Hi L.,
First, let me say WOOT on the breastfeeding!! YEAH! You've given your little guy such a GREAT start in life. Second, no worries on the milk thing. My daughter doesn't drink milk. Just make sure he is getting a good amount of GOOD fat in his diet through the day. Olive oil, avocado, Cod Liver Oil - Nordic Naturals is a good brand with flavors. They only need whole milk for the fat content for healthy brain development. There are plenty of other ways to get that fat.
Ok... onto breastfeeding. My daughter nursed until she was 18.5 months old. At 13/14 months she too was still waking in the night to nurse. I was certain it was NOT for nutrition. When she nursed to EAT it felt much different. Now, granted, it took me a little while to realize this ... I actually had to really wake myself up and pay attention to how she was nursing.
I too am not a cry it out mom. Sometimes baby needs to be assured that mom and dad are still there. So, what I did was ... when she woke up, I would go in, rock her and tell her 'it is not time for milk'. We would cuddle and rock and then she would go back to sleep and be fine. It did take some time, but we got there.
Then, around 15 months old I really started working on putting her to bed AWAKE. My daughter is a very very busy little girl. She needed a lot of help settling down and just relaxing at night. I made sure we had a really good night routine. Once in her room, we rocked, I sang a night night song, we said her prayers, and then I would say 'it's time for night night now. Mama is going to put you in your bed.'
I resolved I would not let her cry more then 15 minutes.. then I would go in and comfort. She cried for 12 minutes the first night and then fell asleep on her own. 5 minutes the second night and fell asleep and just a little whimper the 3rd night. Since then, she has slept 11.5 -12 hours consistently every night.
I'm just a firm believer that no waking in the night is developmental. I would not even consider any kind of sleep training before 12 months. I believe before that baby needs to be reassured mom and dad are there, or may need something else. But, once they are eating well during the day, and are past separation anxiety issues...then you can do the sleep training.
For us, the night weaning and sleep training sort of coincided. My daughter took bedtime milk until she was 18,5 months old. THen she just stopped asking for it. That was how I wanted to do it. No drama. Just her deciding we were done.
So, that is what we did. Hopefully I've given you some information you can use as you find what works for you and your little guy.
Good luck!