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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

need to get 10 week old into routune. gina ford v baby whisperer?

19 replies

mad4mybaby · 28/01/2009 13:32

if you are anti routine, please do not post here!

ds2 isnt on a routine, have fed him mainly on demand (ff) which is generally every 3 hours with one feed at night between 2-4am.ds1vhad baby whisperer routine from birth and was great as he needed it. ds2 has v bad reflux and been in hosp/meds so havent tried nut now i want to sort something as he can go along enough time in evening, generally 8-2/4am. ineed to try to shift this forward abit to try not feeding netween 12-6am as im struggling with pnd and have 2.6 ds who gets up at 6.

where would you start?

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nondomesticgoddess · 28/01/2009 14:04

I put dd on GF routine fairly loosely at 9 weeks and she seemed to 'get it' pretty quickly (on the day I started it she went to sleep at 7pm and for the first time dh and I had an evening together - bliss!).

I started ds at 6 weeks and had equal success.

I would never do it to the letter but as a rough guide, I found it very helpful.

One thing she does that you might find helpful is the 'dream feed' at around 10.30pm - you wake them up to feed them and they are then able to go through until the morning - however not always immediately and it can still be hit and miss.

Good luck!

plod · 28/01/2009 14:05

I followed Gina as best as I could with DS who now is 21 months. I tweaked it here and there to better suit me. I followed her feed timings and the sleep just fell in!!! DS slept through 11-6.30 since 6 weeks. I used to wake him at 11pm for feed. People were telling me not to wake a sleeping baby....do what is best for YOU! Gina does a book that combines the 2 i.e having a new baby when already have a toddler. Go on her website and have a look. I swear by her. I am a very organised person so routine is very important to me. It has not failed me. My DS is happy little soul and I put a lot of it down to routine. Babies like routine. He now asks for bath/bottle/bed. Keep us posted and good luck

plod · 28/01/2009 14:10

Further to above, try bringing that 8pm feed foward to nearer 7pm, then wake baby approx 11.30pm for feed then should sleep til 6ish?! That is what I did. DS was sleeping 8.30pm til 2am then back down til 6am so I brought feed forward to 7pm then woke as I was going to bed for feed around 11.30pm then he slept til 6am sometimes 7am. When I starteed to wean him (around 16 weeks as he was big) I waited til he was 18 weeks then pushed 7pm bottle further to 8pm again (maybe 8.30pm) then just tried one night (you have to be brave) not waking at 11.30pm and he slept til 6am!!!! I thought if he woke in night I would just be able to revert back to waking at 11.30pm but didn't need to. Let me know how you get on, I will keep checking this thread x

lou031205 · 28/01/2009 14:34

Not anti routine, and avoided other thread, but having said that I would say that routine is only useful because it takes away confusion.

IME, the key is to focus on cues rather than times, and use any routine to affirm your instincts.

So, take general principles like, baby can only cope with 3 hours of 'awake time'. So, whatever time they have woken, when it is 3 or so hours after that, and they get cranky, you can be pretty confident that it is tiredness rather than hunger, for example.

But I am not a routine lover, so you may not want my advice! If I had to choose, I would have BW over GF any day of the week.

lou031205 · 28/01/2009 14:36

I did find that night followed naturally once I sorted daytime sleep, because a lot of DD2's nightwaking was overtiredness.

LittleOneMum · 28/01/2009 16:53

I found Gina a million times better, personally - I agree with a bit of tweaking for you (she'd probably kill me if she knew my 16 month old was still having his night time milk in a bottle for example ).

womblingfree · 29/01/2009 21:56

If you're naturally very organised yourself then Gina Ford will probably work for you.

I tried it but discovered that even parenthood will not make you an organised person if you are not . I also had a v. colicky DD who pretty much refused to sleep for more than about 40 minutes during the day until she was about 7 months old!

My friend has a 6 month old DD and is devoted to the Baby Whisperer.

I'm not having any more but frankly if I did I don't think I'd bother with either!

fymandwhenisthisbabycoming · 29/01/2009 22:00

I go for Gina Ford as the routine seemed easier to follow.... it worked for me and DS!

