Gina Ford - has anyone tried her feed/sleep method for babies?

[Leogaela]

Did you have any success?
Did you really stick to the routine and rules or did you cut corners?

A wonderful friend has sent me the book! I have decided to try the routine... after the first days attempt yesterday his sleep/feed pattern last night and today is worse than it has been in the whole 1 month of his life!

I found the Gina Ford books very helpful. I tended to pick and choose what I wanted to follow. I particulary found her sleep routines very helpful and the controlled crying.

She can be too strict on some things.

You don't say how old your baby is

Lots of people here have and her methods have, in the past, caused some controversy here, so be prepared for some interesting responses!

I used them loosely. It helped massively. I cut corners (eg I didn't do the getting up and expressing at 6.45am - are you CRAZY?). I think it depends how old he is and what kind of baby he is and person you are. We're quite structured organised people, so it followed that dd responded well to structure! I'm not sure if I would be as strict again if I had another child, but I will say that her methods for getting babes to sleep have paid massive dividends for us and dd is now brilliant at going to bed at the right time and sleeping through. (She's 2.4)

Maybe give it another couple of days and take a view then?

be warned - some people are very passionate both for and against Gina Ford. This may deteriorate into a slanging match between the two sides !

Personally I think it is perfect for some parents and some babies and completely wrong for others. Read the book and decide which for you. I think most babies benefit from a routine but probably it doesn't have to be as rigid to times as hers.

My biggest tip is that babies of that age tire very quickly - sometimes within 1 hour of waking and rarely stay awake happily longer than 2 hours. Make sure he is not overtired otherwise he won't settle to sleep easily. By the time he is rubbing his eyes and yawning he is probably getting overtired.

I did (DS is now almost 5) and I swear that DS had read the book too! I was given it when he was 6 weeks old and it worked brilliantly for us. I do think I'm the lucky exception to the rule though. I only did the feeding/sleeping routine bits otherwise I think she is far too strict and makes you feel dreadful if you don't have the right sort of blanket,curtains etc. Interesting to note she doesn't have her own children isn't it. Good luck with whatever you do and don't get too stressed just because someone says 'you should do it this way'. Go with the flow and enjoy these early days, they go by way too quick if you ask me!

I followed it loosely (to fit in more with my routines, not hers, i.e. shopping trips when I wanted, he he he!). It really helped me feel 'normal' again, and not under the control of my wonderful new ds . A friend of mine has just started following it too (her dd is now 8 weeks) and she's also found it a life saver. But I will say both of us are kinda control freaks to degrees, and so Gina's routines suited us. Also my friends MW made a comment that at around 6-8 weeks is when newborns tend to settle down abit naturally. If you've tried it for a bit and it doesn't seem to be working, maybe try adapting Gina's routines so that they're less 'stringent', or maybe it's time to try something else...but don't beat yourself up about it. You will find that things settle down, 4+ weeks is still very young to be completely in a routine, and at the end of the day what works for one doesn't necessarily work for another...you're not a failure if you give up and move on, and I promise it will get better

The only time I've felt wholly inadequate (rather than just quite inadequate ) is after reading GF

I tended to watch for when DS was tired (eye-rubbing, ear-tugging), hungry (mouthing, but not crying - if he cried, he got too windy and just sicked all his milk up again), then put him down for a nap or fed him.

Didn't get time to check in again yesteday!

Thanks for the replies! I was really anti-books, but when a friend sent this one some of the ideas looked good and as we have a couple of problems with ds which I don't want to turn into long term bad habits I thought I would give it a go.

Charellie - ds was 4 weeks yesterday.

In the beginning he was a perfect baby, sleeping in 4 hour stretches at night and feeding about every 2 to 4 hours during the day. then I ruined him! A few long shopping trips and days out meant that he was sleeping too long during the day and the day and night routines seemed to switch.
The other problem is that he can't fall asleep unless he is sucking on my nipples and its the only thing that calms him when he is distressed (even if he isn't drinking only sucking) - am trying a dummy which he sometimes goes for, but not if he is distressed or overtired.

Thanks for the overtired tip throckenholt, it seems to be one of the problems!

Hunkermunker - it sounds perfect, but I still can't always work out what is wrong with ds when he cries !!!!!

We had a better day and night yesterday! although I can't see him lasting through from 10pm - 7am as Gina says he should!!!!

you didn't ruin it - babies at that age change their routine almost every day ! Honestly they are still figuring everything out.

But definitely an overtired baby is tough to get to sleep (took me ages to figure that out - at one time DS1 was awake for 11 hours at a stretch and very grumpy ! the only thing would soothe him was status quo , and lots of rocking in the pram). Once I figured out he was tired before I realised things got much easier, and that was also very true for my twins as well.

I have realised the over tired thing is an important one to watch out for. I have been so excited to see ds awake and playing that sometimes i have over done it with him and have a bad time the next hour or few - but 11 hours!!!! Aaaaargh! Sometimes its difficult be in the right place at the right time to be sure that they get to sleep early enough and peacefully enough......

I like the Gina idea to settle the baby in a dark quiet room - seems to be working up to a point!