How do i stop breastfeeding?

[sonissuccubus]

I am still breastfeeding my 16 month old son twice a day (when he wakes and before bed). I'm beginning to regret carrying on for so long. I thought he would eventually stop wanting it,but that is clearly not going to be the case. After he spent 26 hours away with my sister (without mum) i thought it might be a good opportunity to break it off,but he had other ideas and had his first ever tantrum when i tried to give him a cup of milk rather than booby. To the point where he was retching and struggling to breathe. After about 25 minutes i caved but i am desperate for advice from other mum's who've been through it. I don't want to end up like the Little Britain sketch. DS has even begun to lay on my lap and say "MILK!" in an unnervingly demanding tone. Although i really enjoy feeding him and will miss doing so,i don't want to continue for too much longer but how do i stop without causing him a huge amount of distress? I am losing weight(and not in a good way)as i have a physical job and have to cycle about 3 miles to nursery to drop him off before then cycling to work,so i could really do with hanging on to those extra calories. Any advice gratefully received. Apologies if i've done this wrong,it's my first post!

Do you have a partner who could take over bedtimes, or the morning waking, for a while? Your son might be happy to take milk from a beaker if someone else gives it to him (what did he do while he stayed with your sister?), if you did that for a week or two weeks it might be enough to break the connection between boob and bed and then perhaps he'd be happy to take the beaker from you after that.

Another thing you could try is to cut down the length of time he feeds for at bedtime by taking him off the boob after a little while, depending how well he accepts that you can then cut down the time more and more.

On the other hand, as you're not sure about stopping now and say you'll miss it, could you try eating more high-calorie foods so you stop losing weight, and feed him a bit longer? He will stop eventually, you will not end up feeding a 12 year old! I fed DD1 till she was 2, and found it fairly easy to stop by a combination of the above methods, not saying that would work for you but if you're still enjoying it you could always leave it a bit longer.

Thanks for your advice Zimbah. I think i might leave it a little longer as after i left the message last night i found some other messages about breastfeeding and they were all about children quite a bit older than my DS.
So many people have criticized me for continuing with it and say i'm just doing it for myself as he no longer needs the nutritional benefits of breast-milk.
My aunt even told me there must be something mentally wrong with me! (I think she has Asperger's).
Everyone has been really critical of me breastfeeding at this age,even the lady that runs the nursery he goes to. Maybe i am just doing it for selfish reasons but it certainly helps to calm him when he has teething pain or is distressed or poorly.
Why is it that everyone feels they have a right to comment on something that's such a personal choice? Did you find any animosity towards you whilst brestfeeding your daughter?
I will try to enlist his dad's help to wean DS as he does like milk from a cup but just won't accept it from me. Not sure he'll be so keen in the mornings though! DP has only done one night since he was born!

I haven't had any negative comments about breastfeeding but I am very lucky in that mine and DP's family are very supportive. I go to a La Leche group so I know lots of people feeding older babies/toddlers which really helps too as it means I feel 'normal'. DD2 doesn't feed in public because she hasn't really wanted to for quite some time now, so it hasn't come up as an issue. I would bf her at a friends house if she wanted to but she never does if there are new people around and interesting things to look at, she'll only feed in a quiet room (e.g. before naptime).

You are certainly not selfish for continuing to feed, it's so handy to be able to comfort an ill or teething baby like that.