Who is Gina Ford and why haven't I heard of her?

[LemonJellyKelly]

That's pretty much it really.

I had my first child in 1997.
My second in 2009.

She must have slipped off my radar during those times.

Someone gave us the book when I was pregnant and i read it, the setting out of a routine was helpful but I ignored the whole ‘if your child throws up at night, go in, change the sheets and don’t make eye contact’. Fuck that! If my baby pukes and is upset, damn straight she is getting picked up and cuddled.

Read the book a few years ago, along with the baby whisperer and a couple of others. There were a couple of good tips in there that I used. However, my baby did not have any interest in following the routine. I don't know how people can suggest you just 'follow the routine' as if it's easy. My eldest would start a nap and wake up after 6 minutes! I'd think, now what? He's supposed to sleep for two hours and he wont go back to sleep now! If you've got a baby you can put down for a nap and they just stay asleep for 2 hours, when you want them to, you've got a fucking unicorn.

I also followed GF (DS born in 2001), never talked about it because it was so controversial even then and of course I adapted the suggestions. My DS was a very 'easy' baby, self settled and happy to go to bed at 7pm and woke around 7am. I honestly don't know of it was because I followed the book or just sheer luck but I never had a disturbed night .... I chose never to have another baby so I can't really test the theory .

grumpy my DS must be a unicorn then - happily had two x two hour naps every day and still went to bed at 7pm

No no, no no no no, no no no no, no no THERE'S NO LIMITS

Anyway.

Had ds in 2004 right as the MN thing blew up (hence why I'm here). Lots of Gina babies around me I think. I like routines up to a point but think most baby books a load of bobbins, including hers. Though thinking about it I did like How Not to be a Perfect Mother which was pretty much the opposite. Gina teenagers aren't a thing and I don't think I can tell which of the lovely teens I know had to nap at home and which didn't. She helpfully gave those who like routines a good basis for doing what suited them.

DH's (genuinely) lovely colleague gave us a copy when DD was born (2019), said it had been great for her babies (2000s) - I had vaguely heard of the controversy around it, flicked through and thought 'nah not for me' - think I guiltily donated it.

Honestly the main thing I've learnt since having DD is that you can't force another human being to sleep, no matter how much you create the 'right' conditions etc - if they don't want to sleep they won't! I'd they do sleep when you want them to then congratulations, you happened to hit upon a routine they like. If not, don't beat yourself up about it, it's just luck.

I think OP actually is Gina Ford, bumping her own relevance in the hope of generating more interest and sales. Gotta pay that electricity bill somehow…

Pick and choose from GF. The feeding and introduction to foods as they grow is excellent. Result is a very good eater

I did baby napping in carrier, cosleeping and I DID have a routine too. It’s possible, though people seem to believe you can only do one extreme or another. Very happy babies. With the mothers of young babies I knew who were very stressed it had little to do with what guru they had decided to follow, usually how shit their husbands were.

I bought GF's first book in 2000 after seeing it recommended in a broadsheet newspaper, the writer said after using the routines her baby DD woke up singing.

I didn't know what I was doing or how often /much 8 week old DS should have been napping/feeding through the day, everyone I asked like HVs said "as much as he wants dear," which was totally unhelpful. He wasn't sleeping for very long during the day; he seemed hungry all the time but would fall asleep instantly when feeding, to wake as soon as I put him dow and start cycle again. Every day seemed a battle.

Bought the book, it made perfect sense to me, I did what she said (not everything, some things like waking baby up for a feed at 11pm, just didn't work for me) and within a week or so I had a baby who never cried, unless he'd hurt himself, and yes, woke up singing.

Had Dd 18 months later, straight on to the same routine, they both napped for hours at lunchtime up to the age of 3, so I had 2 hours to myself every day in the middle of the day (albeit stuck in the house). Dc3 I also used it but it was second nature by then and didn't really refer to the book, when I did consult it I realised I had cut many corners over the years.

GF was a maternity nanny and wrote a book to help people who couldn't afford the likes of her, and who couldn't get their babies to sleep. Her intended readership was not people whose babies already slept fine, it was for people who were at her wits' end with a baby who wouldn't sleep at night or who they couldn't put down.

This feels slightly like a …pull the thread and watch ‘em go …but I used her routines for both my children.

One child slept through from 7 weeks and the other from 13 weeks. People like routines and so do babies. So do I!

