What's happening?

[FebMama]

8 week old DS2. He was exclusively breastfed for the first 5/6 weeks. Fed brilliantly and put on weight really well.
I began to combi feed from 6 weeks and did this gradually.
Our routine now is that his first feed of the day he is breastfed and all night feeds he is breastfed. He is formula fed during the day and has 4 x 6oz bottles over the day.

The thing I'm finding at the moment is that he is very fussy on the breast. He whinges and fusses and almost struggles to keep my breast in his mouth. It's like he can't find my nipple even though it's right there!! He seems really frustrated.

Is this is matter of him getting so used to the bottle and so frustrated at the slower flow of breastfeeding? Is there anything I can do to improve the breastfeeding?

I did this same set up with my eldest (now aged 3) and he continued to breastfeed overnight fine with no issue so I possibly naively assumed it would work fine this time.

I don't want to stop breastfeeding altogether but it feels like I may have to if he's not feeding efficiently on the breast.

In all fairness, he's only waking up once overnight for a feed at the moment so he's having just two breastfeeds per day.

Anyone have any advice or similar experiences?

Any ideas? ☺️

Mine did this, I was told it's because breast feeding is harder work for baby so they prefer bottle. I persevered but at 18 weeks she flat out started to refuse boob. I then pumped until she started on solids x

2 breastfeeds per day is unlikely to keep your supply up at this age. Can you alternate feeds during the day, pump to increase your supply, or both?

Thanks both for the responses.

Once he's fed from the breast, he seems quite satisfied as he'll happily go around 3-4 hours until the next feed. It's just hard work to get through the feed itself!

I opted for combi feeding and the preference for formula during the day as I was finding breastfeeding too demanding and time consuming as I have a toddler at home too. I also don't feel confident to breast feed in public and wanted the flexibility to be able to go out and about as and when we wanted to. I really don't have the time to pump either sadly.
It may be that our breastfeeding journey comes to an end a bit earlier than I would have wanted I think.

If you combo feed they can, unfortunately, start to show a clear preference for one method over the other.

If you want to continue with the BFs, I'd have a read of how to bottle feed the BF baby on Kellymom and give one if the BFing Helplines a call for some support. Have you got the numbers?