If baby truly has an oral aversion, an occupational therapist trained in 
sensory integration techniques could be helpful.
Once you've ruled out all the usual reasons a baby CAN'T breastfeed, and 
think that the baby just has decided it doesn't work, her are some tips:

Try distraction - show baby toys, especially things that rattle or 
jingle, and get him laughing and relaxed.  Then play with him with the 
breast.  Diane Wiessinger once suggested tickling baby in various placed 
with mom's breast, and then tickling his lips.  This has worked for me 
with older nonlatching babies- tickle belly with nipple, make funny 
noise, baby laughs, mommy laughs, tickle arm with nipple, same deal, 
tickle cheek, tickle philtrum (ridge between nose and upper lip), baby 
opens mouth, mom laughs and pops breast into mouth.  Hopefully baby 
sucks.  If he just lets it sit there, fine, that's enough for the first 
try.  Mom can express some milk into his mouth after he is happy to 
mouth the breast.  Any time baby starts to resist or get tense, go back 
to the toys, then try the breast again.  Several very adamant older 
non-nursers learned to take the breast this way.

Mom can also try the "tough love" technique (my name for it) - put baby 
in just diaper on mom's bare chest, her reclining, him laying on his 
belly on her chest.  No one forces him to the breast but his reflexes 
often take over. Mom strokes baby, talks softly to baby, tries to keep 
baby's oxytocin level high.  If he gets really upset, cup feed him a 
tiny bit of milk and try again immediately.  If he falls asleep on mom's 
chest, let him stay there, and when he wakes up again, he is likely to 
latch.  This worked with 2 little girls who absolutely wanted nothing to 
do with the breast.  Each of them took it once or twice with a nipple 
shield, and then refused, and nothing else worked, though the reasons 
they initially had difficulty was resolved (first case mom was very ill 
postpartum and could not bf, second case had severe tongue tie that was 
divided weeks before, and her tongue motions were now so much better).  
The first little girl took 3 days of this tough love before she latched 
reliably without crying, and never looked back.  SHe turned out to be 
very gifted intellectually.  With the little girl with the treated 
tongue tie, we only had to do it once, for about an hour, and she's been 
latching ever since.  She seems to be a very smart baby as well.  
Sometimes I think the smart ones make decisions early about what works 
for them and what doesn't, and refuse to try what they've decided does 
not work.  We need to overcome their learned resistence by offering the 
breast in a totally novel way (mom on hands and knees), or distracting 
them so they don't realize what we are doing, or letting their reflexes 
take over often works.

If baby learns to take in the breast and does not suck, then providing 
flow from an eyedropper or periodontal syringe or mom expressing the 
breast can work to make baby swallow.  Once he swallows, the suck 
swallow breathe cascade often starts.
Good luck, these older babies can be challenging to work with, but it's 
not at all impossible.
Catherine Watson Genna, IBCLC  NYC

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