Returning sleep to new parents

SleepWellBaby

Name: See how SleepWellBaby works
Uploaded: 2026-10-27
Duration: 1 min 45 s
Description: The same level of defense, aimed at the life stage that reliably destroys sleep for twelve months: new parents.

The same level of defense, aimed at the life stage that reliably destroys sleep for twelve months: new parents.

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Parents: get SleepWellBaby at sleepwellbaby.io

Health & Wellbeing solution

The problem

New parents come to work on broken sleep

A new baby is the most predictable cause of acute sleep loss in any workforce, and one of the least discussed. It rarely shows up as a reported fatigue problem at work.

SleepWellBaby, built with Tresillian, shortens the period of acute sleep loss by helping parents understand and settle their baby, and identifies parents who may benefit from clinical evaluation for postnatal depression along the way.

**See how SleepWellBaby works** Watch the video · 1:45

The size of the problem

National figures for Canada, from published research. They are modeled, not measured in your workforce.

3.2%new parents losing hours of sleep every night2024/2026 (worked estimate)
33%get less than 7 hours' sleep2017 (CHMS 2007-2013)
C$2,030lost productivity per affected employee each year

Sources

Sleepfit worked estimate: Statistics Canada, Births 2024; Labour Force Survey, July 2026.
Chaput J-P, Wong SL, Michaud I. Duration and quality of sleep among Canadians aged 18 to 79. Health Reports (Statistics Canada), 2017.
Rosekind MR, et al. The Cost of Poor Sleep: Workplace Productivity Loss and Associated Costs. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 2010;52(1):91-98, applied to average earnings in Canada (Statistics Canada, Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours, May 2026).

Stories

When too little sleep led to an accident

Published cases from Canada where short or broken sleep led to a crash or incident: the kind of sleep loss a new baby brings.

