Gina Ford routine with more than one child?

[elliesmummy]

Hello!
I am pregnant with my second child, & very sucessfuly followed the Gina Ford routines with my daughter.
I would love to hear from other mums who have used her routines with subsequent children, & hear how you got on.
tia

[mummygow]

elliesmummy so glad that someone else is having these worries. I am also preg due in Oct. DD will be 3years 3months and was and is still a very successful GF baby and I have already started planning for baby GF routine but my main worry is that they will both be in same room but I am determind the my new baby will be as happy, contented and confident as dd

[larlylou]

I too am in the same boat as you guys. I am expecting my 2nd in about 10 weeks time and ds No 1 was (and still is) a successful gina ford baby. Mine too are going to have to share a room when No 2 has established a feeding pattern and I have been wondering if two on Gina Ford works just as well as the first. Glad you raised the question and am interested to read other MN's responses.

[elliesmummy]

ooohhhh! so glad Im not on my own! I dont know anyone personally who did GF, but it was so succesful for us, Im hoping we will find it as good with #2 It was restrictive in the beginning, but it didnt bother me, as I got loads of rest & only had dd to worry about.
We are hopefully moving house in June, so we should have 3 bedrooms.
Looking forward to more replies

[elliesmummy]

Larlylou & mummygow...would you be interested in keeping in touch, so we can support each other with the arrival of our new babies?
If so, email me & let me know

[mummygow]

I think that would be a great idea as it is a very restrictive routine but the pros outway it big time and the way I looked at it with dd going out to lunch with friends etc was harder before the routine as she would be crying to be fed, to sleep etc etc and I couldnt really enjoy being out anyway and after she was one I could manipulate it to suit my life - although 7 oclock bed is still great!!!!!!!!

When r u due elliesmum and how old is your dd.

Larlylou so r u due end june begin july and what age is baby number 1

[larlylou]

Mummygow and Elliesmummy - It would be great to keep in contact. I am due on 11 July and my ds just turned two last week. I think supporting each other is a wonderful idea, especially as I am anxious as to how I'm going to cope with two (worried as my first was such an easy baby that this one will be the complete opposite and whereas my ds settled into the GF routine so well, knowing my luck it won't work with No 2). I have to say, I didn't follow GF religiously with DS (especially with feeding techniques and times on each boob, etc) but I did follow it religiously with regards to general feeding times and sleep times, bedtime routines, etc and for me, it changed the way we were dealing with things when he was first born and I have never looked back. I only hope that No 2 will settle into it also as ds is still a gina baby (toddler!).

[mummygow]

larlylou my dd was due on 12th July but didnt arrive until 22nd.

I started GF when dd was 6weeks and there were a lot of tears on my side and begging my dh to stick with it and by 10 weeks she was def into the swing of it, but of course just like everything in life there were hiccups and looking through my book for solutions and answeres.

But my family in law keeps saying that you never gat 2 the same but my mum keeps telling me that it was my hard work and perseverance that made my dd so happy and contented - so my new philosphy is that I am expecting 2b completely different personalities because no 2 people are the same but you dont need a personality to go to sleep and eat!!!!!!!!

[mummygow]

thats whats getting me through the worrying - lol

[larlylou]

I think I'll follow your philosophy on the sleeping and eating idea too!

Many people tell me you can't have two the same but I'm hoping that there is a slim chance!!!! We can only wait and see I suppose!

