oh I couldn't agree more with this topic....the new born stage was so much easier in many ways!!
I have to say that for us, newborn stage was horrible--newborn through 6-months-old and then it got much, much better.
The benefit for my son as he is a spirited baby--once he got a bit older and could move about by himself more he became easier to take care of in a way--as long as you assembled some barriers for precaution. Up until that point he wanted to be personally entertained by me the 16+ hours a day he was awake (never took naps and slept fitfully at night--up every 2 hours all night long). He wasn't content to stare at a mobile above his crib or just lay on a mat and ooh and ahh. He wanted me to be standing over him playing with him all day long and if I didn't he would scream. And it had to be me--not another person. Day in, day out.
So, I actually felt that at 6 months my son started to become more "human" and I loved it. I loved introducing new foods to him. Y'know, he wasn't much on the pears but he loved the apples and one day I was eating some spicy curried lentils and he just crawled over to me and opened his mouth for a big bite and that was his first real solid food. He also just became able to get interested in a toy and stay focused on it for more than 10 seconds which was a nice reprieve from the first 6 months. I never got to experience that "sleepy newborn" with my son--he was just so full-on all the time.
So, I don't know, the refusal of milk was something I dealt with from day one. My son was very particular about that. He breastfed well (as in, had the right skill for it) but he hated breastfeeding and from early on (before 1 month old) he would push away and it was just a constant fight to get him to BF so we did the pumping thing which was a losing battle for 5 months. And then my son was very specific about when and how much he was willing to eat. Hunger for him was very off/on--so if he was not hungry not matter if it was time for the bottle, he would stiff-arm us and push away (as early as 3 months) and if he was hungry he became hungry immediately (no warning signs at all) and would begin screaming like he hadn't been fed in days.
To me, a little refusal of the bottle at 6 months isn't all that defiant. By 1-year-old my son would refuse to eat sometimes for days and I was frantic. On the doctor's advice, I just kept offering and not getting upset if he didn't eat and soon enough he would get hungry enough to accept. And that was almost 1.5 years ago so he hasn't starved yet.
So, just see it this way, you had a smooth road for the first 6 months but in life you gotta pay your dues sometimes and kids are good toll collectors.