How to get EBF 12 week old to take bottle

[WongSiewTin]

I’m having to make the difficult decision to switch from EBF my 12 week old DS to be bottle fed (my mental health is severely suffering being the only source of food and it’s affecting other aspects of my life).
Does anyone have any recommendations on how I can get my baby to take a bottle? We’ve tried the MAM, Tommy Tippee and Minbie bottles and he really dislikes them. He will have some milk from the bottles but then starts rejecting them, he will scream when we try and persevere.
We’ve tried giving him just expressed breast milk but he rejects that just like he rejects a mix and also just formula.
He used to take a bottle when he was much younger (about 5 weeks old) but then I made the decision to exclusively breast feed and since then he has not been fond of the bottle at all.
We’ve tried having my husband only give him the bottle but he screams.
Is it a lost cause? And should I be gradually introducing a bottle or go cold turkey?
Any advice is appreciated!

Do you need him to accept a bottle at this age? Mine was the same until he started solids at 6 months and he started drinking from a sippy cup or through a straw at mealtimes. He sometimes has his milk like that now if I'm not around x

It’s so hard, isn’t it @WongSiewTin We had the same problem when we needed to supplement bf with formula for a while. It was a nightmare. Ds seemed to absolutely hate all bottles. On the advice of a health visitor, I started leaving the room while my husband gave him a bottle (something to do with baby being able to smell your milk, so knowing there was another option and rejecting the bottle). It still wasn’t perfect, but it seemed to improve things slightly.

I returned to work when my LO was 5 months old and had to get her to take a bottle so I could leave her. It was 2 months of hell. We tried every test and bottle, different feeding positions, someone else feeding her, feeding her when moving, feeding her in her sleep... My advice is don't put both of you through that unless you absolutely have to. Agree with pp that your LO will likely outgrow it at around 6 months. She might take a sippy cup and will be starting solids then too so there's a lot less pressure.

You haven't done anything wrong, it's really common for babies to refuse a bottle at this stage no matter how many bottles they took previously. My best friends 4 month old had started refusing EBM despite previously having a bottle a day.

Thanks for the advice! I do need to give up the breastfeeding as it’s affecting my marriage and my mental health is suffering. Our LO was premature and born at 4.4 pounds and I’ve breastfed him since but I’ve been having sleepless nights for the past 12 weeks since he was born and he feeds so much to put on the weight required and I just can’t keep doing this anymore so I do need to change to the bottle.
Is going cold turkey with the breastfeeding an option? I don’t want him to get a negative association with the bottle.

Ive heard people say you should drop one feed, give it a couple of days the drop another, and so on. It’s supposed to allow your milk supply to adapt. But I’m really no expert, and there’s probably a few ways to do it.
Have you tried speaking to your health visitor? Mine put me in touch with a local breastfeeding specialist who could offer all kinds of support (including the best ways to reduce/stop feeds). She was absolutely amazing. I know lockdown has stopped a lot of these groups ruining, but the breastfeeding support has continued here virtually.
Big hugs to you @WongSiewTin

Honestly if I were you I’d go out. All day. Your husband will just have to cope, baby will take a bottle eventually. Definitely have a variety of teats, go for the small ones as bottles tend to be a faster flow than breast so baby can struggle a bit to keep up