14wk old mix-fed baby starting to refuse bottle - help!

[WildhoodChunder]

DS gets one bottle of formula in the evening but is otherwise BF. He's taken the bottle since 3 weeks, as it was always our intent to get him onto bottles eventually, originally we were going for 12 weeks but then I thought as BF was going okay we'd aim for weaning onto solids to start phasing BF out. There's been no nipple confusion and that bottle has allowed me to get a much needed block of sleep while DH does the one bottle feed.

However, in the last week or so, DS has got really fussy on the bottle, getting hysterical so I have to get up to come settle him on the breast. I'm pretty sure it is a comfort thing rather than a food one, if I can get him sleepy I can slip the nipple out and the bottle in, but if he doesn't get the breast first he's getting himself into a right state. He's hit the 4 month regression as he's feeding 2 hourly night AND day, I'm a wreck!

Any tips on the best way to proceed? I really don't want him dependent on the breast, the only reason I've kept going so long is telling myself BFing is nearly over, I don't enjoy it at all.

In your shoes, I'd stop BFing altogether - I know lots of people will come and tell you to persevere, and nutritionally obviously the ideal would be to carry on, but if you're still not enjoying the experience at 14 weeks and he's starting to refuse the bottle, switch to FF before it becomes permanent and impossible to crack (especially if you're planning to take less than a year's maternity leave). We've got a bottle refuser and it's wrecking my return to work: I really wish someone had told me to stop sooner. DS is 6 months, I've never enjoyed BFing and now I'm really hating it because it's messing up my return to work and trying to stop is making DS and DH miserable too.

What type of bottle are you using. Maybe it's time to up the next teat. Also if he is getting woken for a dream feed with a bottle I would just let him wake naturally and then give bottle when he wakes, you may find then that he wakes less in the night.

We're using standard Avent type, teat size 2 - could try going up to a 3 though, my letdown is pretty fast, hadn't thought of that. I don't think I could just stop BFing as DS will go ballistic, but I might try and swap more feeds for the bottle - or maybe I should just bite the bullet and hope he gets over it quickly?

Petsville, sorry to hear about your troubles. I'm eternally grateful to our HV for telling us to get the bottle in around 3 weeks and no later, a couple of my EBF friends tried after 6 weeks following La Leche League advice and neither baby has entertained the idea - I'm sure getting them on a bottle early helps. Not that that helps you much :(