4 month old rejecting breastfeeding

[Emzalis]

My baby is 4 months old and up until he was 3 months has been fine with breastfeeding. He has been mostly breastfed since he was born, but he would often have just one bottle of supplementary formula after breast milk on his last feed, usually a max of 200 ml. His latch has always seemed to be good as I have never had any pain breastfeeding or cracked nipples. However, he has been getting increasingly fussy on the breast and just does not seem to want to feed anymore on the breast even though he is hungry. He will latch for a minute or 2 but then comes off the nipple and cries, relatches for a few seconds then cries again and does this for a further few minutes before refusing to latch again completely and just cries until i give him a bottle. He successfully breastfeeds first thing in the morning and is content, but as the day goes on he gets fussier and fussier. I was hoping that this was just a nursing strike, but i read these usually only last a few days, however this has been going on for last 5 weeks now. I am having to take him to extra weigh ins as he appears to be a little underweight, I am therefore feeling pressured to up his formula intake as I am worried about him not eating enough if i don't. He is now having 3 or 4 bottles of formula a day on top of the breastmilk that I can manage to get him to drink but i am worried about losing my supply and really wanted to breastfeed for at least the first 6 months. I am pumping every night at 1am and sometimes after feeds if i have time to try and maintain supply, saving the feeds to try and use instead of formula every now and then when I have gathered a good amount, but it is becoming increasing exhausting. I have tried advice such as trying different positions, keeping distractions to a minimum, burping frequently through the feed and more skin on skin but nothing seems to improve it. I am concerned that despite my efforts my supply will run too low and I will end up having to fully formula feed, maybe this is what my baby wants? Is it common for babies to choose bottle over breast? I am thinking my only other option is to pump constantly so he always drinks from a bottle, but am worried about the time consumption and that it still may not be enough anyway and will have to keep giving the extra formula. Has anyone been in a similar situation? Is there more I can do or is it possible this could still be a phase? Sorry for how long this post is!

Have you checked if you actually have enough supply? My baby was the same around 3 months and it turns out she just wasn’t getting enough so was getting frustrated. I have a baby scales so I weighed all feeds for 24 hours and baby was only getting half the required amount of breastmilk hence wanting the bottles as the poor thing was starving. You have the most milk in the morning so it makes sense that’s the feed baby is happiest with. You could get a lactation consultant to come out and weigh a feed in the afternoon?

I'm not sure tbh, I'd go to a breastfeeding support group if you don't already and ask for guidance from a lactation consultant. My understanding is that babies find it easier and quicker to get milk from a bottle whereas they need to work a little harder to get milk from the breast so giving more bottles could be reinforcing that it's easier and more convenient when that's the source. I'd chat it through with an expert though and see if they can give you any additional support. Could you express a little before starting feeding so things are ready to go if that helps baby not get frustrated as quickly? I would also say well done getting to 4 months that's a big achievement in itself so don't let this current blip make you forget that you've worked really hard to get this far!

Thank you, I have looked a breastfeeding support groups but sadly don't have any in my immediate area but could go to one further out from my town. I will look into the weighing scales as I didn't realise you could weigh feeds so thank you :) will ask at the clinic as well see if i can speak to a lactation consultant, i was just worried if they only look at latching which i don't think is the issue, but i could be wrong

@Emzalis they should look at supply too. I got a lactation consultant out once I got home from hospital and she weighed feeds, checked latch, checked for tongue tie and also made sure I was using pump correctly. Make sure to get one who is properly certified. I got mine out again to confirm my supply had dropped by weighing feeds and she had recommendations for how to try increase it again.

Lovely will look into that thank you to check my supply. Though when he is getting fussy, i tend to do a quick hand express to see what the flow is like and sometimes there still appears to be a reasonable flow of breastmilk so it is frustrating when there appears to be milk but he wont latch back on 😫