Hey I am not up to this point yet so feel free to dismiss this as coming from someone without any IRL experience but could you try feeding him for less time to start with? So if his feeds normally go for 10mins, just keep your eye on the time and drop it down a minute or two every few days until he's only feeding for a minute or two. It might be easier to have him accept a cuddle in place of a very short feed.

Dunno, just an idea. Good luck whatever you decide to do.