who is Gina Ford??!!??

[fairy]

I'm not being dim I can assure you!

But who is Gina Ford? It seems that almost every other thread on here mentions her, so please could someone explain all to me!

Many thanks!

Fairy - I'd never heard of her either until I discovered this site. Feel I've missed out somehow!

Yeah! Tinker and Fairy. Me too.
I'd never heard of Gina Ford till I came to this site. I had heard of her theorys but not the woman.
Iam all for it though! I love routines. Athough I have to say Don't no anyone from this neck of the woods who follows it. [north west]
My friends here think iam eccentric because I bought and read Babytalk.
I also bought and used "BABY PLUS"
Its a strange walkman type thing that plays a sort of heartbeat sound to your baby whilst your preggo. It promised me a contented and genius baby.
Please tell me Iam not the only nut out there who bought this.

She is a British maternity nurse, worked with over 300 babies - she has a series of questions and answers which you can find on this site to give you an idea of what she believes in.
She wrote 2 books :
"The contented little baby book" and "From Contented baby to Confident child".

She is quite controversial (at least on this site). Quite a few of us have used her book (if not her routines, at least her advice) to great success.

I hadnt heard about her until this site. She seems to me, from what people have said here, someone who has studied a babies natural routine or pattern, added a few of her ideas, wrote it down and made money.

I had a look at her book but when it was telling me when to change nappies and what time ds should play I fell about laughing. Had to laugh about getting up a 7am and being dressed by 7.30am as well. But if it works for some people then good luck to them. There seem to be far too many childcare experts with their books.

Another Gina Ford innocent. I hadn't heard of her till mumsnet. I thought the rountine and feeding schedule way of doing things went out years ago. That's what my midwife said, anyway.

More fool me! Won't knock it, because I still havn't read the book and probably never shall - too late now - and I know it works for some.

I am still left wondering if Gina is any relation to Betty Ford? and does Betty's way of doing things with grown-ups at her clinic bear any resemblance to Gina's routines? (joke)

I thought she was American, shows what I know!

Seen the books, never looked, it all sounds a bit like too much hard work to me!

Fairy - that is your experience but as you probably have seen others have really found her stuff (not just routines worthwhile). As a coincidence, look what Pena (from Singapore I gather from other threads) wrote today under the Sleep : 7 months old not sleeping enough :

By pena on Wednesday, 6 February, 2002 8:03:35 AM

"Its already a daunting experience to be a first time mum, but to then decide to take the GF path...quite over whelming I found in the first 6 weeks - at some point, I seriously considered burning the book, of course, now I swear by GF. "

And this is something else that was written very recently by another mum :
"In the Gina Ford debates, what strikes me are the vehement anti-GF brigade. Noone who is pro GF has ever expressed the kind of closed mind that some of the antiGF folks have. The antis go on about how dogmatic GF is when in fact they are being far more dogmatic in their "Don't go down the GF route" stance. I have never heard a pro Gina mum say GF is the ONLY way to go , whereas the antis seem to say "GF is definately NOT the way to go" ! And that is without trying her routines. It seems from what I have read so far many Gina converts started out following current ideas about baby-led feeding and sleeping routines.
As I have said before, I had not heard of her routines until enlightened by yourself and others on Mumsnet."

Just thought these 2 mums were quite representative of the mums who use GF's book. We like her stuff, it's worked for us (and sometimes some of it was hard work)... and yes she may have made some money by writing a book that is common sense (BTW a lot of anti GF think she is mad or just about, so to them it isn't common sense anyway)... but what do you all think Delia Smith makes money on ???? She didn't invent anything ! She just shares her extensive experience with how to book which sells millions !

Message withdrawn

Wow, Being knew myself to the name of Gina Ford. I didn't realise the extent of ginafordness.
I didn't realise you had to pro or anti. It sounds a bit like abortion. IYKWIM.
Can't say I have feelings either way on the subject.
But I do respect those who follow her and those who don't. Its a personal choice.
God now it sounds like a religion. Iam stopping here before I put my foot in it.

Tee Hee Bloss!

C'mon guys - haven't you guessed? Pupuce IS Gina Ford - secretly 'working' the mums & Babies sites to promote her books. (Bet she's been writing all those 5 star reviews on Amazon too!)

Pupuce - Being serious (and naughtily crossing thread topics...) DO come to the London meeting - I'm DYING to meet you!!!

I wish I was GF, I wouldn't have to work anymore... I'd be making zillions with my books !
But I should be on commission ! Go on Bloss, ask her !!!
I sometimes think that if GF saw what I wrote she might actually be unhappy that I am not always staying true to her routine and therefore "missrepresenting her theory" (yes - I know you don't believe me... even I divert from her stuff )

motherofone - yes!!! at last - someone else who thinks like me - Pupuce IS Gina! I too am dying to meet you, Pupuce, if only to put my mind at rest!

