Bottle refusing baby- exhausted

[Blueredballoon]

My 6 month old DS is currently EBF as he has always completely refused a bottle. We have tried everything that can possibly think of but he just refuses. We've tried different bottles, different mills, different people etc. He just gets inconsolably upset which is just not worth it obviously.

I'm now reaching the point of absolute exhaustion with it and feeling quite trapped with it- which leads me to feel really guilty. He still wakes up a lot in the night seemingly to feed. I haven't had more than 2 hours sleep in a row since he was born. He's now biting me and pinching too which adds a whole new layer of wanting the odd break!

Is there any hope for this? Or is this the case until a year? How do I get him to stop BF when he 'can'? We've started weaning and that's going quite well but there's still no end in site for the EBF. My older DC had absolutely no issue with combination feeding so this is all quite a shock! The thought of more months on end like this is quite depressing (and then I immediately feel guilty for saying that!).

Thank you

If he's started weaning you might find that things change quite a lot. For a start, you can give him plenty of fluids via his food - e.g. milky porridge for breakfast, melon, other watery fruit. You don't mention whether you have tried giving him a sippy cup - weaning is a good time to introduce this as he will be getting used to putting new things in his mouth. I weaned my DS at 6 months (also EBF until then) and by about 8-9 months he was eating and drinking enough that there was a marked decrease in the frequency of his feeds, and also more flexibility in that if I wanted to go out at a time when he would usually have a feed he could just be given food or drink from a cup instead.

That's the good news - the bad news is that he still woke quite frequently in the night and I would still feed him back to sleep. This was really a separate issue to the food/ drink one, as that was just his preferred way of getting back to sleep rather than an actual need for breastmilk. I just rode that out and he gradually improved although he didn't consistently sleep through until 16 months. I probably could have sleep trained him before that though if I had put my mind to it.

On the bottle front, maybe give it a break for a little while and then try again, but introduce it as a "food" rather than a comfort iyswim? So rather than trying to give him a bottle at a time when he wants the comfort of the breast, put one on the table alongside his food when he eats. He might be less resistant to it then, and if he will happily drink from it in the daytime you may have more success at night.

Thanks- I do have a sippy cup to try so I will do so this weekend.

I think I could cope with the night wakings a lot more if I could also have the odd break in an evening etc! He is easy to get back to sleep though I suppose- a quick feed and that's it, so that's a great positive compared to my older DC!

I just wanted to say you have my sympathy. In having the exact same problem, my baby is my first. I'm so tired and just don't know what to do.

I hope to find a solution.

Have you looked into baby-led bottle feeding? I don't know if it will make a difference, but there is a specific way to hold the baby, introduce the bottle and pace the flow of milk to mimic breastfeeding. I used the method with my tongue tied newborn and she was able to transfer from bottle to breast without nipple confusion.

Is the baby next to you? I find mine goes much longer between feeds at night if my husband sleeps next to cot. Pretty sure mine slightly wakes and notices milk close by and figures may as well have a quick go. Guess daddy isn't as exciting...

Thanks everyone. All new ideas for me to try!

He was quite happy to 'play' with the bottle in his high chair today with his lunch without grimacing at the milk, so that's definitely progress.