Night nannies saving the day for parents who cannot sleep Marija Parthimos uses maternal nurse Lisa English to take care of her six-month-old twin daughters, Matina and Alexis, seven nights a week. IT'S the high cost of a good night's sleep. Desperate, weary parents are increasingly willing to fork out thousands of dollars a week for "night nannies" to help settle their babies. Long wait times to access sleep schools, mums returning to work earlier and a need for flexible childcare are among factors driving an increasing demand for overnight support. One Melbourne family pays $1960 a week for a nanny to stay from 10pm-6am with their twin girls. Annemarie Sansom, director of Night Nannies, said most engage a night nanny for two nights of sleep-guidance programs, but some hire help on a more regular basis. Sometimes parents are on the verge of breaking up. They have been dealing with sleepless nights for six months to two years and call us in desperation," she said. Parents already know what to do, but they can be suffering a lot of self-doubt, or an overload of information. The most important thing we can teach them is consistency. But she said parents needed to do their research because not all people offering the service were properly qualified. "I've heard horror stories from parents who come to us," she said. I've heard of nurses saying things like, this is a naughty baby, you are doing the wrong thing, and making the parents feel bad. Or letting newborn babies cry for up to two hours at a time. Placement Solutions director Louise Dunham said new mothers didn't always have the same family support as in the past. "These days people's parents aren't always living close by, or the baby's grandparents are working full-time," she said. Brunswick mum Marija Parthimos, 43, who has six-month-old twin girls, pays $280 a night, seven nights a week, for a night nanny, but says it is well worth it. "The girls weren't settling, they were up from 6pm crying and vomiting until about 1.30 in the morning for the first month, until we got the nurses in," she said. With the two, it was getting really tiring and my husband has a very full-on job.