14 week old screaming during feeding

[AquaMaker]

My baby is 14 weeks old and feeding has been a struggle the past 2 weeks. He is formula fed and until 12 weeks he fed well, taking 4-5 oz every 2.5 hours.

Now he starts screaming and crying as soon as I put his bib on and will only drink a little (about 30ml) before pushing the bottle away with his tongue, pulling his head back and crying again. I then end up having to distract him to get him to drink his bottle.

He has a tongue tie and there’s a lot of milk spill during feeds (possibly due to poor latching?) but we were told but that nothing would be done since he is formula fed and is gaining weight okay.

Feeding has now become extremely stressful for both of us and I don’t know what I can do. I’m worried that he is developing a bottle aversion..

That sounds very stressful. I've had one with a TT and it makes things very difficult. We had problems not only with milk feeds but weaning, sleep and speech.

I'd get it divided if you can. There's a list of Tongue Tie Practitioners here.

Can I ask what milk he's on too?

Aside for the obvious going back and trying to get it surgically resolved, have you tried changing the teet/getting a new bottle? They recommend changing plastic bottles every 4 months anyway.

It may be that the flow is too fast for him, and the milk is coming through faster than he can swallow it and it's making him distressed (which sounds possible if lots is being spilled).

Or potentially the opposite, that it's damaged, or blocked, or too slow and he's sucking and it's not coming fast enough and he's getting hungry and frustrated.