6 weeks old, some questions

srbmvp

The twins are 6 weeks now, and it's been really hard but we are still hanging in! But I have some questions I'm hoping you ladies might have some insight into.

1. At 6 weeks, about how long did your LO nurse for? Right now the boys eat about every 2 hours during the day, 1 hour cluster feeding in the evening (though they are colicky so that is as much about comfort as it is about food) and 3-5 hour stretches at night. The first 5 minutes or so they will drink pretty actively, then they fall asleep and I have to keep trying to wake them back up for the next 15 minutes or so.... I'm just wondering how much of that other 15 minutes they really need...

2. At about what age do babies figure out how to latch all on their own? I can't remember when DS1 did it, and it can be tricky to tandem feed and have to keep fixing latches. Plus it's really hard to see what I'm doing in the middle of the night!

3. When do babies outgrow the constantly falling asleep while eating? Before bed, I nurse them but can usually only get them to eat 5-10 minutes before they won't respond anymore. So after that we top them both off with 1 oz of milk or formula, since they don't have to work nearly as hard on the bottle, so that I can get an actual stretch of sleep... usually they go about 4 hours at this point. I've been trying to pump after they go to bed to make up the difference, and can usually get those 2 oz! So how do I get them to stay awake long enough to eat enough to give me some sleep, without having to resort to bottles?!?!?

4. At what age do babies learn how to keep pacifiers in their mouths, or is there a way to help teach them? With two babies with colic, pacifiers are a necessary evil in my house, but neither baby can hold onto it. I've run out of arms between rocking and holding pacis in place, ugh.

Thanks for any ideas/answers you might have!