to refuse to drive when sleep deprived?

[fluffles]

i suffer a lot when sleep deprived, resulting often in migraines which render me incapable of speech or anything else and virutally blind (symptoms like a stroke - called 'hemiplegic migraines) until i've taken medication, after taking the pills i 'come round' in about 20mins to just an ordinary splitting headache.

when our baby is born, i am intending to bf and therefore not get much sleep. i am worried about migraine when in charge of a baby and i am also worried about driving. i honestly feel more woosy when sleep deprived than when i've had a big glass of wine.

would i be unreasonable to refuse to drive at all until i feel i've got over the worst of the sleep deprivation? afterall, i'd never drive drunk so probably shouldn't drive knackered.

not unreasonable not to drive if you don't feel capable of doing so - would be irresponsible to get behind the wheel knowing you become virtually blind.
I wouldn't issue a blanket ban though - see how you go and try co-sleeping, you'll prob get more zzzz's that way.

I have your exact problem too - I am so glad to have read your post. I do refuse to drive on occasions, to the point I will not take DS to nursery or go into town. I know people think I'm nuts ( my mum does an excellent eye roll when I say this). But I agree - I would not endanger lives by driving drunk and incapacitated so I will not drive because tiredness affects me in the same way.

RedShoes glad to find somebody else who suffers (sorry, that sounds callous) but most people think i'm just being a wimp when tiredness makes me feel worse than flu.

I suffer from the stroke like migraines too (most recently for 10 days.../sob) and YANBU! No way would I risk this!

YADNBU at all! Very sensible, it's too much risk, especially when you have a baby to look after.

read this

YANBU

Another sufferer. Another YANUB and another vote for co sleeping. It was the only way i could survive ds. Dont blanket ban but see how you feel. If you feel ery tired dont drive, if you feel tired but not too tired drive. I have been known to get in the car feeling ok to drive pull out of the drive to the top of the road, turnh around and go home because actually my attention just isnt there. WRT baby and mirgraines. Check that the meds are ok for bf as mine weren't which was a nightmare.

YANBU. I often refused to drive when dd was a baby and I hadn't had enough sleep. It's totally irresponsible to drive when you're not sufficiently alert.

When i had my last baby in 1988 the official advice was don't drive for 6 weeks after the birth (brilliant advice!) and i would say for longer if you're not getting any sleep YAdefNBU.

It would be responsible of you NOT to drive when you are feeling incapable of it.

However, if you are worried about looking after the baby when feeling like that, why breast feed?

YANBU

BUT.

DD slept really well from the start so you may be worrying about nothing. Even when she was still BF.

Although i think that this is a good idea, i would warn against cutting yourself off as for me, this would have caused me much phsychological anx.

For me, i learned to manage my symptoms very evry tightly, the smallest hint of a headache...drugs.
Drank loads of water (You do this any way when bf)
And sleep as much as possible. I was not able to, but again i managed this.

Some days i was just a walking corpse, unable to stand without swaying and having to grip onto the nearest solid surface to steady me.
Other days not so bad...although did get to Morrisons in my big pink fluffy slippers once.
Was heading to Tesco, not sure how i got to Morrisons tbh.
Not good.

yanbu - good for you as it could be dangerous.