u/Super_Ambassador_458

Hello, I am getting very confused with the milk intake my baby is supposed to take. My boy was born at 24 weeks and is now 4 months adjusted. Because of this, I have been exclusively pumping like crazy for 8 months now 😭😭, about 900ml on good days (30oz). He currently eats between 800-960ml per day (27-32oz).

I am getting confused and second guessing everything because of the following reasons:

1. at NICU, for the 4 months he was in, he was getting strictly 150-200ml per kg of expressed milk.

2. NHS website says to feed them 150-200ml per kg.

3. My baby seems not too hungry even if he eats only 800ml per day (but he is 6.5kg), so that is 123ml per kg.

4. I started reading on Google that the milk volume doesn't increase much between 1 month and 6 months.

So is this true, in your experience? Did your baby start to plateau on their volume needed as they grew, did they eat the same-ish volumes at 2 months vs 4 months vs 6 months?? I keep finding conflicting info and some people saying this is a myth, so hoping to read people's experience. I am finding myself forcing him to wake up and feed now in order to meet that 150ml per kg guideline, and he has jumper from 2nd to 9th and now to 20th centile over the past couple months.

My ex 24+3 preemie is now almost 15 weeks adjusted. He's done amazing overall, he came home 1 day after his due date on a small amount of oxygen, which we are sure he's ready to come off of now, just awaiting a sleep study. He did have an ROP surgery this week, but recovered well and fast.

All this to say, he has come off lightly considering his difficult start. He's always been a veeery chilled out baby, the nurses used to joke how they could forget about him, just lying quietly in a corner. He is for the most part quiet, doesn't cry much, settles easily and loves sleep. He had his 12 week developmental review and seemed good, just needs to work on neck strength.

Here is my question - anyone who has an ex 24 weeker - how much did your baby sleep? What could they do tummy time wise at 3/4 months, were they a "chatty" baby?

Sometimes I am concerned he sleeps so much that he's not getting enough interaction and time to do tummy time. On the other hand, it doesn't seem right to force him to be awake, as he gets fussy. He sleeps roughly 17 hours a day. His tummy time is not great at all yet, he can lift his head at a 45 degree angle but it's hard for him and he can't keep it up for more than maybe a minute or two. Doesn't help he has reflux, so we have a limited time window where he's awake but won't throw up if on his tummy.