How much milk and how often?

Seems I have all these questions lately so I am so glad I have all you with experience to help me.

My 5 month old is still eating every 2 hours (sometimes he will go a little longer)  He has been eating 4oz since about 2 months old. 

Recently I started giving him 5 oz thinking he could go maybe 3 - 3 1/2 hours between feedings.  Yeah right!  Now he is eating 5oz every 2 - 2 1/2 hours.  He has his first feeding around 5/6 AM and his last around 6pm so he is eating around 30 - 35 oz per day. 

Am I totally off here?  Is he eating too much?  Should I give him 6 or 7 oz per feeding and feed him every 4 hours?  I was told to start him on cereal.  How much of that and how often?
breathe.............

I'm so confused

Alexander is still only taking 5-6 ounces and he is 8 months old. We are finally down to 3-4 feedings a day. When you start him on cereal, the feedings will get farther apart most likely. For cereal I would use about 2 ounces of breast milk and add the cereal to the constancy that worked for him. He liked t really think, but at first you should try it a little runny, then add more cereal if it is not thick enough for him. If they get gagging, it is too thick.

Good luck, just breathe

Are you spoon feeding the cereal or adding it to the bottle? Due to reflux Liam has had cereal added to the bottle since he was two months per MD orders. He takes 2 tablespoon per 4oz of formula. He has also had a 4-6oz (most times closer to the 6oz) bottle every 4 hours and lately going to every 5.

If you are adding in the cereal as a solid and spoon feeding him it isn't considered really for food but for practice eating and exposure to new tastes. So you should not decrease the amount of formula as of yet.

The book "What to expect: The first year" has some good suggestions on how to space out the feedings if the baby isn't doing it on his own. If you can't buy it maybe just check it out at the store to read up on just that section.

You start to feed him at 6am and he goes down to sleep at 6pm for the night? So he is managing 12 hours at night? Liam only manages 6-8 hours per night. I am not 100% on when they switch over to more like 12 hours but I thought it was a couple more months away. How is he napping during the day? It could be possible he is doing a cluster type feeding during the day to make up for going so long at night. Did your pedi have any suggestions for you?