Gina Ford Routines

[Diddles]

I have the Contented baby book by Gina Ford and I was wondering if anyone has tried her routines? I'm not going to as I think the wake times she suggests for a newborn slightly cruel-Maybe they are good for an older baby. If I kept my 6 week old up for any longer than an hr at a time I would then have an extemely hard to settle, overtired baby who would wail for hours on end. I'm just curious to know if her routines actually have made anyones young baby content? :confused:

[Mischief]

I felt the same with Tizzie Hall. Oliver has only JUST started staying up 2 hours at a time, and in the afternoon when he is up for 4 hours, he's always cranky to settle at night.

I'd wait until your bub is a bit older. They need their sleep at the moment. And to feed when they want too! Another 2 or 3 weeks and you will probably find your own routine, or be able to try hers. ;)

[Bella'smummy]

God i am abnormal i know what you mean, my newborn isabella has got into a pretty good routine. She has her 5pm feed and then she has a bath which relaxes her then i put her down in her cot she sleeps with a full tummy till 9 when she wakes and drifts in and out of sleep till 12 then i feed her again and she sleeps til god about 4 but her 12 feed is always really long then she wont wake till 4 thats when i am so tired i go and get her feed her then put her in her moses basket till 6 then we relax in bed with daddy till we want to get up usally 8.lol

The day time she loves her sleep and she feeds i hate to say it when she needs it, i breast feed and have just got her to take a bottle but she wont take it else she is not to hungry or tired so it is hard to guess it. I think yes they are to young to stay up for to long bella sleeps constantly and if i try and keep her up she gets so ratty.

If you want more info add me to msn:brazilianna@hotmail.com

[the_queen]

Interesting side-note: neither Tizzie Hall nor Gina Ford have children. :detective:

[MonkeyMum05]

I won't add my view, for fear that one UK nanny may throw a tanty and sue bub hub!

[~EmsMum~]

Interesting side-note: neither Tizzie Hall nor Gina Ford have children. :detective:

exactly... thats why I would never take on board what they say

[the_queen]

I won't add my view, for fear that one UK nanny may throw a tanty and sue bub hub!

hee hee that's why I didn't say any more.....;)

[pickles]

I always fed my babies when they were hungry and put them to bed when tired. I think once you have an older child ( 6 months plus ) you can implement ' parent driven structure" Any books that talk about child feeding / sleeping should be written by someone who has a health background and has an understanding of infant mental health.
Anyway thats my two bob in

Pickles
DD 02/03
DS 03/05

[camsma]

I bought the Gina Ford book when my little one was a couple of weeks old. I tried the routine for one day (actually we only lasted half the day!) and then forgot about it. I know some people swear by it but there was no way it was going to work for us. It was just another thing for me to stress about.
I agree with you that keeping a newborn awake for that amount of time is cruel, never mind near impossible!! I think you just have to go with them for the first few weeks as their sleep and feeds are so important.
I did read some more info in the book about other things to get a few pointers and adapted some of her advice to suit us, but found the rigid routine a bit too much. I took on board some stuff that she suggested about night times eg: creating a familiar routine, dimly lit room, regaulr bath time etc. We persevered with this for a few weeks/couple of months and things sort of fell into place then on their own. DS is now a great night sleeper and not too bad during the day.
It might be that it does work well for some people but I don;t think its for everyone.

[Sonja]

I too have a failed Gina Ford baby. I lasted 4 hours and then gave the book away. I hated the tone of her writing - referring to "my mothers" and not providing any trouble shooting for problems. My MCHN told me that a hospital in the UK did a study and concluded that babies of certain temperaments are more likely to follow routines and these babies adapt well to Gina Ford and Tizzie Hall type routines. My dd never slept as an infant so when she was telling me to wake her I would still be trying to get her to sleep :banghead: . Gina also advocates leaving newborns to cry. No thanks.

[Sonja]

The other thing I found really frustrating with the routine books is that sometimes they don't address big questions like what to do if your baby won't eat solids. I tried to get Lucy onto the Tizzie routine but she wouldn't have a bar of solids until she was over 9 months of age and there was nothing I could find in her book about how to manage this. I gave Gina away so I don't know what she suggests, if anything. I personally think the routines are great as a guide but if you have a baby that you find challenging it can be just one more thing to stress about.

[Diddles]

I've found that putting my bub on a general feed, play sleep routine works best for me. Probably the most balanced book I've read is "The Baby Whisperer" by Tracey Hogg, she suggests a general feed, play sleep cycle but recognises every baby is different in temprament and have different ways they like to be handled. She goes into how to read baby's body language and crys for tiredness, hunger etc -I've found it a great handbook for both my babies. She has children of her own too (or did - she sadly passed away recently)

[JE's Mum]

If anything, I used a feed-play-sleep routine early on. Nothing to do with the clock, just feed your baby when their hungry and put them to sleep when they are tired. Seems obvious to me. Feed-play-sleep was advocated by the wonderful baby-friendly lactation consultants at the breastfeeding clinic at the Mercy Hospital in Melbourne. They care about the babies needs as well as the mother's. Most of the 'stictipants' routines have nothing to do with what the baby needs.

Most people I know who found strict routines successful just got lucky that their baby was naturally that way inclined - and lets face it, those babies are few and far between! ;)

[flowerpot21]

well i have the contented little baby book (recommended by another mum) and i have a very contented little baby. i know nothing about bubs and have no family at all to help me and it was my bible. i totally understand why people feel negatively towards it. her tone is not great, you can tell she's a nanny and not a mummy, but then she has had waaaay more experience with all sorts of different babies than most mums. we started at 2 weeks and yes maybe my bub is more likely to be that way inclined, who knows, bue he is a happy little thing.

i think maybe more people may succeed if they didn't follow it to the letter, but used it as maybe a general principle, IYKWIM.

i also bought the follow up and have used that as my weaning bible :thumbsup:

i would use the book again with another baby - and if that one didn't 'fit' (liek some others have said theirs didn't) so well as my present bubba then i would just adjust to fit in with them, but still follow the basics of having a routine, time between feeds to prevent colic (which solved my two week old colic issues) sleep settling, different amounts/times of bottle/breastfeeding to encourage good sleeping through the night, and of waking a baby so as not to have too much sleep in one hit (yes i know lots fo people think that is cruel. but why?)

anyway. that's my thoughts on gina!

[Diddles]

I seriously didn't mean to offend anyone regarding Gina Ford routines, just interested to see if they work for anyone. Great if they do, i just found my bub is a bit of a high sleep requirement baby and couldn't stay happy and awake for the amount of time she suggested.

[Jules16]

I just altered the routines so that bub is in bed when he is tired, but wakes up at the times suggested and I feed him at the times suggested. It doesn't work every day but it has definitely helped set some good habits and helped DS learn to sleep better during the day.