Gina Ford routine - 2nd time round esp in early days

[MissChief]

Pls only bother posting if you did use GF happily and succesfully - I know she's hated by some!

I used her routines fairly religiously with ds and worked a treat - wondering how it'll work 2nd time round as didn't work first time till about 5 weeks. I was wondering about the following:

1. expressed feed (10pm I think?) - how that worked out in first few weeks as we didn't do this 1st time round but wd like to try this time - to give me chance to sleep and dh to feed
   
   
2. routine anyway in first few weeks - I found it too rigid in early days - any suggestions for flexing it?
   
   
3. being out & about with ds1 with ds2 in tow and therefore not being able to follow timings of naps - esp 9am & 11.30/12pm nap
   
   any help appreciated - seems a long time ago!
   TIA

[oliveoil]

Forget it! Didn't work for me and I sent myself doolally trying.

[sueanna]

Hi, I used GF with both of my little ones and I find I'm one of the only people at my M&T group that doesn't get woken up in the night (well after 12 anyway - but thats another story). Anyway, I found with no.2 that he didnt really want to be in a routine until abut 8weeks, then everything just fell into place. The important thing was to get the nights sorted out.

1. I actually dropped the 10pm express in favour of a bottle feed, as it certainly seemed to settle him at night. It was great for me too as it meant that I had some milk left for any night feeds.
   Expressing extra certainly did help with the 1st growth spurt. By the 2nd growth at 9weeks or so, he wasn't feeding at night at all.
   
   2&3. Flexing the routine?...how could you think of such a thing, Gina would turn in...err...tee-hee,
   yes I did find that during the day, so long as the baby had no more than the suggested amount of sleep and didn't sleep after 5 in the early days, then it didn't really matter.
   My ds would fall asleep in the car on the way back from the school run, so I just left him in the car (tut tut)or buggy for 1/2hour. Then he would fall asleep again when I picked my dd up at lunch time. I just transferred him to his cot and got him up at 2.30/2.45 and he was fine.
   Sometimes I would let him sleep for longer (50mins-1hour) in the morning, then he would go to sleep later at lunchtime (say 1pm) and sleep for less than the 2 hours, but it didn't seem to matter.
   Sometimes I actually found it better, as he would have longer for his lunch to settle.
   
   anyway, don't stress about it, it will all fall into place eventually - it just takes a little linger with No.2
   
   good luck,

[MissChief]

thanks a lot! that's helpful - I'll try to take it as it comes this time but really hope for reassurance of gf routine to fall back on with time - for my sanity at least!

[bakedpotato]

Oh lord it wasn't that long ago but already it's a bit foggy. In fact, I didn't refer religiously to the book with no2, but liked knowing it was there in the background. It has made for a happier experience, tbh. Doing Gina Lite with no2 has worked just as well as following her slavishly with a stopwatch .

1. I did express at 10pm until week 12, but I think from about week 5, when I started mix-feeding, we gave a formula bottle at 10 for the dreamfeed. I used what I'd expressed as a topup at 6.30pm.
   
2. I was guided by the routine from quite early on but the difference 2nd time around was that I didn't worry about DS going off-message and catnapping for 5/10 mins for the first 2 mths or so. It revived him and kept him going until his next nap. He still went down easily.
   
3. Wouldn't worry too much about this, I think it helps if they get used to zizzing in the buggy TBH.
   It's also useful to remember that it probably won't be until around week 12 or so that you find the baby really naps heavily at the midday nap. But when they start to love it, you can put your feet up for 2.5 hrs. And eat chocolate.
   I've got 2 fantastic sleepers. I know who to thank.

[MissChief]

like it - Gina lite! Sure you've got a book in you somewhere!

[hermykne]

misschief
i found that ds fell into the naps quite easily, esp as dd still napped around noon, so he was engaged by her until they both rubbed the eyes.

i tended to do as gina says and go out in the afternooon straight after the naps, ds got use to the cot for napping which was my main concern

now both still nap aound noon and its great for my peace of mind

it didnt always go according to plan/routine but it definitely paid off in the long run, ds 1 this wkend and dd 3 in october. both in bed by 8 every night, bliss