A week of sleep for new parents

Published: 09/10/2019

On the 9th October 2019, myTamarin were invited to participate at The October Club at The Savoy, attended by approximately 400 largely City-based individuals, submitting what must be the coolest, most unique, and certainly most needed prize - a week of sleep for new parents!

Why parents need to sleep as much as their babies do

As every parent knows, when you have a small baby you don't need another set of baby clothes; what you really need is sleep. Newborns are notorious for not sleeping through the night, consequently leaving their caregivers exhausted and sleep-deprived - yet many parents continue to go about their days as though this isn't the case.

However, not only does a lack of sleep leave parents feeling exhausted, but also leads to a lack of focus and concentration, resulting in parents making careless mistakes. myTamarin founder and CEO Zarja Cibej recounts why sleep deprivation nearly proved fatal for her and her newborn after returning from a swimming class five months after the birth of her firstborn:

" You may have read the book Why we sleep by Mathew Walker, and if not, I promise you it will be the best book you will have read this year. It is now scientifically proven that if you sleep less than 6 hours a night, only two nights in a row, your body and mind are in the same state as when you're legally drunk. Which means that... parents with young children are walking around "drunk", more frequently than we're willing to admit.  
Think about that for a moment. We're not allowed to drive, yet we're not only allowed to, but are expected to parent in such a state. 
I've come to appreciate that fully when my first son was five months old. It was late afternoon and we were returning from a swim class (as you would when you have a five-month old...). It was a short, 10-min drive from the swimming pool to our home, and just as I was ready to turn into our street, I realised that a car had just passed, right in front of us, without me noticing after it had passed. By pure luck, we avoided a car crash by mere inches.
I realised my reflexes were slow. Not that I have ever driven drunk to know that, but it did feel like I was drunk, despite not having had a drink in months. My subsequent research led me to Matthew Walker and his works.
The more research I did into sleep, and the more sleepless nights I endured, the more passionate I became about newborn support. In the UK, every family with a newborn is entitled to a health visitor. I argue that every family should also be entitled to a night nurse. 
That was one of the the key reasons I started myTamarin, and newborn support was our first product.  "

Why newborn support is the best gift for new parents

Next time you're considering a gift for a new parent, or your spouse, consider gifting newborn support to give them the rest they so richly deserve.

As well as being the difference between postnatal depression and happy motherhood, newborn support gives parents the opportunity to settle comfortably into parenthood, all the while learning and growing alongside their newborn baby. With babies growing up so rapidly in their first year of life, establishing baby sleep and routine can feel like a gargantuan task without any help - it really does take a village to raise a child!

For those parents concerned about COVID-19, consider signing up to our Harper's Bazaar commended online newborn support for personalised virtual support from our maternity nurses, night nannies, lactation specialists and sleep consultants.


Tamarins are monkeys who parent in family groups ā€“ like a village ā€“ helping each other while children are small.

Are you ready to join our village?

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