Baby only wants bottle in the day and only breast at night

[ilikebigbuttsandicannotlie]

Any advice or ideas would be gratefully received. Background - I have combination fed from the beginning due to a big weight loss and on recommendation of the drs.

My ds is 5 months now and slowly has upped the amount of bottles he’s having in the day. I can barely get him to breastfeed in the day at all which is very frustrating. However, at night breast is all he wants so I know I have milk (as I can get very full) and he enjoys feeding.

Any ideas as to why this is happening? Also, how can I get him to breastfeed more in the day?

Tia

Sorry to hear that you had a rocky start. I know that if you combi-feed they can show a clear preference for one or the other but they usually refuse the bottle or the breast completely. This is the first post I can remember where they’ll take one method at night and the other in the day!

Other than giving him skin-to-skin in the day, offering the breast more and refusing the odd bottle, I don’t really have any suggestions.

Have you tried speaking to a BFC on one of the Helplines? They might have some suggestion

Thank you for your reply.

It really is the most bizarre thing. I posted on here as I had tried googling but nothing was coming up.

In the day, he displays clear signs of breast refusal as he arches his back and turns away and cries. If I can latch him in, he gets on and off, tugs the nipple etc. He has a bottle at 7.30pm and then goes to sleep. He then wakes at 11ish for a feed and then and throughout the night point blank refuses a bottle (we know as my husband has tried to take him for the night). He will purse his lips and push the teat out with his tongue. He’s then frantically searching open mouthed for the breast and he happily latches on and feeds before going back to sleep.

I have tried refusing the odd bottle in the day but he still will barely breastfeed. All he’ll do is wait for the bottle and guzzle it down.

It’s not an issue as such I suppose. I would like him to breastfeed more in the day. It also means that I’m not sleeping very well as I’m reluctant to start encouraging him to drop any feeds in the night (he’s up every 2-3 hours) as I want him to get the goodness of the breast milk.

Has anyone else experienced anything similar?

Have you tried using different breastfeeding positions during the day or feeding in a very boring room?

Babies at around 4 months and above can become very distracted when breastfeeding as they can and want to see the world around them! When you bottle feed he probably can see more then when you breastfeed and therefore wants to bottle feed during the day so he doesn’t miss out!

have a day in bed and offer breast only

With him obviously

A day in bed is a good idea. I’ll also try different positions as he is a nosey boy. Thank you

Another thing you could try is give him a bit of milk from a bottle first if he is really refusing the breast to remove the urgent hunger. And then try the breast after he has had half of his usual bottle. See if he is more willing to try then when he isn’t starving?