Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has revealed he’s hired a night nurse for new baby River, after admitting he and wife Jools are “battered” by five weeks of sleep deprivation.
Jamie said enough was enough after he had a 12 hour day filming after being kept awake all night feeding River.
Speaking to BBC Radio 5, Jamie said: “Sleep deprivation makes the most wonderful people just, unreasonable.
“It’s really, really hard whether it’s your first or your fifth. It hit us hard this year, really hard, because you know we’ve got two teenagers and it’s teenagers things, and you’ve got a six and seven year old as well, and they’re up as well, I mean it was hard this time round.
“For the first time ever I’ve got a night nurse, and she started a week ago, so five weeks in, so you know, we got battered for five weeks, and I was trying to help out, and do the night feed, and then go and do 15 hours of filming at the end of Southend pier, and that was tough, I’ve got to say.
“But it is just routine really, routine, and all the classics like colic, and burping and not rushing the baby, and it’s hard. Any parent out there knows the drill, I mean they use sleep deprivation as the most incredible form of torture.”
And Jamie admits that having the extra help has made all the difference, though him and Jools did battle through four kids without one.
In 2012, actress Megan Fox admitted that she had hired a night nurse to help her with her first son, after admitting to her husband. Brian Austin Green: “We have to get a night nurse or we’re going to get a divorce because somebody’s got to sleep in this house or we’re going to kill each other.”
Many criticised the actress (then 26) for hiring help, but Louise Pennington wrote in defence of the actress.
“What really pisses me off is the culture of “motherhood” that requires “celebrity” women to pretend that they do everything all by themselves after having a baby. That is what is harmful to all women: the idea that a woman who has just given birth must immediately lose all their baby weight, baking 250 cupcakes for the school fete, going back to work full-time at six weeks whilst simultaneously looking immaculate in their immaculate house,” she wrote.
Megan Fox came under fire for hiring a night nurse in 2012
What is a night nurse?
A night nurse is essentially just like a day nanny – qualified and experienced in taking care of newborns – who works overnight to give the normal day carer (usually a parent) time to sleep.
They have also been described as a combination of a ‘Doula’ – a non-medical professional who helps the mother after childbirth, lending her emotional and physical support, and a ‘Newborn Care Specialist’ – who are certified caregivers for babies.
