How much should an 8-week-old eat?

My 8-week-old, 10 1/2-pound daughter eats only 2 to 4 ounces of formula at every feed. I try to space her feeds out to about every three hours, but sometimes she wants to eat every one to two hours. She will not eat more than the 2 to 4 ounces each time. How much should she be eating each time and how long should she wait between feeds? She only sleeps two to three hours in a row at night, and every reference I find says that once she weighs 11 pounds, she should sleep through the night.

A baby of your child's age and weight usually drinks about 5 to 6 ounces of formula per feed and has five to seven feeds per 24 hours. It sounds as though your daughter likes grazing. Try to increase the amount of time between feeds by stalling her a bit when she wants to eat again - add about half an hour between feeds until she goes at least three hours between feeds during the day. To do this, try to amuse her when she starts to become restless and fret as if she's hungry. Babies this age love to watch mobiles, be talked to, gently tickled and touched, and generally enjoy you for more than your ability to provide room service. Her cries by now are signalling much more than hunger; she wants your company as social organiser as well. In terms of "sleeping through the night", this is really a matter of neurological maturation and not weight, although they do go together somewhat. At this age, your daughter should be beginning to increase the time between feeds at night, but she still needs to be fed pretty much around the clock. And, for a while at least, sleeping through the night is defined as five to six hours, so it may be some time before you get a full eight hours again. When she stirs at night, wait a bit before picking her up to see if she can settle herself back to sleep. She's just learning how to do that, so give her a chance to get herself into a deep sleep again after one of those expected arousals. If necessary, wrap her up again and help her find a thumb and then let her do it. Babies - and adults for that matter - never sleep through; they just learn to settle themselves and not bother the rest of the world. The other thing about babies is that they're all individuals and never read the same books that their parents do! She'll "sleep through" when she's ready.