[elliesmummy]

that is what worries me too!!!!
EVERYONE says 'what suits one, wont suit the other' I think we should be encouraged, that our 3 children are all obviously different personalities etc, & they all followed the routine!
I am due Aug 29th & dd will be 2yrs 8months.
I dont know if this will apeal to you both, but we could have our own private yahoo group. That way, our messages to each other will go to all 3 of us, & will go directly to our own email addresses. Let me know if you are happy with that. You can email me at
[email protected]

[vivie]

My 2 GF 'babies' are 2.5 yrs and 5 months and are very very content. Ds1 followed the routines from 12 weeks and while we tried from the early days with ds2 it took him probably 8 weeks before he was really in the swing of it, mainly because he needed far more sleep than the books recommend. We picked the bedtime part of the day (bath, milk, bed by 6.30 pm) to start with at about day 10 and the rest of the day kind of followed.
I get up at 6.30 am (dh gets up then anyway) to get myself dressed and breakfast, then ds2 up at 7am, dressed and fed, then ds1 up at 7.45 - 8am. I make sure I play with ds1 while ds2 has his morning nap (to hell with the housework!), take them both to playgroup and feed ds2 there, then have ds2 having his lunchtime nap while ds1 has his lunch. Ds1 has a rest or a sleep at 1pm so I can get on with stuff for an hour. Both boys have milk and CBeebies at 2.30 then we go out again or have friends visit. I give ds2 milk while ds1 has his tea at 5pm (he has v easy to eat stuff and things he really likes so he'll get on with it on his own), then dh is usually home to helkp with the bath. If not I feed ds2 while I read ds1 stories in their pjs. Having a small sofa in ds1's bedroom has been useful.

We don't follow the routines rigidly - you can't with 2! Sometimes the older one just has to be taken out to let off steam even if the younger falls asleep immediately in the pushchair and won't nap properly later on. But having some structure to my day has made it much easier to cope with 2, and I have times of the day when I'm alone with each of them, and alone!, so ds1 has found the transition to being a big brother relatively painless so far. Now ds2 is weaning things have got complicated again, but it should settle down fairly soon I hope.
The first few weeks were a blur, but Ds2 has slept from his last feed at around 11pm till 7pm consistently since he was 8 weeks old and since then we haven't looked back. Good luck!

[larlylou]

vivie, thanks for putting down how your day goes, it helps me get my head around it all. You certainly have to have a bit of organisation with it all but I think that will come when you have to deal with two children. I am not worrying as much now as I have no choice but to get on with it (sounds awful too as it was a planned pregnancy but as soon as I fell pregnant I suddenly became really panicky as to how I'd cope and fit all the things you need to do for each of them in one day and at the same time, at times!). I think, as you said, the first few weeks will be a little hazy but I am sure once we are settled into our new family ways it will all become so much easier and I can only thank the lucky stars that I'm due early summer so at least we (hopefully) have the summer weather to our advantage and the garden will become an extended part of the house for ds1 (rather than being couped up in the winter months!).

[Gobbledigook]

You may find you have to adjust it slightly but still follow loosely and have happy, contented db2s!

I followed it (not rigidly though) for ds1, ds2 and ds3 - they were (and still are) happy, contented babies/toddlers who slept through the night very early on (in the first few weeks) and still do. My age gaps were close too - 19 months then 21 months. It's hard work and you'll have to jig it about a bit but you'll find a way.

[bakedpotato]

DS, 13 wks, went into it just as happily as DD, 3.5.
It's better this time around, as I know it works, and also have the confidence to play around with it much more. I haven't looked at the book for weeks, but it's nice knowing it's there if I need it.

[elliesmummy]

Hello everyone!
Thankyou to the 'mums of more than one' who have replied! How did you cope, with both (or all) the children getting up at the same time (7am)? as the baby needs to be nursed straight away. & how did you find getting to different activities, for the older child, without the baby falling asleep at the drop of a hat?

[Magscat]

Hi There. My son was 3.5 when 2nd baby born. He was mostly GF baby (we relaxed the timings quite a bit) but so far we have completely failed to do the GF thing with new daughter. We found that she needs loads less sleep than in GF routine and that it's really hard to drop everthing & stick to the routine with her big brother to cater for. E.g. we have one car and if I want it in the day time then I have to drive dh to work & ds to nursery at 8am so dd goes to sleep in car and wakes up by 9am which is when GF says she should be going to sleep. Also if she cries in the night I really don't want her brother to wake up so I'm going to her quickly rather than seeing if she'll settle.

