u/Admirable-Recover-97

I've been trying to remove the feed to sleep association ahead of sleep training but I've realised my baby will only accept the bottle when extremely drowsy or basically already asleep. He is used to being fed to sleep for naps and bedtime or takes his bottle as soon as he wakes from nap where he's still half asleep.

Since I started trying to remove feed to sleep three days ago, he's been really heavily rejecting the bottle when alert and awake. This looks like him screaming when I put him in bottle feeding position, or crying when he sees the bottle, or pushing away from it / pushing the teat out of his mouth.

Obviously I am trying to not put any pressure on or be forceful but I am getting worried about the amount he is drinking since I started trying to stop feeding to sleep.

I just had to feed him to sleep for his nap today because it got to 4pm and he'd only had 70ml of formula since waking up at 6:30am.

He has been refusing to take the bottle 30 mins before bed time which meant his last bottle was the one straight after his last nap (2.5 ish hours before bed time). So I'd been rocking him to sleep instead but each of the three nights he wakes 30 minutes later like clockwork for his milk then guzzles 180ml and goes straight back to sleep.

What do I do!

He's 5 months old

Baby is just shy of 5 months old and when he is 6 months old I want to try sleep training via CIO.

He is up nearly every hour in the night currently as he can't connect sleep cycles. Some nights it's every 45 minutes all night long. He wakes up crying, needs holding for a minute, then can be put back down. After 4:30am it's hard to put him back down at all, have to stay up holding him until he wakes up. His current bed time is around 7:30pm and he naturally wakes for the day between 6:30-7:30am. Currently has two to three night feeds. I have no problem with night feeds and not expecting a 12 hour sleep. Just to not have him wake crying every hour all night long, for him to be able to transition into the next sleep cycle independently without parental intervention.

He is currently fed or rocked to sleep. I can't attempt any form of sleep training before 6 months due to living with relatives, but they will be away for a few weeks when he's 6 months.

I have tried moving bottle earlier in his nighttime routine but he refuses it until the very end then usually falls asleep on the bottle.

So any advice on what I can do to prepare in the meantime or what his wake/nap schedule should look like at 6 months, so I can ensure Extinction method is effective.