In having no idea who Gina Ford is?

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Who is Gina Ford and what sort of things she advises parents to do?

I'm only aware of the woman because I read about her having a strop with Nick Clegg. Will someone tell me who she is?

I've never used the book, just got on with it myself. I don't know anyone that has used the book IRL. Hard to really comment since I've not read it.

I do remember however watching a documentary on GF and one celebrity mum claimed it worked for her and she said if it didn't work for other mums out there who tried it then they obviously weren't doing it right! What a cheek.

What works for one, doesn't work for another.

I love the way MNers you have never heard of rush onto threads this like this and start raving at efectiveness of regime.

Suspicious?
Moi?
Mais non!!!

The idea of her political blog is too hilarious for words. I love the way people who have achieved a measure of suyccess in one field then consider other random fields fair game.

I'm a painter and decorator herefore I shall reinvent myself as a.....dog trainer!

As for me, 30 years with the Inland Revenue have equipped me with the skills needs to set up as an ante natal massage therapist.

My long career waving crystals over chakras leaves me uniquely empowered to retune your engine.

I was given a copy of the book by a friend who said she couldn't get it at all but I might find it useful.

On the first read I was almost hysterical, trying to imagine how on earth I was going to plan everything with such military precision, it totally depressed me.

After calming myself down I came back to it with the realisation that I could pick and choose from the book and develop my own system from that, not quite so rigid but with the routine principle in place. I have to say it worked for us but as another poster has said, if you take it literally it could send you daft.

I also read the Baby Whisperer and that just didn't work for me, I couldn't figure out what type of baby I had, he seemed to fit all of them at different times of the day! I've always been shit at those personality test things.

Still, at least the EASY website is free, but then so is MN!

I innocently bought the book 9 yrs ago - hey who wouldn't want a happy baby - I was horrified at how strict the routine was. It was very much 3 minutes at left breast, 10 minutes at right breast. She even scheduled when you could shower and have breakfast. It really wasn't for me. I do believe more recent editions have been radically changed which kind of illustrates the point that she had been speaking nonsense.

I threw the book in the bin.

I loved this quote from Mazstar "Oh and PS, for a book that is so awful, I found it sold out at all the book stores I visited and had to place it on order!!"

There is a huge difference between sold out and no longer stocked sue to lack of demand.

The black out blinds advice can very much be a "rod for your own back" as mys sister still has to travel with black out blinds and her boys are 8yrs and 7yrs.

What ziggurat said (much better than I did). why do I bother to post sometimes??

I learned one useful thing from Gina Ford:

little babies seem to like to go back to sleep again for a proper nap two hours after they've woken for the day.

My life with my newborn got much much easier after I discovered this, but everything else in the book I ignored.

I'd like to see this thread disappear as it feels tainted by MazStar.

Hey Moondog I am a regular MNer and GF worked for me!! promise I dislike the way the book is written and probably wouldn't like the woman if I met her...

But as someone mentioned below - a lot of people would never think a newborn needs to go back to sleep 1 and a half to 2 hours after they first wake. That was a big surprise to me - and if they get into that nap the rest of the day goes well. I do see babies with their eyes hanging out that are just massively overtired and then are too tired to feed well etc etc. The general principles - 3 naps a day and feeding every 3 hours to pack lots of calories into they "day time" period make sense.

The rigid routine is very offputting - but you can actualy extract the core principles and have the same effect. It annoys me when people say GF involves leaving babies to cry etc. My 3 babies would have cried very very little - mainly because they were well rested as was I. I certainly nevr left them to cry. Each of my DC are very very different - but funnily enough each of them slept through 7 to 7 from 10 weeks, so it must suit some babies...

But I do agree that for some people being presented wih this rigid schedule can make them feel like failures if their babies don't stick to it to the letter - and more stress is one thing you don't need when you have a small babe. But it can be helpful to new parents of a certain type, so some anti-GF people need to live and let live IMO.

I bought the book when I was pregnant, I thought it sounded very sensible.

But when ds came along I couldn't understand how her routines could possibly work, also it doesn't allow for having a life - baby groups, meeting friends for coffee, etc, etc, so important ime new mums aren't isolated.

We had a routine by about 3 months.

Shall I tell you what yanks my chain, shall I...?

My baby slept through from 6 weeks!!!!!!!!!

Oh yes, the pinnacle of parenting. You have achieved the dizzying heights of parenting brilliance. Well done, have a hero biscuit. Just one though. You can have another one in 37 minutes.

