I agree, playing with Bubba is hugely important. I am spending a good portion of the 'awake time' 1:1 using baby sign, and employing all of the 'talk to your baby' games for newborns (see RCSLT website). But I am finding the the flexibility of GF in allowing Bubba to part of the daily routines quite agreeable, so long as he is a part of them (being talked to and shown things) and not an outside observer just watching from the bouncy chair.
I was surprised by the GF book too, the 2 pages on formula are really basic and don't go into much detail at all. I expected more information to answer my questions like; Is it ok to over feed? How guided are the guided daily amounts printed on the boxes? How strict is the advised 4 hour schedule on the packet? When do you swap to 'hungrier baby' and how do you tell if your baby is really 'hungrier' or just growing? Can over feeding do damage to Bubba? These might seem like naff questions to more experienced Mum's, but to me, just coming out of 6-weeks of feeding hell, these are crucial questions that I don't want to get the answers wrong to and GF doesn't answer any of them. Neither do the NHS. I can't be too scathing about the NHS as they are also my previous employer (prior to Bubba), but I really had expected more support in formula feeding than I am getting from them.
I think everyone is different, if you had asked me last week, I would have been on the verge of ringing the GP to get prozac for post-natal depression (or whatever the buzz drug is these days). But GF is making me feel like I am on top of things, doing the right thing for Bubba and allowing some quality time for myself, i which I am allowed to eat, take a shower and perhaps have a quick chat to my husband without worrying that I am neglecting Bubba. But that is also down to Bubba, he is still a sleepy baby who benefits from being woken for feeds so getting him to sleep in the GF routine is a piece of cake, getting him to stay awake in the GF routine requires some work.
Finally, the GF routine advises Bubba sleeps in his buggy/ elsewhere than his cot during the day so I am still able to go out every day and meet friends for coffee, which has been my fighting pnd strategy up to now. And yes, I mean every day, I really was blue there for a while.