4mo refuses to breastfeed

Support Needed

Honestly I’m gutted. I loved breastfeeding my boy. I don’t know exactly where I went wrong but I started giving him more bottles because he really didn’t want my boob for a little bit (around 8 weeks old) and I thought oh.. I’ll just compensate and bottle feed pumped milk and nurse a bit until that phase is over. And it’s not over, It’s gotten worse.

He absolutely hates to nurse. Only when he’s half asleep or waking up or suuuuuper calm he will latch and actually feed. And when he does he calms down so much and really seems so happy.
I don’t know what to do but I already switched bottles (lansinoh) from advent. Got him the slow flow nips and he still doesn’t care he would rather take a bottle than breast. I pump enough to feed him durning the day so I have enough milk I know that’s not it. He ate a lil over 18oz of milk from bottles and breastfeed for about 15 mins total today since 6am and it’s 8pm. He’s 16 weeks tomorrow, around 15 1/2 lbs and 25 inches long. I think he’s gaining steadily enough to know I’m feeding him enough.

We bonded so much over nursing and I’m just feeling really sad and broken up about this. He loved nursing. When I was exclusively nursing and no bottles he would eat 18+ times in 24 hrs. He is a snacker by preference (I think?)
It’s still 10+ times even with bottles. But when I feed him he rarely drinks more than 2.5-3.5 oz per feed. I really wanted to nurse him until he was at least a year old. I have no idea how to reverse this bottle preference. I think i need to go see a LC asap to figure out if it’s just his latch or what.

Has anyone else experienced this and how did you fix it ?

Posted May 24, 2026, 2:57 AM UTC

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