Jan 2004 · Ontario, Canada
Charter pilot on about 5 hours' sleep after cross-continent trip takes off iced and overweight; 10 killed
- Safety
- Financial
A single-engine turboprop on a charter flight took off from an island airstrip in freezing precipitation, about 15 percent over its maximum weight and with ice on the airframe, and struck the frozen surface of a lake, killing the pilot and all nine passengers. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada found the decision to take off was out of character for the pilot and was likely affected by stress and fatigue. The night before, he had returned from a trip to California across three time zones and could have slept at most 5 hours 15 minutes before reporting for duty at 4:45 am.
Case CA-aviation-05Report an issue
Jun 2016 · Ontario, Canada
Long-haul trucker on two hours' sleep falsifies logbook; four killed in highway pile-up
- Safety
- Legal
A long-haul truck driver on a 28-hour run drove into stopped traffic on a major urban highway, causing an 11-vehicle pile-up that killed four people. The court found he had slept no more than about two hours after 13.5 hours of driving, had falsified his logbook to hide the missing rest, and was either distracted or falling asleep. He was convicted of criminal negligence causing death and jailed for eight years; the judge said a reasonable commercial truck driver would never have taken these risks.
Case CA-transport-01Report an issue
Sep 2023 · Quebec, Canada
Acutely fatigued trawler master who stayed at the helm through a 3-day redfish trip slow to respond as vessel sinks; three die
- Safety
The master of a stern trawler stayed at the helm for most of a three-day redfish trip with only occasional breaks, and gear failures disrupted his and the crew's sleep. About four hours after the crew stood down to rest, the overloaded vessel began to sink during the night. The Transportation Safety Board found that the master was acutely fatigued, which likely reduced his ability to recognize and respond to the emergency. Three of the six people on board died.
Case CA-agriculture-09Report an issue
Aug 1997 · Quebec, Canada
Outfitter pilot on 3 hours' sleep a night overloads floatplane; strikes power lines, two staff killed
- Safety
A hunting-camp operator flying his own twin-engine floatplane to carry two camp cooks and supplies took off overloaded from a remote lake, could not climb and struck high-voltage lines; the aircraft burned and both employees died, while the pilot was seriously injured. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada found he had not allowed enough time to prepare his camps for the season and was fatigued, having slept only about three hours on each of the two nights before the flight. The Board noted fatigue increases risk-taking, and he chose not to abort a second, overweight take-off.
Case CA-aviation-10Report an issue
Oct 2010 · British Columbia, Canada
Two paramedics die after ambulance driver likely falls asleep following short turnaround
- Safety
- Legal
Two paramedics with a provincial ambulance service were called back to work at 2 a.m., less than five hours after their previous shift ended. Returning from a patient transfer before dawn, their ambulance left a highway, crossed a low barrier and fell 33 metres into a lake, killing both. The provincial coroner concluded that driver fatigue caused the crash and that the driver had likely fallen asleep at the wheel; the ambulance service later changed scheduling to ensure adequate rest.
Case CA-emergency-01Report an issue
Jun 1994 · Manitoba, Canada
Medevac crew after long stand-by duty descend below approach altitude and hit beacon tower; 2 killed
- Safety
Just after midnight a twin turboprop returning from a medical evacuation flight descended below the mandatory altitude on approach to a northern regional airport, struck a navigation beacon tower and crashed, killing both pilots and seriously injuring the flight nurse. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada found the crew lost altitude awareness and listed probable pilot fatigue as a contributing factor. The first officer had been awake about 17 hours, had spent 180 hours on stand-by over the previous 14 days and had once been awake at least 36 hours straight in the days before.
Case CA-aviation-07Report an issue
Apr 2021 · Nova Scotia, Canada
Snow crab crew awake 34 to 37 hours napping below; flooding missed and sleep inertia slows abandonment of capsizing boat
- Safety
On the opening day of the snow crab season, which began at midnight, the master of an open fishing vessel had been awake about 37 hours and the crew about 34 hours, with only short, poor-quality naps. To get needed sleep, all but one crew member were napping below while an inexperienced crew member steered, and water building up in the vessel went unnoticed until it capsized. The Transportation Safety Board found that sleep inertia likely affected the master's recognition of the danger and the abandonment. One crew member died and the master was not found.
Case CA-agriculture-07Report an issue
Nov 2017 · Quebec, Canada
Yard helper with 4 hours' sleep in 38 sets wrong switch and is fatally struck
- Safety
A yard helper with a national railway was struck and killed by a reversing yard movement at a major rail yard at about 6 a.m. He had worked 7 of the previous 9 nights, was on his second consecutive night shift and had slept at most 4 hours in the previous 38. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada found his fatigue likely contributed to the incorrect alignment of a crossover switch that led to the accident, alongside the absence of a risk assessment and a task interruption.
Case CA-rail-05Report an issue
Sep 2012 · United States
Trawler mate on 3 to 4.5 hours' sleep a night leaves wheelhouse; collision sinks longliner, one crew member lost
- Safety
A Canadian whiting trawler and a US longliner collided before dawn in restricted visibility. The longliner was drifting with no lookout, and the trawler's mate was not keeping a proper watch and briefly left the wheelhouse unattended. The Transportation Safety Board found it highly likely that the mate's thinking was impaired by fatigue: he had slept 3, 4.5 and 3.5 hours on the three nights before. The longliner capsized and sank, and one of its deckhands was never found.
Case CA-agriculture-05Report an issue
Aug 2021 · Nunavut, Canada
Gillnet crew awake over 21 hours after 21.5-hour work period; fatigued crew member entangled and pulled overboard
- Safety
Two crew members on a factory freezer fishing vessel were setting gillnets for turbot at about 03:00. They had started work at 05:30 the previous morning and worked 21.5 hours with one break of 1.75 hours, during which they did not nap. One crew member's arm became entangled in the buoy line and he was pulled overboard and died. The Transportation Safety Board found that both crew members had sleep-related fatigue that reduced their ability to stay alert to risks, and that this, with an adapted work method, led to the death.
Case CA-agriculture-08Report an issue

See all fatigue news

How it works

Sleep support for new parents, around the clock

Parents with a baby under three get age-and-stage sleep and settling support, built with Tresillian, and a private check of their own mental health that shows whether they may benefit from clinical evaluation. It works at the same level of defense as Sleepfit, the sleep people actually get, aimed at the life stage that disrupts it most.

The five levels of defense

Step 01
Register
A parent with a baby under three registers themselves. No manager involvement at any point.
Step 02
Round-the-clock support
Age-and-stage sleep and settling support built with Tresillian, drawing on a century of clinical practice.
Step 03
Reading the baby
Teaches parents to read their infant’s cues: the mechanism that shortens acute sleep loss.
Step 04
Mental-health check
A validated parental mental-health questionnaire (EPDS) that identifies parents who may benefit from clinical evaluation, with an escalation pathway to the individual, never to the employer.

When my daughter finally started sleeping, I felt like I got my life back. Tresillian’s methods did that for us. SleepWellBaby exists so every exhausted parent can have the same help at home, round the clock, without waiting for a place.

