What is wrong with my baby? Please help! Feeding (bottle) 14 times a day!!

[SweetElizaRose]

Dd is twelve weeks but was six weeks early. She follows the 50th centile for non corrected age and is off the charts if you adjust her to six weeks. She is twelve and a half pounds.
However she only takes tiny tiny amounts and so all I'm doing is feeding her. Over the course of 24 hours she has between 650 and 900mls depending on the day. The most she will ever take is 120mls but that is rare. Often it is 40mls or maybe 60 if we are lucky. It's causing me a lot of stress.
She is breast milk fed but it is all expressed. I'm getting really worried that she isn't eating enough and that for some reason she isn't able to drink a normal amount. Today so far she's only had 280mls and that's been over 6 feeds!! Going out is really difficult because I end up taking loads of bottles with small amounts in and also I never know when she wants feeding because it's basically all the time some days.
What should I do?

What flow teat are you using? Are you sure she is always crying with hunger? Does she take a dummy? How often are you giving her a bottle?

I'm still using a premmie teat as otherwise she chokes and milk goes everywhere.
She will cry and root and then just take 40mls.
I'm feeding her with a bottle between ten and fourteen times a day. She won't take a dummy, she gags and is sick.

It's frequent, but not off the scale :)

A BF baby of this age - six weeks or 12 weeks, no matter - might well feed this often. It must be time consuming for you, though, expressing it all :(

Some babies are just more comfortable, little and often. She may be fine. What does your Hv say? Are you still in touch with the neonatal/scbu people? Would they have advice? The volume of milk she is taking over 24 hours is on the low side for her weight, but not dramatically so.

Sounds like you need a proper discussion with someone who knows all about the history and whose judgment you trust.

DS2 is 6 months, bf so not sure of amounts but for the first 3 months he did nothing but feed. If he was off the breast for longer than about 20 mins he would cry. Don't know if it was hunger or comfort but he was pretty much permanently attached. I just accepted that's what he needed at the time so fed and watched a few box sets.
No advice really but just wanted you to know he grew out of it. He can go about 4 hours between feeds now. It was very difficult to go out and he wouldn't take a dummy either.
It's much easier now but a small part of me misses sitting snuggled up with him feeding.
I don't think anything is wrong with your baby, you are feeding her on demand which is what she needs. It will pass as her tummy grows and she can take more.

I think that's normal to be honest

As she's still using a premie teat and 6 weeks corrected it's like just feeding a 6 week old through a tiny teat which will stop them taking much at a time

10 times a day is normal at 6 weeks old.

Now she is bigge to would try and swap to a regular stage one flow teat. She will get more at a time so not get so worn out drinking and stop. They should be fairly slow still. Then hopefully she will be more at 90mins-2hrs in the day, and less overnight.

Tiktok - how much milk do you think she should be having? I'm scared there's something really wrong with her but I am generally very anxious about her. We've been discharged by everyone but I could try and contact the hv on Monday.
Today she's really worrying me as has only had 350mls all day, but she had her first jabs two days ago so could it be that?

Of course contact Hv. That's her job :)

Obv I have no idea of what your baby should be having...but what she's having sounds close to the usual reckoning of about 150-180 mls per kg in weight but do check this with the Hv.

Tell her you feel anxious too. With a baby born 34 weeks you are understandably anxious from the start and maybe this is still hanging over.

Eliza - sorry to hear you are still so stressed and scared. If your baby is on 50th percentile non age adjusted, and at the top of the percentile chart for age adjusted, what makes you think she is not feeding enough? If she is holding a steady weight gain along her percentile chart then she is doing great, and so are you. I am in no way a bf expert, but wonder whether the reason she feeds so little and often is perhaps because she's always being topped-up, so never hugely hungry?