hi - congratulatuons on your little baby.
it sounds like what you have is a sleep issue not a food issue. she seems to be doing just fine if she is taking 3-6 oz every feed. just make sure she has an average of 6 wet nappies per day and is gaining weight.
as far as the wakeful periods i would suggest your #1 goal right now should be on trying to get her to take a nap in EVERY single EASY cycle during the day (that is until bedtime). you do not need to put her on a set schedule so to speak but want/need to eliminate those periods where she is awake for 4 hrs, etc
Olivia is now 6 months and for the first 7 weeks she was like your lo.
this is our story from another post yesterday:
1st 7 weeks - Olivia was insane! and as a result we were too. she gave no tired signs (maybe yawned 3 times in 7 weeks - woudl yawn sometimes IN the cot but never as a tired sign ) so we woud finally decide she HAD to nap and when put her down was always overtired - she could fight straight through an entire nap period and then be up again... so sometimes we had 4-5 hr stretches in the day and then when we would do nighttime feed and bath etc we would put her down bet 7-8 (because she usually had a decent nap around 5-6 thank god) and she would be up and down until 10-11pm with me hysterically crying etc and dh pat/shhing her and finally rocking the basinette (he could jiggle well and she owuld finally go to sleep) as a result i ended up with PPD
turning pt came at 7 weeks when we started
putting her down at 45 min and she started napping. gradually improved from there. i think this is the cornerstone for getting on track with a spirited one - get them to take regular naps (length not as important) . she never nappd the same 2 days in a row (usually from 2-4 months she had at least 1 x 2hr nap and then the others were 45min - 1 1/2 hrs) but the goal was to nap every cycle so she never again got overtired.
i think this is what you need to try. she is obviously not giving you tired signs that you can see and she needs to rest - even if she can physically stay awake for hours it is not healthy for a young infant to do so - when they are sleepinjg is when they recharge, brain development takes place, etc. It is critical that she gets regular rest - the length is not as important just yet - try finding how long she can stay awake without getting overstimulated and overtired (which are what prevent her frojm going down for a nap). if she goes down for a nap and then wakes up before 1 1/2 hrs then you can try pat/shh to resettle her. she has to learn to resettle herself over time (some learn quicker than others).
i would guess that she is going to be a spirited baby (at least as far as sleep but possibly in other ways too) so maybe check out the thread i was mentioning as it can be helpful to "watch" this thread over time.
http://www.babywhisperer.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=40851&highlight=let me know how you go if you try putting her down earlier - no more than 45 min from waking up - and she naps. we can start to work out an EASY plan for you but the key is to have her EAT, then have some up time (at 2 weeks this can be a feed + 5 min cuddle / chat + nappy change, or even longer if she feeds quickly and seems ok).
if you try 45 min and she is overtired - fights sleep and won't go down, then the next cycle try 35 min and work back until you find her "magic numnber". does this make sense to you -