Advice on Gina Ford routine (no negatives please :P)

[sunndydays]

Hi,
Have just started doing the Gina Ford routine with 5wk old (bit late I know), anyway I am bottle feeding and it says one feed at 5 and another at 6:15 I cannot get dd to drink two feeds so close together what do you suggest I do? Also I know she will never sleep through the night if she isn't getting all the milk she needs during the day but we really struggle to get just 90mls down her she is putting on weight so I'm not too worried but it is frustrating when all literature and hvs say she should be on at least 120mls each feed...can I have some reassurance please??!! TIA

Don't feel that you have to follow GF to the letter. I too started at about 4-5 weeks and found it didn't fit exactly. I can't remember how I got around it, 5 think I just tried to give a small amount at 5 and then a larger amount at 6.15. It's all just trial and error really. Good luck.

My sister never bothered spliting that feed, I think she gave it at about 5.40 and then baby was in bed for 6.00pm, you can tweak the routine a bit I think.

I would be flexible on the age guidelines....

if you look in the next section the 5pm feed is dropped so if your DD is putting on weight ok, move on to the 6week section. You can always give the 6:15 a little earlier for a day or two if she is missing the 5pm....

I seem to remember we did a few things prior to the age guidelines - both my DS's dropped the afternoon nap earlier than suggested. I don't think either managed a 5pm and 6:15 feed - certainly with DS1 who was a loooong breast feeder he wouldn't have been finished at 6:15 from the 5pm one

I would always check the next section as you can see the next "change" and often your DC will start naturally moving on to the next stage.

Stop struggling to get food down her, you will override her appetite control and set her up for problems in later life.

Your DD has a far better idea of how much food she needs than Gina Ford does.

Hi, I split the feed for about a week but it didn't do well for me either so just did the whole lot before her bath. Don't worry about your baby not getting what she needs to sleep through. I got myself in a right twist thinking the same thing but fact is babies will feed when they are hungry and stop when they are full. GF is good for a timetable but your baby will never conform to it to the letter as they haven't read the book! Good luck!

Ah thank you, I think I will drop the 5:15 one then as she isn't really that hungry until 6 anyway. I think the hardest part of being a mummy so far is trying to be perfect at it!

It's based on the assumption you're breast feeding so it'd be one breast at before and the other after the bath, so just do half a feed before and the other half after. As for the HVs, just count that as one feed in total.

theaudiconnection I only struggle because she is a sleepy baby, once she starts pushing the teat out with her tongue I know she is full and won't try any more, I think she is a little more difficult to feed as she was a little early (4 weeks)so technically she should only be just over a week old!

I'm not going to be negative about GF, because in the end her routine suited DS very well - but, I would say that it's still quite early days. Don't think that just because your baby doesn't conform exactly to a GF pattern at this age, she won't do so later. For example, DS never slept properly in the day until 8 months, but we still ended up with a pretty much perfect GF schedule after that. And I agree with the others - splitting that evening feed never worked for us either. So my advice would be the same as for most of the baby advice you get - take the bits that work, and adapt the bits that don't. HTH .