5.5 month old won't take bottle unless I give calpol first

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My LO has recently started refusing his bottle , he is clearly hungry but just cries and turns his head when I offer the bottle. Today I've noticed, if I give him the tiniest bit of calpol beforehand for some reason he then takes the bottle. Obviously I can't keep doing this so I'm wondering if there's anything else like something sweet I can offer instead of calpol. Or , is he just ready to be weaned? He has porridge every morning & loves it! Thoughts?

How old is he ?

Literally says his age in the title!

He might be in pain from teething.

It's in the title fuzzy.

How did you discover this OP? Weird thing to do. Perhaps he's ready to wean but I wouldn't go straight to sweet stuff or your problem will worsen.

Will he take the teeniest bit of milk from the calpol syringe, then the milk from his bottle?

@Jenala because, he had injections yesterday so was giving calpol frequently and he took his bottles with ease so I just tried a tiny bit today when he was being fussy and it worked. X

Teething is definitely a possibility - if his gums are sore then sucking on the bottle teat will hurt. Try rubbing some teething gel on his gums before feeding and see if that helps.