I don't think anyone minds us going off topic, Tatties (well bad luck if they do, really). I'll start another thread tomorrow so this one doesn't get too long...
Erm, yes, I know what you mean. You know it's the right thing to do, and what you want to do, but it doesn't always feel lovely and relaxing and rewarding, in fact sometimes it is bloody annoying and you want to scream. or run out of the house with your passport and a clean pair of pants.
I am glad you read the book, do you have an LLL group near you? I found their meetings quite useful at this age - nice to sit in a room where extended feeding / co-sleeping etc is accepted as the norm.
I am at the stage now where ds only feeds at naptime and bedtime, which is fab, and in theory I am happy to keep that up for as long as he wants (might have a psychological problem with feeding a 4 year old, though ). He also doesn't mind if someone else puts him to bed - (well, dp, and a babysitter for the first time tonight as I said) and doesn't ask for milk. We went through a stage where he would have milk in a bottle if I was not there at naptime! Bit odd to introduce a bottle age 2.5 but it worked for us.
I am not sure how we got from milk on demand, to milk only at bedtime. It sort of happened slowly. I helped it along by saying things like "If you have milk now there won't be so much at bedtime" (which is true when you are down to only a few feeds). The last one to go was the first thing in the morning one, which went on for ages and I really disliked. We changed our routine for a few days, so dp got him up and did something with him, instead of me getting into bed with him. When he did eventually ask after a few days, I said "oh no we don't usually have milk in the mornings, I don't think there is much milk there now. Let's go and get a carton of milk instead." (again true).
So why does it have to be you all the time? Because he is not happy with anyone else? Or because you don't know anyone else? With ds it was mostly the former, but it slowly slowly improved and it is very satisfying to know we have gone at his own pace and not left him when he was scared, or wanted us.
I also did find that sometimes when we tried him with a new person he would surprise us with how well he was able to cope. We can underestimate them at times. Also it is worth grooming friends with children, or teenagers you know, as great potential companions for him. It might not be too long before they seem like a very exciting alternative to Mummy. I wrote a bit about all this on cod's "weirdies who don't leave their children " thread recently.
Last but not least - the amount of extra cake you can eat while breastfeeding a hungry toddler is not to be underestimated
Right, hijack over.
Aviatrix you can certainly count chickpeas.
Hope everyone has a good Bonfire Night.