Having a newborn can be tough. This business will help — for $850 a night

Two days after Ashley Thomassen gave birth to her first baby, she and her husband checked into a Toronto hotel. 

Not just any hotel. 

For the next two weeks, they had 24/7 help acclimating to life as new parents. When they needed help breastfeeding, a staffer appeared in minutes. When they needed rest, they could send the baby to a nursery while they caught some shut-eye. 

"One of the care workers, Julia, met me at the door, took me to the room, and as she was showing me everything that was available to me … I just broke down in tears," said Thomassen, recalling the moments after she first arrived.

"I just felt so relieved that I was stepping into somewhere where I knew I would have the support that I really needed."

Housed inside Toronto's Kimpton Saint George Hotel, Alma Care bills itself as Canada's first postnatal retreat. Similar retreats are already common in countries such as China and South Korea, but the model has more recently made its way to North America, with centres popping up in New York City, San Francisco and Dana Point, Calif. 

Hana McConville, Alma Care's co-founder, says the model is inspired by the Chinese tradition of "sitting the month," in which new moms spend 30 days recovering postpartum while a family member or nanny helps care for them and the baby. 

"If the mother is better rested and is properly nourished, she will thrive and so will her baby," said McConville.

Can you put a price on rest?  

At Alma Care, retreats cost between $850 and $1,300 a night, depending on the size of room and how long families stay (there is a three-night minimum). The company also offers home care packages starting at $2,250 for 50 hours of help.

And while extra help has always existed for those who can afford it, some doctors say the emergence of this business model highlights the need for better, more accessible postpartum care without the luxury price tag.

Alma Care didn't invent the concept of a splashy, postpartum hotel stay. 

In South Korea, a retreat, or joriwon, reportedly costs between a few thousand to tens of thousands of dollars, depending how long women stay. In China, mothers who can afford it might spend about $11,000 US per month. And in Taiwan, where a postpartum hotel stay is a relative bargain at about $220 US per night — but where the average salary is around $22,000 US — families save up as though they're "buying a diamond ring," according to a recent article in The New Yorker. 

The price point makes sense when you consider what's included, McConville said.