My recollection is a once-returner has eradicated three fetters; which would mean Gotama would have always been free from view of real self and always had no doubts about the Path. If this was so, Gotama would not have been required to search for the Path. This apparent contradiction makes MN 81 questionable (unless Jotipala was a poor student of poor learning).
MN 123 gives an account of Gotama's birth; which appears to contradict MN 64; giving the impression MN 123 is also questionable; unless we believe in supernatural Jesus-like feats of new born infants.
MN 123 wrote:‘As soon as he’s born, the being intent on awakening stands firm with his own feet on the ground. Facing north, he takes seven strides with a white parasol held above him, surveys all quarters, and makes this dramatic statement: “I am the foremost in the world! I am the eldest in the world! I am the best in the world! This is my last rebirth. Now there are no more future lives.”’
https://suttacentral.net/mn123/en/sujato
I recommend Bhikkhu Sujato's recent introduction to the DN (here); which appears to give a possible reason why the DN creates stories about past Buddhas to impress & complete with the Brahman priests.MN 123 wrote:For a little baby doesn’t even have a concept of ‘identity’, so how could identity view possibly arise in them?...
https://suttacentral.net/mn64/en/sujato
It is no coincidence that these elaborate texts are often addressed to the brahmins, who were the self-proclaimed spiritual leaders of the time. The brahmins were the custodians of the most sophisticated texts in ancient India up to this time, the Vedic literature. It seems that one aim of the Dīgha was to impress such learned men. These discourses offer a wide range of examples of how the Buddha related to those of other religious paths.
Bhikkhu Sujato