11 week old refusing the breast but taking expressed milk

[Em861]

Looking for some advice or if anyone has went though similar situation. My little one is 11 weeks coming on for 12 weeks and has Breast fed and had expressed milk via a bottle since 2 weeks prior to this they were combined feeding due to low supply.
so up until last week they fed fine and had one bottle before bed from dad, this last week they have been refusing to latch on completely someday so having to pump and feed at the same time has been so hard as I don’t have supply built up, occasionally they are latching on but only once/twice per day I’m early hours of the morning or first thing when they wake up. They will look to latch on but when I try they are just screaming inconsolable until I can get. Bottle expressed fo them. They have had some reflux issues and are prescribed gaviscon which has been helping a little so unsure if it’s all related or not.i should say I gave oven formula bottle per day this week incase it was hunger but I haven’t noticed a huge difference with introducing that.
They are gaining weight fine nd don’t appear dehydrated.
has anyone had similar situations, how did you deal with this? Are they choosing the bottle or are they not getting enough in? I’m at a loss so just looking for some help on what this could be or what has work for others who may have had this issue.

Drinking milk from a bottle requires a different action, which is also easier for your baby. In other words they have to work harder to breastfeed. That’s what’s happening here and why they are refusing the breast.

You are basically faced with dropping the bottles completely or going full bottle feeding. Sometimes an older baby can cope better with breast and bottle but not always.

Can you take some time out to try and do skin to skin and just spend some time cuddling/relaxing when they’re not quite due for a feed so they’re not over hungry and see if that helps? If they’re not really hungry they may be more willing to seek comfort from it instead and not get as frustrated if it’s not coming out as fast.

When bottle feeding have you been doing paced feeding?

I had this with my youngest, and had to drop bottles for a while. It might not feel like that's an option if your little one is refusing the breast, but perseverance worked for me. I had to try different things to get the latch - walking / bouncing on the ball to distract, getting them sleepy first, swapping from sooner to breast. A handful of times I gave a few Oz in a bottle first and then swapped, but that would have created it's own bad habits long term.

If you don't feel your supply is big enough just know that a few days of cluster feeding and it'll be higher. Lots of hydration and patience for yourself - it's a really hard stage!

Keep an eye on baby's nappies for hydration if you do go that route. Best of luck!