Hi
I believe our LO's are very close in age and wanted to let you know what I've done to stop the night feedings. (DD was born Dec. 12, 2005)
At her 6 month visit the ped. said that since she was in the 75% for weight (17 lbs, 0 oz that day) and 6 months old, that she did not physically NEED the night feeds anymore. She was taking one to two feeds in the night, still (and is a reflux baby).
A couple of weeks before that I had eliminated the DF, basically consolidating the 11pm DF with the next feed and just let her wake up whenever she was hungry. Just cold turkey no DF one night. After the ped. said she didn't need the night feeds, I decided that that was it. That very night I did our usual routine and put her to bed. When she woke up, I went to her room and did what I usually do during the day to extend her naps (plug in the paci, turn her on her side, blankee in her hand). She protested, but very little crying. I was pleasantly surprised- I was up for about 8 minutes, which was shorter than if I had fed her!
We have been doing this for about 10 days and she is sleeping longer than she has in months. For instance, last night she was asleep at 8:20pm and didn't wake up at all until 5:50am. I did the replug, retuck and that was that. I heard her about an hour later, but she went back to sleep herself and I had to get her up at 8:00. Some nights I hear her and she puts herself back to sleep, and other nights I have to get up once to replug/retuck (in her room for about 4 seconds). But in general, things are SO much better.
As far as the weaning goes, DD now eats better during the day. Every time I nurse her, I then burp her and put her in the highchair to eat solids straightaway. Same thing right before bed (except I feed her a hearty oatmeal cereal with smashed bananas and breastmilk. That way I know she's got a full stomach and I worry less.
The whole thing has been much less painful than I thought it would be and DD has been doing fantastically. One weird thing is that while DD's first morning feed is good, it's not this frantic shovel-fest that I thought it would be. She's truly OK without eating in the night!
I hope that things go better for you and that you soon will be sleeping longer. Getting more than 5 straight hours is worth a night or two of less.
Good luck!