4 months old baby will not take the bottle anymore

[caminix]

My 4 month old son has been taking bottles of ebm since he was 3 weeks old... until about 2 weeks ago when he started just point blank refusing the bottle! I know he can use the teats as he has done it so many times before, and I don't think he is teething/hurting him. I really want him to continue to take the bottle, does anyone have any suggestions of what to do? Today I am trying the tack of not giving him any feeds from the boob in the theory that when he is hungry enough he will take from the bottle... we have got to 9.30 and he has not had ANYTHING (he would usually have had about 8 oz by now).

I had this problem when DD was about 3 months old, at the time I was told it was a stage they go through and it will pass - this did not help me in the slightest as I was due o go back to work the following week and she was screaming at the sight of a bottle.
What teats are you using? We were using the avent teats and she was taking them fine but when this started any silicone teat was a no no. We switched to the latex nuk teats, made the milk very very warm (not hot enough to burn), and then I started off bfing then sliping the bottle in. This took a few days but after a week she was taking bottles ok and after a month she was back to taking any teat.
I tried the not giving the boob as well but this only made her more fustrated and worked up and there was no way she would've taken a bottle.
I was advised to let DH or someone else give the bottle as well but this didn't really work for her. Also another tip was for DH to wear my dressing gown while feeding her - this sort of worked from what I can remember.
Just keep offering the bottle and it will work out eventually.

That's really helpful, thank you Shelley. It is so frustrating! This morning I got to 11.30am with him not having had any food for over 12 hours but he was still not having anything to do with the bottle and I caved in and gave him the boob... It is a battle of the wills, but I feel I can't just not feed him for so long! I will try your suggestions. We have been using the Avent teats so far, but I will get some nuk ones - are they the ones that are shaped more like a nipple? DH has tried to get him to take the bottle, as has granny, but to no avail.

Hi caminix how are you getting on now? Don't know if they are more nipple shaped or not just know that they were smaller teats and had to buy new bottles as well. Just remembering that I had to hold dd very tightly when giving her a bottle at that stage almost like swaddling, had to tuck one arm underneath me like when your breastfeeding across the body and hold her other arm with my hand that wasn't feeding her the bottle. Sorry I haven't described that very well but it was so no arms were flapping about. This seemed to work with me anyway. I know how fustrating it is especially when they were taking the bottle fine before.