I bought the book when dd was newborn but realised as soon as I read it that I simply couldn't be arsed. Up at 7am exactly every morning, breakfast at 7.02.5 or whatever it was? Nah. Happy warm drifty off to sleep cuddles in bed with PFB. Nothing to get up for. Bf, another bf. wake at 10am maybe. Lovely.
However we did fall into a kind of routine of our own eventually that dd loved, but it was flexible enough to accomodate different getting up/nap/meal times. I could never have coped with the sheer rigidity of GF.
Each to their own, I suppose...

showofhands im sorry if people having children that sleep through the night upsets you!

I quite enjoy my 'hero' biscuit with a cup of tea after a good nights sleep

I think the point was that there is nothing that you can do to make your child sleep through. My DS slept through at 7 weeks - I never had a routine and I doubt it was anything I did that made him sleep. At 4 months he stopped sleeping through and at 16 months, he sleeps through some nights and wakes in others.

Do you know, I can't even remember when DS slept through. It seems so important at the time, but it really doesn't matter does it?

Morloth - "I am looking forward to these again, those warm milky sleepy quiet times, how could you not look into their eyes? DS used to BF while staring at me at night and I could see him slipping back into sleep, all droopy and warm and safe.

Gah have gone all mushy now."

I know - me too! It makes the night time feeds bearable!

ShowOfHands - agreed, as if getting your baby to sleep through the night is the one and only indicator of brilliant parenting...

thefinerthingsinlife

Upset at children sleeping through? My child sleeps through. It's the implication that having a baby that sleeps through is good, having a babyy that doesn't is bad. And that it's somehow to do with something other than mainly luck and a small amount of rigid enforcement in some cases.

It's Smuggy McSmuggerson to hold it up as some sort of parenting/routine achievement when children sleeping through happens or doesn't for myriad reasons.

GF threads, not you that you get that many !! are so extreme.
Can a book make you depressed then ? I thought that PND was a mental condition, imbalance. Not something that can be bought on by one womans parenting views.
They are strict. It is possible for someone to take them with a pince of salt. Take on board some basic principals, and adapt them , like when you read any other parenting book -HTT, Raising boys or anything else.
I am always shocked at how anyone can say this made me feel inadequate, whether its GF, BLW, karmel, or anyone.

Why do women let these gurus make them feel so inadequate ?

Think book makes you depreesed because it's all about targets:

At 11lb your child should drink x ml milk

at 4-6 weeks they should nap for at least/ no more than x hours.

So all day you are failing

"Oh no she/he's not had enough milk - must try and give them another feed, but that means they won't be able to go to sleep for another 30 minutes and so they won't have had enough naps in the day, but if I let him/ her sleep, they'll
wake in the night,
want more milk,
not have enough of their 7am feed

ARGHHH!!

Too much anxieth

Anxiety - so stressed, can't spell!!

GF lasted 3 days on my first born before being "recycled"

Can you tell?

Have to agree with showofhands that if your baby doesn't sleep through at 6 weeks you're somehow not as good a parent in some people's eyes.
Every baby's different, every parent is different - like oblomov said, if you read any book by any 'guru', take what's useful, bin the rest and enjoy your LO for the individual little bundle they are. And certainly don't get complexes about either your parenting skills or your baby's 'goodness' because they don't fit the mould!

My my, is having a baby that sleeps through from six weeks really the be-all and end-all? I could never parent the Gina Ford way- I'm a bit of a hippy softie- But I'm certainly not going to have a go at anyone else for doing so. IMO parents should try really hard to listen to their instincts. I would not follow a parenting manual, but I am reading The Continuum Concept, which is far more me than Gina Ford. I always thought of birth as part of a greater process, and thought how traumatic it must be for baby. I also try to keep in mind that babies do not cry/whinge/wake up at night to annoy me.

And, TBH, whilst I respect anyone's parenting decisions, GF lost all respect from me when she tried to sue mumsnet.

No, credit where it's due....

Without that publicity I might never have found this haven (of shrews)

i like to say i had SPD for both my preg so never slept more than an hour a night (anyone who has ever had SPD will understand this) so having my babies sleep through the night is a big deal to me as i hadnt slept properly in nearly a year!

My personal experience was that GF worked brilliantly (with a few adjustments here and there) for DS1. I read through it and was pretty daunted by the military precision of it all, so I used the sleep times and the feed times and pretty much disregarded the faffing. It really worked for him, and I love routine.

DS2, however, wasn't having any of it!! He considers routine is for wimps. I gave up trying to fit him into one after a couple of months.

So it really depends on the child, and you have to know when to call it a day with the GF routines.

Crap that she got arsey about MN, no need really.

so showofhands it's not smugness its sheer relief