I had to google the controversy and one of the 'defamatory' things posted about her really made me laugh. Obviously, I won't be reposting it but if you look for contemporary newspaper articles you can see what the issue was!

Totally agree with all of this- currently cosleeping and baby wearing with my third, ( didn't with my earlier two), and she is still sleeping through the night and in a nap routine during the day. I definitely feel a lot more relaxed living with lovely hubby number two- there isn't a routine in the world that could have made life with husband number one bearable! 😂

When my twins were newborns, I was desperate to get them into any routine.

I bought Gina Ford's twin book, but did not find it helpful.
It had routines like:

• 6:30am - wake babies for first feed, wind, settle and change nappies
• 7:00am - bring babies downstairs.

I'd just think - how on earth can I do all that in 30 mins!! So by 7am, I was already behind schedule.

Then at say 10am, put them down for an hour nap. Mine would wake after 30 mins, so now what? I found it impossible to follow.

Instead I found an excellent online (paid) website, which has routines which suited my babies sleep and feed patterns. (It was called Little Ones).

Me too although only followed the sleeping and feeding routines. Both contented babies sleeping through by 6 weeks....just as well as jeez do I need my sleep 😴

There were some GF women at the time literally holding-out on feeding their crying babies until 3 hours after the last feed on the dot (nuts)
Definitely nuts

waking babies at exactly 7am (nuts)
Definitely nuts too

or holding-off on feeding solids until exactly six months (also nuts).
Totally sensible! Weaning is far more tedious and time consuming than bf requiring a degree of planning whether out and about or at home. I totally held out till 6 months because it was easiest.

I did the Gina Ford routine on both my DC and they were really contented. DC1 slept through, 7pm-7am, from 8 weeks old. DC2 from 10 weeks.

It's just a way of ensuring the babies eat enough during the day so they don't have to feed at night.

I used and loved her weaning book too.

I wouldn't listen to the hate on here. They've never read the books.

Had my 1st in 2009, second 2011. I had enough experience of nieces and nephews to know that some babies sleep, some don't, some are clingy, some are not. I followed my own routine of just general wake when they wake in the morning (often say 8am, rarely earlier), give bottle, change etc. They mostly fell asleep again so i did too, up again at 10. Then they both took really long naps after lunch and went to bed around 10:30 and slept all night from about 8 weeks. I didn't do anything right as such. I was just lucky and pretty calm. I don't think dh would have had the same luck if he was the one on maternity leave. He would get stressed out if they were crying at the weekends. "Why is he crying?" "He hasn't eaten since breakfast, he's hungry". He's a great dad just a bit dumb sometimes. My mum is great with babies (they love her and she loves them). I'm not like her as such, but tried to be calm like she is.

Prsonally not a fan of anyone who advocates extinction methods (controlled crying or cry it out) so Gina Ford has never appealed.

She was definitely in vogue when I had my DC in 1996.

The case settled and the lawsuit dropped. Also the 'ban' was lifted. It threw up lots of interesting questions about whether libel law was fit for purpose in the Internet chat forum age. Many of the comments cited in the complaint were quite personal.

I also read an interesting interview with her a few years ago about why she advocates sleep. She had a hard childhood. As with all things you can take or leave advice.

Are you sure, I remember when my sister had hesecnd child at the end of 1999 discussing it with her as she was thinking abou doing it because the book had just come out and there was a lot of publicity. I'm pretty sure it wasn't a thing when she had her first in 97

Her first book was in 1999. I don't know if she first published advice in magazines/ newspapers.

She saved me from complete breakdown after my first baby in 2003. My friend came round with a pile of baby books and I read GF in the bath while DH took a crying DS out for a walk. She had a chapter about what to do if you couldn't or didn't want to breastfeed......DS and I were massively struggling with zero support from the stream of midwives coming through the door, and I was on the verge of a breakdown. Gina gave me 'permission' to say something wasn't right and showed me what to do to help. I didn't follow to the minute, but used her book as a guide and by seven weeks DS was sleeping 7-7 with the dream feed at 10 and I was saved from insanity. She wasn't for everyone, my best was horrified by her ideas, but she worked for us.

That's what I woul have said from my personal memory, I'm really surprised to see the Pp she she was in vogue in 96 and I know my sister would have tried GF with her first child

Maybe it was a London nanny only type thing at that time