A few simple precautions can reduce the risk of accidents and prevent unnecessary anxiety for you as a parent. The kind of precautions you need to take will depend on your individual situation. For example, a parent who has frequent seizures without warning and involving loss of consciousness, will need to take more care than a parent who rarely has seizures or who has a reliable warning of a seizure coming on. Getting some sleep All new parents, particularly the breast feeding mother, will experience overwhelming tiredness for the first few months. Sleep deprivation contributes to an increased chance of a seizure, so it is important that you try to catch up on sleep whenever possible.
Most babies wake during the night over the first few weeks.
Sharing the responsibility with your partner or a helper will assist you to get as much sleep as possible, especially if your baby is wakeful between feeds. During the day, try to sleep at the same time as the baby. To ensure you get uninterrupted rest, put a note on the front door, turn the phone volume down and turn the answering machine on. When you take your new baby home the maternal and child health nurse will be an excellent source of advice on baby care and general safety procedures during childhood. There are standard precautions which any parent with a baby or young child should consider, which also apply to the parent with epilepsy.