L.C.
Hi L.,
I only nursed for about 2 weeks so it's great that you were able to last 2 years! I understand that you don't want to upset your daughter. I think you had the right idea with the lemon though. (My son loves lemon so it would not have worked with him). If you do the lemon thing a few days in a row, your daughter won't want to nurse. She may have trouble falling asleep the first couple of days but she will eventually be tired enough and after a few days just go to sleep on her own. Maybe let her pick out a cute sippy cup to drink milk at nap and bedtime - it may make her excited to use her cup. She may just like the way you smell - maybe give her one of your shirts to sleep with (that's what I did) and that will help comfort her at bedtime. If nothing else works, you can tell her that mommy's boobs don't work anymore and she has to drink out of a cup and stop cold turkey.....she may be upset at first but she'll get over it pretty quickly. At this point she is just using you for comfort and you need to take back the control of your body. Your daughter knows your weak spots and knows how to manipulate them (even at 2 years old). My son will be six next month. He quickly learned how to manipulate my feelings and I let him take advantage of me many times because I felt too guilty to say no. It drove my husband insane because I'd constantly give in to my son. He still tries to make me feel guilty about things sometimes and I do give in sometimes but not as much as I used to. It's a hard process but we all get through it. If I can do it, you can do it.
Good luck! It will work out!