Can I start my 10w baby on Gina Ford?

[Amazonmulu]

Can I start my 10w baby on Gina Ford?

If so which week do I start from? From the beginning or from the 8-12 schedule? Should she still be swaddled? How much sleep / naps / feeds should she be on (she is bottle fed)?

We have loosely been following it and my LO is doing pretty well on it. She is a much happier baby on it - Never had to do any controlled crying or the like (and don't intend to).

But I want to know which week we should be on mainly as the pattern is not quite there - by that I mean she goes down reasonably well at 7pm. Stays asleep till 10pm, feeds though very very drowsy, then sleeps till 2/3am where she feeds a bit (sometimes more). But she ALWAYS always wakes at 4/5am (she doesn't wake wake but she starts moving and making noises and grunting... And these get stronger and stronger). So we usually pick her up and put her in bed with us or I get up with her and let OH sleep a bit more before work. I've tried feeding her a little but it does not settle her and she carries on storing and groaning. If I do take her and if she is fully awake it means she wants to feed more and the 7am feed is ruined. On our best nights when she wakes at 4/5am I put her on my chest and she sleeps there till 7am.

I'm not asking for her to sleep straight through the night right now but I really want to get her to sleep between the night feed at 2/3am till morning :(

Any advice much appreciated!!

[Timetogrowup2016]

What she's doing is normal... All be it hard for you.
You can't force her to sleep through and doing so will stress you out.
Try leaving her when she makes the noises.
Dd has just woke 30 minutes into a nap she cried for two minutes and went back to sleep... If I had intervened it would of woke her up completely.
Also babies are noisy sleepers.

[Chickoletta]

I followed GF with both my DCs (now 3&6) and it really worked for us. It was too long ago now for me to be able to remember well enough to give you much advice but there is an excellent GF group on Baby Centre with lots of ladies who seem to know the routines inside out and backwards who give great advice. It sounds to me like you are following the main principles already. One thing that always astounded me was how much getting the daytime sleeps right really affected night time sleep.

Don't be surprised if you get a lot of negative reactions about GF on here!

Good luck. 😊

[JudgyMcJudgypants]

No!

[RequestInUse]

Agreed with Time what's she is doing is normal and actually very good in comparison to a lot of 10w olds. She's still very tiny and not even aware yet that you and her are separate beings.

Try not to stress and count the hrs of lost sleep, it only makes it harder.

It'll pass. It always does.

[feesh]

I did Gina Ford light with my twins and started around 10 weeks with a set bedtime (7pm). We had always fed them to a schedule, so at 10 weeks they were fed at 6am, 9am, midday, 3pm, 6pm, 9pm and a dream feed around 11pm ish. At 10 weeks they didn't have set naps, but just went to sleep between each feed.

After we had got a set bedtime routine in place they started to have regular naps, which were 9am-11am, 1pm-2.30pm and 3.30-4pm.

I never touched Gina's book and didn't agree with anything in there - this was all done through talking to friends at twins group instead. But I understand it originated from Gina Ford.

It totally kept me sane in those early days. The regular feeds in particular kept my head straight when I was on the verge of losing it. It meant both babies got fed at the same times and meant I got a proper break in between feeds. It also meant they hardly ever cried (honestly!) as tended to feed them just as they were starting to getting to get hungry and they always knew what was happening next

[Thequilltosurvive]

Gina Ford is a madwoman.

[ChablisTyrant]

I think lots of people would agree that Gina's routines are a little optimistic. So for a 10w old baby try an 8w routine.

I loosely used them without resorting to CC for my first and had a good experience. Babies do tend to respond well to having rhythm and consistency.

Ignore the haters who will come on here...

[Fomalhaut]

She sounds like she's doing very well for a ten week old. What exactly are you wanting from the routine? Because I think your little one is doing great and you may not be able to achieve those extra hours sleep. My ten month old wakes at 4-5am (or earlier, sigh) - it's very normal for them to wake early. Could you just bring her into your bed and cuddle and doze?

[WordGetsAround]

I think now's a good time. We started a routine within the first few days and it helped him (and us!) amazingly.

[Tatlerer]

Yes go for it, agree with the poster ( sorry not to namecheck) who said the routines can be a bit ambitious so I would also look at the 8 wk one. It may not be a magic bullet to fix the night (my DD was in a textbook day time GF routine looooong before the nights came together) but it's worth a go- it worked for several friends and at least I had the total predictability of that 2 hour nap after lunch to go back to bed myself!

[PotteringAlong]

It's completely normal that your 10 week old baby doesn't sleep. Google 4 months sleep regression and in 3 weeks you can look back on how good you have it right now.

[Gingeete]

Prior to having children I referred to GF as a Nazi. I did 3 months of doing as baby wanted. Got PND, lost ability to function due to exhaustion and picked up the GF book my SIL gave me. God I wished I used it sooner!! Go for it. I will be with my newborn next winter. I found I had to start a coupe of weeks earlier than her age. It worked but we did adjust it.

[Amazonmulu]

Thanks ladies - that's teally helpful! I will start on the 8 week plan and see how we get on!

I'm not sure why people dislike a routine that makes (lots of) babies happy... And I'm happy living in ignorance