Gone cold turkey with DS (2 yo) and now having a huge problem getting him to sleep

[OhNoNotTheHoneyBabies]

Hi everyone. I had to go away for a couple of weeks due to some family stuff and leave my DS at home with his Dad. I've fed him for 2 years and thought I would reduce it gradually, but it didn't work. I decided when I came back that I didn't want to continue BFing him and thought it would be a good opportunity to stop since he's not had milk while I'm away.

Well, I've been back 2 days now and it's been an absolute nightmare to get him to sleep. He hasn't been asking for milk that much and I've so far managed to distract him, but he just wants to be carried around every time he wakes up in the night. There doesn't seem to be any other way of settling him without the boob. He's never been a good sleeper and I've been feeding him at night so I suppose he's been reliant on using milk to get back to sleep.

He's also been affected a bit by me going away and is a bit clingy, which is understandable because I had to leave suddenly.

Any ideas what to do? I'm getting desperate and am quite close to caving in and giving him the boob, though I know this would be a bad idea for us both.

Thanks for any support! Suppose I should post this in the sleep section too!

What would you think about restarting BF until he has settled down a bit and isn't so anxious? I imagine it would be easier for him (and you!) if you stopped when he was back to his usual self. Maybe you could lay the groundwork for stopping feeding and improving his sleep skills too - like not feeding him back to sleep or not feeding him before a certain time...

I'm no expert but like Eachpeach80 said I would consider feeding him again until everything settles down and then slowly deal with the feed to sleep issues first. i am currently stopping breast feeding and am doing one feed every month! i probably could do it faster but I am taking me time because i am terrified his night time sleep will be effected.
Has your milk supply decreased? you might find that when he goes to feed he's not geting much and gives up anyway.
Could the person that was putting him to sleep while you were away keep on doing it for a while, if your not even in the room at night when he goes to sleep it's not even an option. This is what we did when we were trying to get him to sleep without the breast. i feed him in our room and then bathed him and my dh settled him in his room.

Thanks for your replies! Last night was another horror so I think I'm going to BF him again and try to cut down gradually. Just scared that he's going to be a milk monster again and never quit!!

I feel a bit sorry for DS really as it was the first time I had been away from him and I think it freaked him out a bit. Probably wasn't the best time to actually quite BFing, though I've really had enough now.