9mo won't drink milk from bottle or cup

[Lacuna365]

I have been trying to give up breastfeeding my 9 month old son in preparation for going back to work next month. I am also just totally exhausted and want to stop. Plus I need to be able to be out of the house before bedtime for an evening at the end of October.
We tried giving him a bottle of EBM every day when we was tiny but he would never drink it, so I gave up as it was all going to waste. Since he was about 5 month old I have tried a few times to offer him a bottle of breast milk or formula. He drank it a few times, but now he just will not even let the bottle anywhere near his lips, he pushes it away without even trying it. He will drink water from a sippy cup, but not formula or breastmilk. I have even tried giving him milk in a syringe, but he spits it out, although he has taken calpol from the same syringe a few times without spitting it out,
He was feeding four times a day, and once in the night. At the advice of the HV I cut out his mid morning and then afternoon feed, offering him formula instead, which he never drank. When I dropped the afternoon feed, he started waking for one more feed in the night. I am exhausted and this was just too much, so decided to stop breastfeeding completely as we thought that he would take a bottle if he was forced, if it was the only way to get milk. We did this with my daughter when she was the same age, she was a bottle refuser as well, but I went away for a night and my husband managed to get her to drink from a bottle eventually and she was happy to take a bottle after that. But my son just doesn't seem to be giving in. I haven't breastfed him since Friday night/Saturday morning at 3am, so 40ish hours, and he is still refusing to take a bottle, or a cup, or a syringe. He has been eating three meals and two snacks as normal, but I know he still needs some milk. I'm worried he's going to be undernourished if he doesn't give in soon. He woke up a lot last night, and my husband cuddled him back to sleep each time, but he woke up much more than usual.
Has anyone got any advice about getting him to drink the milk from anywhere that isn't a breast? Or what I should do to make sure he is getting enough nutrition, is it OK to just give up milk altogether at 9 months if he is having a lot of yogurt and cheese?
Thanks for any advice you can give!

Can anyone help? It has now been well over 48 hours since I last breastfed him and he hasn't had any milk, formula or breast, apart from about 4oz mixed into his weetabix.

I can't speak from personal experience as my little one was the same and it just seemed easier to carry on.

I know a lady who had to stop quite suddenly for medical reasons. Her little one refused all milk for 2-3 days and then accepted formula.

You don't say how frequently you were breastfeeding. It's not a good idea to stop suddenly - dropping a feed a week or so is the safest way to slowly reduce your supply. Going from several feeds to none can cause blocked ducts and mastitis. I'd hate for you to get poorly on top of the worry.

Thanks for your reply. Up until two weeks ago I was feeding 4 times a day and once or twice at night. I dropped the mid morning feed first, then mid afternoon a few days later. Didn't have any trouble with engorgement, so then dropped morning feed and then night feed a few days later. This got really painful so for the last three days I have expressed a little bit in the evening, which my husband has then tried to give to DS. He won't drink it, but I figured I could just reduce the amount I express each day over the space of a week or so, and that would hopefully avoid mastitis.
But I am getting so desperate that I think I might have to go back to feeding him in the evening. He hasn't had any milk for 3 days, he woke up every two hours last night, all night, and has been grizzling and crying all day. He's obviously hungry but I can't seem to fill him up with food. He also won't eat food from a spoon at the moment, only eats what he can put in his mouth himself, so most of it goes on the floor.