Callie - I tried really hard to get a baby plus in this country, but couldn't find one. I couldn't get it together to get one sent from the states in time, so just used 'mellow mozart' on a portable cd player stuffed down my pyjamas every night! It did seem to work though - as the book said (superbaby) he came out calm, relaxed, very strong neck muscles and very observant. Can I borrow yours next time? no, really, where did you get it?

By the way - I love Gina. The book has made me feel grounded and a little more in control in what would otherwise be a bewildering and exhausting time . My first child is 11 weeks old and I need to know stuff, it doesn't all come naturally!

Hi manna.
When I was preggo back in 2000 Babyplus had large advertisments in one of my babymags. I simply rang the number and they sent me a whole pile of literature on the subject.
We could either hire one or buy one so we chose to buy it. Can you believe I paid £200 for it!!
I started it at I think 24weeks and it was supposed to run for 16weeks till term. The sound changed slightly each week [got faster].

Anyway dd had the cheek to come 2weeks early. So I never completed. Don't know if this matters.
She was v alert when born and has always had good muscle tone. She did reach all her physical milestones quicker. Smiled at 2weeks, crawled at 6mths, walked at 10mths but I would say know at 21mths she is average in speech.

And she was definitly not a calm contented baby thats for sure.
I think I would use it again though.
And if she starts reading her brothers Harry Potter at 2yrs I'll let you know!

Message withdrawn

I wasn't starting an arguement, more like that I go with the flow, and I was curious about Gina Ford - thats all!!!

I'm a fairly new mumsnetter and I'm afraid I am with Pupuce on GF, as a first time mum I found it a great help and took a lot of guidance from her book but I don't think I ever managed my drink, cereal and toast by 8am in the mornings!! or got the sterilising done at the right time !

My dd seems to have thrived on GF's sleep patterns and routines but some of my friends have put the book in the charity shop! I think it is all a case of you know what works for you.

Tula I have not tried GF but I bought the books recently having been intrigued by the discussions here and having had various difficulties with my first two babies ( nothing serious ) GF looked intuitively like a sensible alternative approach ...anyway, I LOVED that bit in the book telling you to make sure you have your cereal, toast and drink! Will definately be doing that!

Jasper - I tried the GF rountine with my 'frequent feeder' baby, it resulted in him waking at night even more frequently but cutting down on feeds during the day
If you decide to use GF with the new baby I'll be interested in how it all works out as I'm planning baby no 2 and I'm in a similar dilemma as far as breastfeeding goes.

I wonder if any of you might be able to help me on another Gina Ford question?!

Is it possible to move a baby into her routine even if he is already 10 weeks old?

I'm asking as it may be something for us to do, and I don't want to buy the book unless it is feasible.

Thanks in advance!

I don't often comment on the Gina Ford debate as most of the time other people cover any comments I might have. However, I suppose I am a half fan of GF. I bought the book before ds was born & given my sad, organisational tendencies I virtually learnt the routines by heart. I'm so anal I typed most of the feeding and sleeping charts out & stuck them on the fridge.
Despite my best efforts her routines really did not work for us initially. DS was a very angry, hungry, sucky, sore headed and colicky baby. DH & I used to take it in turns to sit up in the darkened room giving DS his evening feed and then listen to him scream. After a week, we gave up and spent 5 hours every night walking him around the house. Despite vast amounts of jigging, rocking, patting etc I could never get DS to go 3 hours between feeds for the first 3 months & it wasn't until we weaned him at 16 weeks that finally he started to fall into a routine.
I found lots of GF's tips helpful, swaddling, black out blinds etc but have to admit to getting hugely depressed by "failing" at her routines in the early days.
Whenever I mention GF to people, it is always with the caveat that if they can't get it to work initially, then leave it for a while and come back to it later if they still want to.
So, to answer Fairy's question, yes, you could get a 10 week old child to adapt to the routines if you wanted to.

I have seen several mums try GF routines with older babies (even 6 months old) - usually because they were finding their current way of doing things difficult. Often also because they wanted their babies to sleep through the night. The 3 mums that I am thinking of right now, had no problem adapting. They usually managed it within a week - except for 1 for whom it took longer but I do remember her doing it very half hartedly.
My advice would be that if you plan to do it, try to be committed to it for a little while. Going back and forth doesn't really work. Once your baby is well established on the routine then you can start deviating.
Anyway, if you do go for it, you'll always find someone on mumsnet to give you advice on her routines.

fairy - a girl from my nct class gave up at 10 weeks and put her son onto gf. It took 3 days, so don't despair!

Fairy,
I didnt discover GF until my son was 6 weeks and he got into the routine with no problems. It revolutionised our lives, though we pick the bits to suit us, (and when does a new mother ever have time to sit down and eat a piece of toast anyway!)

Now on the subject of being dim, I havent used this site very long and it took me a while to work out what the initials GF were, even though I had the book!
But now can you enlighten me as to dh, dd and ds?
Thanks.