Why would you need a night nurse?

Sometimes people ask me why we came up with the idea for Nightingale Night Nurses (or how we came up with the idea). It was a process, but basically it came down to this: I’ve been working with new parents and their children for years, and one of the major thing I consistently see is sleep deprivation.

Think about it: when one of your friends has a baby, what’s one of the first assumptions you make about their life now? Probably that it’s much busier — and very tiring. A lot of times, first-time parents will nail it (yes, this does happen) and they’re surprised by the fact that a lot of their adult friends drop off. When they reach out to those friends, the first response is usually: “Oh, I just assumed you were super busy and always tired.”

Now, a lot of the times, this is the case. That’s for sure.

Times vary by individual, but in general an adult human being should get between 7.5 and 9 hours of sleep to be their best. Children and teenagers need more — but the irony of very young children, of course, is that they don’t often sleep through the night. Their sleep might come at other times of day. As a parent, you have a completely innate sense of connection and being a caretaker for your new child (and any other children). So, if the child has overnight needs, you naturally want to attend to those needs — but in the process, you reduce your own effectiveness as an adult.

And, in many cases, you have a job on top of all this — whether that job is waking up and being a stay-at-home parent or you go into an office. Going to a job on three hours of sleep vs. eight hours of sleep is a big difference. If you have a hair-trigger, performance-driven boss, sleep can be the difference between keeping that job and getting laid off. (Sad, but unfortunately true.)

This is all a long way of explaining the beginning of why the Nightingales became to be. We want to help you get the sleep that you need — all with the security of knowing those you love the most are in good hands.

As I mentioned, parents are hard-wired to be responsive to their baby’s needs. Giving this up can be one of the hardest things for some moms and dads, especially first-timers. They want to be there for all the moments, even the 3am ones, so they get confused by the idea of a night nurse. If that’s your boat — but at the same time you find yourself half-awake virtually all week and weekend — then come talk to us about how it works, what it looks like, what the pricing structure would be, and where the lines of “what we handle” vs. “what you can handle” would fall. It varies for every family, so I’m always open to having those conversations.

Sleep deprivation after baby is a real problem — and it’s one we can help with. So reach out today if you’re interested.