back asleep (I sincerely think he's waking up because he's thirsty...I know I do sometimes!)
The switching to his bed was a faster transition. We just put our futon mattress on the floor up in his room (which is attached to our room, and we leave our door open. So it's really only 10 feet away from our bed.) We started laying him down for naps in there, and then started putting him to sleep in that bed instead of in ours (we've always put him to sleep by laying next to him on the bed until he calmed down enough to lay next to us, then rub his back and sing until he falls asleep.) He slept the whole night in his own bed the other night for the first time, and he's been doing good since then
I'll also add that my son is definitely an "easier" sleeper. Around 10 months old, he was already sleeping 3-4 hour stretches, and could be placed in the pack and play for some of the night if daddy and I need our space. So I think his personality and sleeping habits played into our ease of transition a lot too. However, I hope some of my examples of what I did can help people! Just don't listen when everyone says you have to use CIO to get any sleep. It's not true!
