[blparent] falling asleep?

[Leslie Hamric]

Hi All.  I was wondering if you could give me any ideas, as I'm running into
a problem that could be potentially serious.  Its happened a few times where
I've fallen asleep with my baby in my arms.  The first time it happened, one
of the nurses saw it and she informed me that I could potentially suffocate
my baby by doing this. The problem is that I don't always know I'm getting
sleepy unless someone tells me I am or until I start nodding off.  I had a
sleep study done in 2004 and the specialist said I have a non 24 hour sleep
cycle and the only way to remedy that is to get a full 8 hours of sleep at
the same time every night.  Well, we both know that's virtually impossible
now that I'm a new mom.  Have you ever had this problem and if so, what
kinds of things did you do to stay awake while holding your baby?  One thing
I've tried was having the radio on and that doesn't seem to help.  Andy's
really worried about me too. He doesn't want me to fall asleep and
accidentally smother the baby.  I don't want that either.  I'm just at a
loss of how to solve this issue.  I've heard other blind people having the
same problem since they don't get the light stimulation.

Leslie