GF suited my son but it just doesn't suit my daughter and the lifestyle we now have. Having said that, it doesn't mean you can't adapt it - maybe your circumstances are different. E.g. if Ihad a bigger, more sound-proof house & a 2nd car I might have tried harder .

One thing I did stick with though is the bedtime routine - bath, feed, bed 6-7pm. That works well for baby daughter and her older brother still goes to bed like a dream (although later obviously) even now.

I would say, give it a try but don't beat yourself up if it doesn't work perfectly. Maybe you can keep the principles but relax the timings just a little. Good luck.

[Magscat]

P.S. Direct answer re. getting up - dd usually awake first so can feed her in bed before her brother gets up & we all go downstairs. Otherwise he watches TV or plays while I bf dd in living room. He has had to learn to stop bouncing on sofa while I'm feeding though! It's only got tricky lately as dd is really distractable and won't feed while her brother is around as she'd rather be watching him!

Driving without falling asleep though is another story - see my other post. One of the reasons GF didn't work for us. I have left dd with dh a few times in order to take ds somewhere in car. I'm lucky though, dh gave up full time work when we had ds so he's home half the week.

[elliesmummy]

thanks!
when you say dd did not need as much sleep as the GF routine says, did she not fall asleep, or did she wake early? It is difficult (impossible!?!) to keep exactly to the routine, when you have an older childs needs to meet, too.
Thanks again!

[Magscat]

Hi there. She doe both - i.e. refuses to go to sleep on cue and also wakes early. The 9am sleep is thrown out some days because of the need to drive at 8am which sends her to sleep. Other days she just doesn't want to sleep till about 10.30 or 11ish.

If she goes to sleep between 11 and mid day she rarely sleeps more than one hour. Sometimes I can feed her and she'll go back to sleep for another hour. Most days though she'll sleep first thing for 20 minutes, then have about 45 minutes around 11am then another 30-45 mins about 3 or 4pm.

It really varies. Some days it's no sleep till 45 mins at baout 10.30 then no sleep till about 2pm when she might sleep for 2 hours.

At 4 months she has less day time sleep than her brother was having at 2 years! - e.g. about 2 hours max.

I wouldn't mind but she's not even sleeping through the night.

Having said all this, we really haven't tried very hard to stick with the GF routine this time around. Maybe with perseverence she might have got it but we kind of thought early on that it didn't suit her so we gave up. Not sure if right decision yet.

[minxi]

Both my DS followed GF, DS1 who is 4 years 3 months was in GF at 6 weeks and was sleeping 7 till 7 from 7 weeks. DS2 who is 21 months started on routine from Day 4! Whilst in hospital he never made a sound, came out and the same night screamed cried for 5 hours! So the very next day that was it, he slept through the night from 9 weeks. They still sort of stick to it with bath, story then bed. DS2 will also sleep 2- 3 hours in the day. It does work with two and you need them in bed for your own personal excuses!

[ChocCake]

my dd who is now 2y3m is a very successful GF baby! i've just had a baby boy in Feb, and he is now 11 weeks old. i'm trying to stick to my routines, but it's a little out at the moment with his feeding because he is not well. he's not taking enough feed for his age, but i put it down to him having a cold. but otherwise, his sleeping pattern is ok, SO FAR! keeping my fingers crossed.

[oliveoil]

Ho ho ho. I started a similar thread when I was pregnant with number 2 and there was no way on this earth she was going to fit in a routine when she arrived. I drove myself loony trying and looking back I wished I had gone with the flow.

I would just say don't knock yourself out trying. Your eldest will be demanding attention like never before and will endeavour to ruin any feeds by poking small interlopers in the eye .

[ChocCake]

oliveoil - i think it all depends how old your eldest is. mine seems to be fine... so far

[chezie]

I am expecting my 3rd and wondered if i could use GF routines, although I didnt manage it with my 2nd so I wont hold my breath

[mummygow]

Elliesmummy I did e-mail you but you didnt get back hope everything is o.k and you are keeping well!!