MY LIGHT BULB MOMENT

Jeweller Emily Sunderland Sutter

MuMpreneur emily Sunderland Sutter, 34, is the founder of teething jewellery company nibbling. She lives in London with her husband Stefano, 44, and their children. AS A GIRL growing up in Canada, I loved fashion and art and as soon as I could, moved to London where the design industry was much bigger. For a while I worked as a personal shopper at Harrods.

At the age of 28, I got pregnant with my first child: life couldn’t have been more exciting. And then suddenly everything came to a terrible halt. Within hours of her birth, our daughter Carlotta began to have what looked like seizures. No one knew why and she was moved to neo-natal care.

Carlotta stayed in hospital for two weeks. The hardest part was going home with an empty car seat and an unused pram.

In the end, she was diagnosed with benign neonatal sleep myoclonus, a non-harmful condition that babies grow out of. It was the best possible news, and yet I left that unit with a profound sense of empathy for any parent who undergoes a traumatic birth. I decided I couldn’t go back to work full time. Instead, I’d find an outlet for my creativity.

One day, I noticed a baby playing with his mother’s necklace. It was my light-bulb moment. I went home and drew a range of funky necklaces and bracelets that women would love to wear and which would soothe their babies.

For the beads, I used medicalgrade silicone and sought the opinion of paediatricians.

I’ve since expanded the range and my family has also grown: Carlotta, six, has two brothers, Martino, four, and Arturo, two. Sometimes as I’m unpacking the boxes of jewellery piled high in our hallway, I look at the pushchair parked next to them and think back to those weeks in hospital. And remember how lucky we are.

nibbling.co.uk Interview by ALISON ROBERTS HAVe you started a business while being a mum? enter our Daily Mail/natWest everywoman Aphrodite Award for Mumpreneurs. For details, go to everywoman.com/mumpreneur.