OK, I'll tell you what worked for us. I used BW early on, but then got away from it when she was about 3 months old or so, and had a wretched time with nursing to sleep, etc.
You're right that one of the first things to start is breaking the feeding-to-sleep association. I used a lot of techniques from No-Cry Sleep solution for that. There's a great link under nightwakings called the Gentle Removal Plan. Try to tackle all feeds at one if you can so you're teaching her a new association consistently. For every feed, try to nurse sometime during awake time and as far from sleep time as you can. I would do it RIGHT when she woke from her nap and was still partly asleep in the dark room. If she starts falling asleep as she's eating, try to keep her awake to get a full feed by breaking the latch if she gets too drowsy. Then have some awake time and find another method to get her to sleep.
If you want to use pu/pd, make sure you read that section in the book first so that you'll be consistent about it. I opted for rocking and bouncing to sleep - not sure if I'd really recommend it though! :roll: It'll be hard at first - try to get dh or someone else involved to spell you if you can. Whatever you choose to do, the idea is to gradually get your baby to be put down slightly awake. (I found it easier to do at bedtime, actually). We actually had to keep leaving the room at bedtime. We'd put her down drowsy, pat her and leave, then if she cried more that a settling-cry, we'd go back in. I found if we stayed there, she'd keep crying longer. You'll have to see what works for you and your lo.
Then, for nightwakings, if that's a problem, decide what you want to do ahead of time (it's so tempting to change your mind back to nursing to sleep at 2 am!!) and try to stick to it.
Bottom line is: be consistent. Your baby has to know what to expect from you. There will be crying - less if you do it more gradually (although this can take months), but that's her way of expressing herself. As long as you're there to comfort her, you're not letting her CIO, and you're reassuring her that she's ok and you're just trying to help.
I'm certainly no expert on this whole sleeping thing, but I had a lot of trouble and it's much better now (if that's any indication!), so let me know if I can help more!