My beautiful daughter is 17 months old and has always been a very happy, healthy breastfed baby. She LOVES her 'boobie'! I decided very early on that I would breastfeed on demand and co-sleep and, despite the sleepless nights and demands on my body, I have been happy with this decision, believing it to be the best thing for my baby and me. As her first birthday came and went, I realised that I would be in it for the long haul, and I wanted my daughter to be the one to decide when to wean.
Last Friday, while suffering with a fever and cough/cold, she had her last breast feed, and she has been on strike ever since. I'm desperately sad, because I wasn't at all expecting her to stop so suddenly, and I'm not at all ready, although I am beginning to accept that our delicious, bonding breast feeding times are over :o(
The reason that I am writing is to beg for some advice on how I can help my daughter adjust to this huge change in her life. She has always depended on breast feeding to get to sleep, for comfort and reassurance, and she's just so sad. She's cried more in the last 5 days than she has in the past 17 months! She is still asking for 'boobie', and I'm still offering, but she doesn't want it and gets very upset about this.
I'm just so desperate to help her...