The only problem I found with her is she doesn't always explain why you need to do certain things - like the not looking at or smiling at your baby when putting down at night bit - it took a good few months for me to twig that if I looked dog tired then baby went to sleep and If you coo and smile he stayed awake

plod · 30/01/2009 09:07

Littleonemum, GF would definitely freak at methen my DS still having night time milk from bottle too....he is 21 months! LOL

madamekoto · 30/01/2009 10:17

I followed GF routines with my dd from when I bought her home, with some tweaking. It gave me my sanity and little one just naturally fell into her routine.

She is now a happy 4 year old. She was always well rested and fed and as I had some time to myself I spent more quality time with her.

Really worked for me. I did learn not to mention it to other mums as it provoked such a strong reaction.

OneLieIn · 30/01/2009 10:38

I did GF with both DCs from very early. it is brilliant (imho, as long as you follow sleep / feed times)

francesrivis · 30/01/2009 10:58

Sorry to hijack, but just wondering - has anyone combined GF's sleep times with bfing on demand, and did it work? I used GF from when my dd was 6 mths, and found it brilliant. Would like to start routine earlier with dc2 (due in a fortnight), but I know a lot of bf counsellors etc feel that GF is not a good idea for bf babies.

julietbat · 30/01/2009 10:59

Just one point about the dreamfeed. I introduced a df to my (bf) dd to try to get her to sleep through the night. I didn't think it was working because every time I tried it she still woke up about 4am. Then someone told me that you have to try the df for at least a few nights in a row to start to see a difference. On the 4th night my dd slept through

cokibeach · 30/01/2009 12:27

mad4mybaby:
what do you do about keeping baby upright after feed? and how does baby manage to go so long at night without feed? do you give a big feed? i have 7 week old with reflux. would love to get her on routine but not sure how to work with reflux needs... i.e. eating little and often and 30 min upright time after feed

nondomesticgoddess · 30/01/2009 14:12

Frances - I bf on demand for the first 9 weeks with dd and 6 weeks with ds and then switched to GF. I sometimes had to adjust times slightly - if they're hungry, they're hungry and they're not going to wait 15 mins because GF says they shopuld! However, for the most part, they adapted fairly well.

Oh, actually, I think with ds I used the routine for slightly younger babies to begin with and gradually adjusted.

madamekoto · 30/01/2009 15:15

I bf and gf. Had to adjust feeding times sometimes but generally did not have a problem keeping to the routine.

I also used a bottle of expressed breast milk once a day from week 2 so hubby could have a go. This gave me a bit of freedom.

francesrivis · 30/01/2009 15:19

Thanks. madame, did you find introducing the bottle of expressed milk at this age caused any problems?

Original poster

mad4mybaby · 30/01/2009 16:48

cokibeach, in the day its easier to keep upright after feed as i put him in his bouncy chair, at night obv dont do that. just keep him up on my shoulder for abit before putting him in cot as his cot is propped up. I dont give him a big feed. He never takes more than 4oz and i dont dream feed... well i tried but didnt seem to make any difference. last night he fed 9pmish and then 4amish but never the same time during the night. sometimes he will feed at 2am and then at 5am.

i cant believe no one loves baby whisperer. i thought was amazing with ds1. even though he fed v oftern due to reflux it was quite simple but with ds2 who is a more placid baby im really struggling as like now he is asleep in his car seat and half hour ago he would have gone 3 hours so therortically he 'out of routine' but because of his other probs (see my other threads!!) like he only naps for half hour every 3 hours or so as he is being woken up by odd breathing issues he has so now that bizarelly he is still asleep i dont want to wake him as i know he hasnt slept enough today...

OP posts:

madamekoto · 30/01/2009 16:55

It didnt cause me any problems at all, despite everyone telling me it would. I always had a plentiful supply of milk and expressing kept it up.

I had a hideous 1st two weeks with breast feeding and it gave my sore nipples a break!!!

Worked for me, but all bambinos are different I guess.

I think having a big bottle of expressed milk as last feed really helped dd to sleep as well as my supply always wained a bit in the evening.

I also had no problem switching from breast to bottle when I finished breast feeding as bottle had already been established.

Just remember to hide your well thumbed copy of GF behind a suitable book when you have visitors though!

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