LO struggling with bottle

[OllyLewis]

HI,
My 12 week old used to be on the bottle with no problems at all (other than maybe eating a little too greedily). Over the past month he's been predominantly breast-fed, but still needs to be able to take bottle occasionally. However just in the past few weeks, he's really struggled.
We've tried changing brands and aged of teet but to no avail. I dont want to spend any more on new brands as I'm sure that's not the answer.
He arches his back sometimes, shakes his head, dribbles it out and seems to be gagging whenever he comes to swallow the milk.
He will get it down eventually but it's really upsetting watching him go through what must be quite a traumatic experience.
We're not too worried about weight loss (he's top 2 percentile!!) but just concerned that he's not going to be able to sustainably feed from bottle.

Thanks for all your help!

[narmada]

Sorry to say this is really common and early acceptance of a bottle is no indication that they will take one further down the line.

What's in the bottle? If formula, possibly it's the taste. If BM have you checked for a soapy-type smell? sometimes EBM goes a bit wierd in the fridge because of high lipase levels.

How about a cup or an open-topped beaker (with yr help of course!)?

[OllyLewis]

Thanks narmada...it's all BM.
Will check for the smell, not something we considered.

[CreatureRetorts]

Silly question but does he need a bottle? When he's on solids you can switch to a cup or beaker.

[leobear]

Hi Olly
My DD2 looked as though she was going to be a bottle refuser - she's breastfed, but I need her to have bottles from about 5.5 months as going back to work. Having initially accepted a bottle, she then refused all attempts (was using avent, as I did with DD1). On the recommendation of a friend, I got NUK bottles with a natural latex teat, and also slightly warmed the formula, and almost taught her to latch, in the way you do with breastfeeding. Most importantly, once she took it, we have given her at least one bottle every single day (so 5 breastfeeds and one bottle, or sometimes 2), so that she doesn't forget how to do it.

[OllyLewis]

Thanks leobear, that makes a lot of sense.