2mo - please help me get started. Lots of questions

[muffine]

I have a two months old and his feeding and sleeping schedule is all over the place. In the evenings his sleeps varies a lot - he could wake from every 2-4 hours. He wakes up at different time every day, and I have a hard time judging how much milk he needs. He gets pumped milk in a bottle, and i suspect that he has mild reflux. He typically takes 4oz per feeding, but he needs to do it in two sitting. Sometimes he seem hungry even after 4oz so we give him more. As a result, feeding can take a long time. Towards the evening he is very fussy and will drink a lot to sooth himself. He rarely spits up though, but if he takes too much milk i could tell he gets uncomfortable, and it will be a long night we are having.

My questions are:
1. How do I get him on the schedule, at least to start the day roughly around the same time? In fact, is it necessary to start the day around the same time everyday?

2. I try to wind him down at about 45 to 1 hour after he wakes, but he doesn't always fall asleep right away and ends up getting overtired.  I usually rock him till his drowsy and put him down, but when I am desperate, I wait till he's in deeper sleep before i put him down. Am I doing it right?

3. How much milk should i give him? If he seems to want more, should i give him more? It really lengthens the wake time sometimes...

4. If he wakes before the next feeding time, what should i do?

5. What is a realistic expectation of his night sleep for this age? Do most babies this age following EASY sleep a 4-5 hour stretch consistently?

Thanks.

5.

[muffine]

another question: like today LO is overtired because of poor naps in the morning, and he just fell asleep about 40mins because the next feeding time - should i still wake him to feed?

[Ima shel Alon]

How do I get him on the schedule, at least to start the day roughly around the same time? In fact, is it necessary to start the day around the same time everyday?

It is helpful, at least in the beginning to wake up your LO every day at the same hour. It will set his body clock and your day can be more predictable this way. There is a lot of good information here about how to start EASY: Starting EASY - all you need to know and more!

I try to wind him down at about 45 to 1 hour after he wakes, but he doesn't always fall asleep right away and ends up getting overtired.

The A time that you are giving him is probably not enough, so when he is put down he is UT, doesn't manage to fall asleep and ends up OT - this is very normal. At his age he should be doing more like 1:15-1:20h A time (Average A times- BOOKMARK ME! ) so IIWY I would be working on gradually increasing his A time, by 10-15min every 3-4 days till you are getting good naps/it's not hard to settle him for naps/when you are reaching 1:15-1:20h A time.

How much milk should i give him? If he seems to want more, should i give him more? It really lengthens the wake time sometimes...

If you are giving him milk in two sitting it could be that he is snacking. In order for him to stop doing that you'd need to space the feeds enough for him to take a full feed. If he is draining the bottle (in one sitting) then he is ready for more in the bottle.
If you are concerned that he has Reflux then I'd really go and see a ped. for that. He can be medicated for it and not have the pain anymore, yk? Also, with Reflux babies feeding is a whole lot different because the feeds are painful for them (most of the time, not with all). There is some information on the Reflux board: Colic, Reflux, & Crying

If he wakes before the next feeding time, what should i do?

It depends how long it is. If it's only 30-45min before the next feed and he seems hungry then I'd feed him but if there is still a while then your EASY cycle will look like this: EASAEAS

What is a realistic expectation of his night sleep for this age? Do most babies this age following EASY sleep a 4-5 hour stretch consistently?

Every baby is different. Mine didn't at this age and he was partly on formula at this age. We had NF every 3h because he was a very hungry and a big baby. But at the same time there are babies this age who wake up once at night and that's it. Every baby has different needs
.

like today LO is overtired because of poor naps in the morning, and he just fell asleep about 40mins because the next feeding time - should i still wake him to feed?

I never woke from naps unless they were very long, like 2.5-3h at this age. I believe that a hungry baby will always wake up to feed. If you let him wake up from his nap naturally then you simply start your EASY cycle from then. Sure, you will need to adjust the day a bit, but that's to be expected and IMO better than dealing with an OT baby.

HTH Good luck!