BenRoo it's a new name. Although I was more of a lurker and less of a poster under my old name.
Of course I am happy to tell you what worked for us. Although, reading my post again I'm concious that it may have come across as though I was boasting my stealth. If it did, I apologise as that honestly was not the intention.
OK, we changed a number of things around they same time (when DD was 6 months) and it could have been all or some of these changes that contributed to her sleeping though:
Moved DD into her cot in her own room.
Introduced a rountine with feeds. I'd fed on demand until 6 months but with the introduction of solids begand to try to stick to more of a rountine for milk feeds. Although in fairness it was the rountine that DD was naturally falling into. I just wrote down her feed times for a few days, looked for the pattern and stuck to it. From this point DD also acccepted a bottle so we changed the 10.30pm feed to a bottle feed (and would dream feed if she was asleep). Initially BM, then half BM half formula, gradually moving to all formula (once the night time routine was established we were able to drop the dream feed and make the last feed before bed a formula feed). I think the rountine helped DD to stop snacking. When she fed, she would have a really good feed and so was fuller for longer. The solids may have helped too?
I stopped rocking or feeding her to sleep abruptly. I gave her her evening BF in her room, lights dimmed, wind, cuddles, popped her into her cot, left the room and shut the door. I'd never put DD down awake before so this was quite a big thing for us.
DH always went in to settle her when she woke in the night - never me (advice from breastfeeding counsellor). Ssshing and patting, sometimes picking up and cuddling. Once she settled her would put her back in her cot and leave the room. For us this was the biggest change as up until this point, the nights were totally my responsibility. Initially he would be in and out of the room on numerous occasions throughout the night but it became less often fairly quickly.
We did not feed her when she woke in the night.
We both accepted that DD would cry. In all honesty I'd never let her cry before. When she woke up in the night, I fed her and we both went back to sleep. I was just so desperate for sleep and she would never settle for me without a feed. In fact even during the day she didn't really cry because she seemed to be always being rocked in my arms or fed! To help with this part, I timed how long she cried for. Sounds silly but it helped me. I would literally sit on the stairs by her room using the stop watch on my phone. It helped me to see that when it felt like she was crying for ages, it was in reality only a couple of minutes.
Gradually DH reduced the amount of time that he would sssh and pat as we realised that she would be calm whilst he was doing it but would become upset as soon as he stopped, regardless of how long he'd been with her. So when she woke, he would go in reassure her for a minute of two and then leave the room.
I think that's everything. :)
Gosh it seems harsh when written down but I'd actually say it felt like it was what DD needed. She seemed happier with the routine and rather than us both sleeping in until 11am each morning we were up and ready to start the day and a normal time.
We still give DD her evening bottle in her room with the lights dimmed as she seems to know that means its bed time. On the rare occasion that she wakes up in the night now, she doesn't cry. We'll hear her chatting to herself for a minute or two before she falls back to sleep.
Obviously what worked for us won't work for all. For example, when DD was refusing a bottle everyone and her aunty had loads of advice. In my head I used to scream "do you think I haven't tried that already!!" and I'm sure that's how people may feel when they read this! Also, some will not want to introduce formula or let their babies cry at all. I completely understand and, as I've mentioned, am just saying what worked for us.