Breastfeeding and sleep troubles
New dad here. My daughter is now 3 months old and we're having a few issues with feedings and naps.
To start, she sleeps pretty consistently over night. We usually get a 4-5 hour initial stretch, a feed and then another 3-5 hours after that. Night sleeping does not seem to be an issue.
The problems we have are during the day. She doesn't seem to want to nap at all, or at least not in her bassinet. She never has. We have blackout curtains in the bedroom so it's not like the light is keeping her awake. Sometimes she'll have a 45 minute feed, some play time/stories and then start yawning so we'll try to put her down in her bassinet only to spend 30 minutes to an hour getting her to fall asleep. Even then, the nap lasts 10-20 minutes.
Other times she'll fall asleep while feeding within 5 minutes and just can't be woken up (this is after she does all the signals for hunger). We'll try to transfer her to the bassinet but again, nothing but crying and maybe a 10 minute nap after 30 minutes of getting her to sleep again. If we take her out and try to feed her, she falls asleep within 5 minutes again.
My wife has been to a lactation consultant twice and they've said everything seems to be fine with her latch. We're really not sure where to go from here as far as feedings go. It's incredibly frustrating. She falls asleep so often that my wife basically has her on the breast almost all day from 9AM - 9PM.
The interesting thing with the sleep issue is that we can lay her in her crib and walk away for 5 minutes to wash our hands, brush teeth, use the washroom, etc and she just lays there quietly. We have a swinging chair and she'll also sit quietly there while we make dinner. Sometimes she'll even fall asleep for 2 hours at a time in it. She just hates this bassinet during the day! We're trying not to make the chair a "nap time" chair and are trying to get her into the routine of "Ok I'm in my bassinet, time to sleep" but it just doesn't seem to be working.
Anyone else been here? Any advice? Happy to give more info if needed.
I should also mention we have a white noise machine and have also tried music. They don't seem to make a difference.
To start, she sleeps pretty consistently over night. We usually get a 4-5 hour initial stretch, a feed and then another 3-5 hours after that. Night sleeping does not seem to be an issue.
The problems we have are during the day. She doesn't seem to want to nap at all, or at least not in her bassinet. She never has. We have blackout curtains in the bedroom so it's not like the light is keeping her awake. Sometimes she'll have a 45 minute feed, some play time/stories and then start yawning so we'll try to put her down in her bassinet only to spend 30 minutes to an hour getting her to fall asleep. Even then, the nap lasts 10-20 minutes.
Other times she'll fall asleep while feeding within 5 minutes and just can't be woken up (this is after she does all the signals for hunger). We'll try to transfer her to the bassinet but again, nothing but crying and maybe a 10 minute nap after 30 minutes of getting her to sleep again. If we take her out and try to feed her, she falls asleep within 5 minutes again.
My wife has been to a lactation consultant twice and they've said everything seems to be fine with her latch. We're really not sure where to go from here as far as feedings go. It's incredibly frustrating. She falls asleep so often that my wife basically has her on the breast almost all day from 9AM - 9PM.
The interesting thing with the sleep issue is that we can lay her in her crib and walk away for 5 minutes to wash our hands, brush teeth, use the washroom, etc and she just lays there quietly. We have a swinging chair and she'll also sit quietly there while we make dinner. Sometimes she'll even fall asleep for 2 hours at a time in it. She just hates this bassinet during the day! We're trying not to make the chair a "nap time" chair and are trying to get her into the routine of "Ok I'm in my bassinet, time to sleep" but it just doesn't seem to be working.
Anyone else been here? Any advice? Happy to give more info if needed.
I should also mention we have a white noise machine and have also tried music. They don't seem to make a difference.