Melissa WebsterFounder

Rollout

How we roll it out

Scope
Agree who is eligible and where new parents will hear about it: parental-leave packs, intranet, EAP.
Set up
Your access code, eligibility and launch messages, ready to send.
Launch
Parents register themselves, privately. No manager involvement at any point.
Review
Aggregate uptake reporting, above a minimum cell size, and what to change.

What the client sees

Who sees what

Cohorts of new parents are small, so re-identification risk is high. A minimum cell size applies to every aggregate figure.

Priced on prevalence, not headcount. How pricing works.

The parent
Everything, privately
- Their baby’s plan and tracking
- Sleep and settling support
- Their own questionnaire result and any letter for their doctor
Their manager
Nothing
- Whether they registered
- Anything they track or answer
The employer
Aggregate uptake
- Aggregate reporting, above a minimum cell size
- Any individual’s data
- Any questionnaire result

Evidence

What we can show

In Australia, the New South Wales health department funded SleepWellBaby for every parent in the state with a baby under three from April 2020. An independent evaluation of the first three months recorded 15,000 app downloads and 13,700 babies registered, with 5,540 parents flagged for further mental-health follow-up on a validated instrument.

In the United States, SleepWellBaby has been available through our partner Personify Health since 2021.

What it does not establish

Same boundary as Sleepfit: it identifies people who may benefit from clinical evaluation. It does not diagnose any condition. Only a health professional can do that. For most industries no regulation reaches sleep in new-parent households. This is a workforce decision rather than a compliance one, and it stands on its own merits.

In practice

Public health · New South Wales

NSW Health funded SleepWellBaby for every parent in the state with a baby under three.

The challenge: reach new parents across a whole state with expert sleep and settling support, round the clock, and identify the parents who may benefit from mental-health follow-up.

In the first three months, parents received 3,400 referral letters to take to their doctor (EY independent evaluation, August 2020).

In partnership with

Clinical partner
Co-created the sleep and settling program
SleepWellBaby adapts Tresillian’s residential and outpatient sleep and settling programs for parents at home. Tresillian’s clinical nursing staff developed, reviewed and approved the content, and teams across Tresillian still shape the program.
Research partner
Co-evaluated SleepWellBaby with 391 parents
Researchers at the University of Sydney were part of the independent team that evaluated SleepWellBaby with 391 parents, published in 2026. Parents who engaged more reported larger falls in fatigue; the study had no control group.
Research partner
Independent research partner from the start
Researchers in midwifery and child and family health at UTS were the independent research partner as SleepWellBaby was developed, and tested its three-item parental mood questionnaire against the EPDS. A UTS researcher later led the independent evaluation.

FAQs

Questions we’re often asked

Who can use it?

Parents with a baby under three. Each parent registers themselves, with no manager involvement at any point.

What does the employer see?

Aggregate reporting only, with a minimum cell size: cohorts of new parents are small, so re-identification risk is high. Never an individual’s data or questionnaire result.

Trust and security Privacy policy

Who developed the content?

Tresillian’s clinical nursing staff developed, reviewed and approved it, adapting Tresillian’s residential and outpatient sleep and settling programs for parents at home.

The science

What happens if a parent’s mental-health questionnaire raises a concern?

SleepWellBaby uses the validated EPDS, with an escalation pathway to the parent themselves, never to the employer.

Does it diagnose postnatal depression?

No. Like Sleepfit, it identifies people who may benefit from clinical evaluation. It does not diagnose any condition. Only a health professional can do that.

Can a parent delete their account and data?

Yes, at any time, in the app or by request. All personal data associated with the account is removed, and deletion can’t be undone.

Delete an account

Pathways

Where to go next

SleepWellBaby and regulation across 33 industries in Canada

33 / 33

A voluntary benefit, not a regulatory requirement

See how SleepWellBaby fits the regulation in your industry, and what else we would start with there.

All 33 industries

Sleepfit

Cover the rest of your workforce with the same privacy model.

Interested in SleepWellBaby for your organization?

Tell us a little about your organization and which solutions you’re looking at, and our team will be in touch.

Express interest See your workforce snapshot

New parents come to work on broken sleep

The size of the problem

When too little sleep led to an accident

Charter pilot on about 5 hours' sleep after cross-continent trip takes off iced and overweight; 10 killed

How it works

Sleep support for new parents, around the clock

Register

Round-the-clock support

Reading the baby

Mental-health check

How we roll it out

Scope

Set up

Launch

Review

Who sees what

Everything, privately

Nothing

Aggregate uptake