Product reviews

When I was pregnant all of the midwives and current thinking was about baby led everything and demand feeding etc. I liked the idea of that but found it impossible to cope with in reality. This book was a fabulous resource as it illustrated a completely different approach. Once I had a broad picture of the different approaches I felt more confident to chart my own waters in parenthood. I think it is essential reading...but you *don't* have to follow her advice to the letter as she claims and be warned that tolerance of other approaches to parenting does not feature large here!

With all great intentions I tried raising my baby as a 'free spirit' n'all, but after 4 months of hell I humbly admitted my need and took on board 99% of the principles in this book of books! Now I tell all mums/mums to be to give it a go!

just not for me at all

Has no one heard the bad press about Gina Ford!? The harsh routine is not only practically impossible to fully implement (therefore creating more anxiety and feelings of uselessness to parents who need support in doing what is right for their family) but also gives parents this stupid idea that children's emotional wellbeing is non-existant, that they shouldn't affect you or your life, and that 'the baby' is a demanding little creature we must train from birth! A routine is not the be all and end all of parenting! PLEASE do NOT buy this book- unless you want to feel like a 1950's nanny, shoving your baby out into the cold to cry alone for an hour every day 'because they need fresh air'(seriously, this is what Gina Ford advises) - there are plently of books to help you as parents, to cope with the emotions of babies, children and yourselves, without harsh routines and emotionless parenting.

I bought this book again for my third child (having binned my first copy) to get some pointers as to how much sleep/milk a baby needs at different ages. I had forgotten how guilt-inducing this book is and how crap it made me feel about what I was doing. Gina goes on about how your baby will suffer "long term" sleep and feeding problems if you don't follow her advice to the letter, which is rubbish.

She makes the pretty arrogant assumption that ALL babies are the same and need exactly the same amount of sleep every day and at the same times each day. Any mother of more than one child can tell you that is not true. And all the bits about needing to express to keep up milk supply certainly didn't apply to me.

On the plus side, she does give good advice about babies needing enough sleep in the day to sleep well at night. And the advice about putting babies to bed awake is useful too.