Should I stop BF? DD 18 months & I am very emotional....Help!!

[imaginewittynamehere]

DD is 18 months & still BF once a day before bed time. I still enjoy it but she is very easily distracted from it - think she still enjoys it though.

DH & I have discussed stopping & I think he is in favour (although he won't come out & say it) So for the past 2 nights she has had warm milk in a beaker & stories & has been fine - hasn't even asked for a bf.

BUT...

She doesn't have cows milk so is soya milk she is drinking - which I am fine with - has a good calcium etc content & DD to be honest does not need the calories (99th percentile weight) However I can't fight the feeling that I am giving her a poor substitute, plus I really miss BF.

So I need advice - if I am to start BF again it really needs to be today otherwise I may no onger have a choice. Is this last minute jitters from me as it is such an unreversible decision??

Help - I need the advice & experience of mumsnet!!

(btw she doesn't have cows milk through our concious choice so that really really isn't an option..)

If you miss it and she's still happy to do it, then why not give yourself another month, and see how you feel then (and then another month, etc)? I am in a similar situation - think I'm about ready to stop, but not quite there yet.

It sounds like you don't want to stop.
Also, one b/feed a day is hardly taxing is it?

Why can't you let her decide when she stops?

It really upset me when I decided to stop, I was in tears for days. To be honest, I don't know if I would ever have been 'ready' and I think I might have felt like this at any age (DS was 9 months).

My reason for stopping was that DS was down to just a bedtime feed and my milk was really dropping, so he always had to have a top up anyway.

I thought it would be a final decision but, interestingly, I have been giving him a feed perhaps once ever 4/5 days since I 'stopped' and there is still milk there. Not enough to fill him up but enough to make us both feel happy .

If you and she enjoy it, then why not keep going, until you really feel like stopping.

There is so much more to breastfeeding than mere calories, the fact you missing nursing your daughter is reason enough to continue.

Thank-you all, great advice you all said what I really feel I suppose, my only niggle is that having tried it out dd doesn't seem to miss it.
I just don't feel I'll ever be ready to stop, but maybe I'll feel more ready than I do now???

Well, maybe you need the "weaning" phase more than she does! She's not stopped of her own accord, will be perfectly happy to feed if offered, I suspect, so give yourself time to come to terms with it. She may self-wean anyway...