Going to stop bf and feeling sad

[ArthurandGeorge]

Just that really. I know that I am extremely lucky to have bf ds for this long (2.5) but I do need to stop now.

My skin is falling apart and I need to take oral antifungals for it and come off my progesteroe only pill.

I just feel so, so sad about it. I last ried to stop when he was 7months and quickly realised that I was being silly and would just continue....but now I can't and it feels so sad. It was such hard work at first and again when he was biting at 8 months but he has loved his "milky" so much that I really feel that it is the best and nicest thing I have done for him.

But I have a horrible fungal skin infection that is making my skin crack and bleed and topical stuff isn't working and the side effects of the oral stuff are horrid. Also I think that my supply is going down any way as he sometimes complains about it "not coming in my mouth mummy" and I have bad acne which happened when I was stopping bf dd and on a progesterone only pill...

Just wanted to let it all out. We will both miss it dreadfully .

I felt sad also. Is a sign that your chld is growing up, and becoming more independent.

You just can't describe the feeling that you get when breastfeeding. I am gradually weaning DD 10mo and am trying not to get sad but I am. DH can't understand why.

Hope the antifungal stuff does the trick by the way

arthurandgeorge you have done so well, 2.5 years!!!! That's amazing and it's people like you that make breastfeeding 'normal' beyond 12 months

I believe that you have given DS the best start in life and he will continue to thrive and grow. Try and focus on the positives of stopping (your boobie back to yourself, your health is important for you to recover, you could have a big drink if you wanted too) & also the benefits you have given him for 2.5 years.

It is the end of an era too, perhaps write a letter to him for him to read when he's older about the feelings you has whilst bf'ing and reasons for stopping, pop it in his keepsake box.

Big WELL DONE to you. I'm only at 9.5 months but have no intention of stopping any time soon (neither does dd!!) so it's lovely to hear of stories bf'ing into toddlerhood

I'm weaning DD2 at the moment, but can't bring myself to actually stop - I know its going to break my heart even though she only feeds once a day now.

I stopped breastfeeding DD1 at 17 months, because I fell pregnant with DD2. I'm now pregnant with DC3 and want to have a bit of a gap before DC3 comes along for both of us.

DC3 will be our last so no idea how long I'll breastfeed this time.

I'm lucky my family are very supportive and DP isn't really bothered one way or the other, although I know deep down he finds it odd once they get to a certain age. My in-laws however are very pro-breastfeeding to 4-6 months - all onto bottles after that. They were reading an article in the paper at the weekend about breastfeeding toddlers and were really anti it. It made me so sad and I tried to put my opinion across but gave up!!!