@Elyssa I have given him fresh expressed and frozen. It’s so frustrating because the minute the bottle hits his lips he doesn’t want it.
When I used breast milk my lactation constant recommended using evenflo balance+ wide neck bottles because they were closest to a real nipple. My daughter is on formula now but we still use these bottles and we love them. Also, is he ready for level 3? I would have no idea, my daughter uses the medium level flow and her formula is thickened. But maybe that’s too fast for him? As long as it’s similar to the flow of your letdown when you BF.
My baby is almost 6M and uses level 2 nipples. My LC told me to give the bottle to Dad when she’s hungry and leave. Go run errands. This worked a little, but honestly, she didn’t start taking the bottles until she started going to childcare. I tried spoon feeding her milk, putting it in a syringe, countless numbers of bottles—nothing. Came to pick her up that first day—she’d drank all the milk I sent with her. I know how frustrating it is. Your baby is getting old enough to start cup training soon though. You could try sippy cups, 360 cups, or straw cups, and see how those go?
My baby also hated bottles until we got Pigeon bottles (they have them on Amazon). She loves them!!
following cuz i might be going back to work soon too & my son is EBF, we’ve never even tried a bottle with him
Are you feeding him freshly expressed milk? Frozen milk? Formula? I found my son prefers fresh milk or a mix of fresh & frozen. He would fight and cry if we gave him just the frozen. Maybe that helps? Sorry I’m also a FTM!