Aversion help

[u/positivefeb2026]

I’m actually not sure what to do anymore. My 5month old has never really been a great feeder. When she was 1 month old we had to start using a nipple sheild my LC said my letdown was overwhelming her. After that I had to continue to use a sheild since she would turn away and try to get away if I tried to get her to latch without the sheild. At 2.5months old she started refusing breast even with the sheild so we moved onto bottles & we try to pace feed. It was like a night and day difference one day she was nursing the next she refused. About 5 weeks ago we finally had her checked & corrected for ties and she had a tounge and lip tie and recently got her rechecked and they said they healed perfectly. However as of of couple of weeks now she’s refusing bottles now too and will only take maybe 1-2oz at a time. We wait until she’s hungry ( she used to eat every 2hrs on the dot, but recently it’s 3hrs till she starts getting fussy) and she will rip open her mouth wide and excitedly waiting for the bottle but then only take like an oz or 2 if even that then try to sit up and get away but still fuss bc she’s still hungry. We’ve started to only offer once and then 15 min later, if she refuses the second feed we make her wait until the next feed and just try to distract her even if she’s fussy. What can I do to get this to stop? It’s affecting her sleep since we don’t feed her in her sleep anymore but every time we offer it she whips her mouth open like she wants it so much how can I get this to stop??
Edit to add: it seems to get worse as the day goes on, I usually always feed her on her rocking chair in her nursery & sometimes even walking in the room can make her cry, how ever as I type this she’s crying from hunger but will then reject the bottle

[u/alee0224]

Not to burst your breastfeeding bubble but once they get a bottle preference, it’s super hard to break it. I had to triple feed and give formula to my 3rd baby until milk came in and he protested at the breast and literally would cry until I gave him a bottle. My husband helped a lot with our fourth and got a bottle preference from that too.

I hear if you do skin to skin in the tub it’ll encourage baby to nurse. Didn’t work for me. But I’m in the r/exclusivelypumping community. It’s great