Routines

[harverina]

Hi there,
I am due soon and reading up on routines - anyone got any first hand experience of using Gina Ford? I have been told by friends that her routines are brilliant but other people have told me that you are restricted to the house for naps? Want to be able to get out an about so can I use just some of her advice or do I need to follow it exactly for it to really work?
Sorry, I know that this is a topic that has been discussed loads, but looking for some first hand advice.
Thanks
H

i wouldn't worry too much about routines ust yet.
some babies fall quickly into a routine of their own anyway
routines are not good if you are breastfeding, because you need to breastfeed on demand to build up a good supply and keep baby happy and full-up! feeding on demand does not generally fit in well with routines!

Try doing a search and it'll throw up alot of results.

My PERSONAL experience is that although I'm a very organised (anal) person, my babies hadn't read the manual and didn't want to go into a routine. As soon as I let them find their own pace we all enjoyed it more. They're small for such a short time that it can ruin it for you if you don't feel you are getting it right. My 2 yo started sleeping through fairly early but ny DS (16 weeks) wakes once a night for feeding. Same parents, very different babies.

Congratulations BTW

i remember thinking that i was really lucky in that my DS1 settled into a routine really quickly cos DS2 ran his own time clock from day one (starting off 18 days late and he is still making me wait the little bugger)!!

i reckon you learn for yourself on a daily basis what works best for you and baby rather than some rigid timeline laid out by a book. Dowhat you feel is right and i reckon you can't go too far wrong.

Good luck

Congrats

I second what everyone else has said. Don't even think about routine if you are planning to breastfeed as in the first month of 2 you really need to feed whenever they want to (bugger what Gina says).

Neither of my boys had read the bloody book so, no matter how organised I wanted to be, it was never going to work.

I would put Gina on the shelf and look at the routines listed at the back, every now and again, just to see roughly how much sleep, feeds they possibly should be getting at a relevant stage.

Life's too short for all that expressing too.

But that's just my opinion

good luck

I agree too. Some babies will settle into a routine from early on quite easily, others won't. My DS is now 8 months and I would say only in the past month or so have we had any kind of predictable routine. This has kind of gone hand in hand with weaning as we now do meals at set times in the day - didn't really have this predictability when we were just milk feeding.

You should definitely go with the flow, initially at least and if breastfeeding, as others have said, you need to feed on demand anyway. My DS wanted to breastfeed non-stop (or so it felt) for the first 2-3 months!!

Having said that I do own a Gina Ford book and I sometimes do refer to it for timings of feeds and naps. Only ever with a pinch of salt though!!

Good luck with the new arrival.

You don't need to do it to the T. Take what you want and dismiss the rest. Worked fab for us.

I second what Oblomov said, we did Gina and loved it but we didn't follow it to the letter but just let it guide us IYSWIM.
It was a serious god send for me and will be using it again next time around.

I'm the type of person who likes lists, timetables and order and it made me feel like I had a plan for the day to work towards. Sometimes baby had other ideas (they all will) but at least I knew what I was working towards rather than just 'going with the flow' which would bring me out in a cold sweat!

Also, don't think it will necessarily be bad for breastfeeding either, I bf for 9 months with no problems at all a very chubby, healthy baby.

Ime, many babies either settle into some sort of routine or happily accept one imposed upon them sometime during the 2nd half of the 1st year. In the earlier days and months they can be far less predictavble animals and it's all about doing what works for you and the baby at the time, I reckon. For some parents and babies that'll mean at least attempting a routine, for others going with the flow works a lot better.

It's horses for courses. My ds is 6 weeks and I've just started referring to gf for an idea of feeding/sleeping times in an effort to bread cycle of feeding every 2 hours and only long sleep being in day! Who knows if it'll work but I feel better for trying something!
Everyone I know who has used gf has only used it loosely - no darkened rooms and staying in - and all love it!

Should be break cycle - not break!!

I wouldn't recommend including a bath in your daily routine. It's not good for skin and many babies (and mums) just don't enjoy the experience until the baby is sitting up by themselves. You're wiping all the grotty bits several times a day anyway.

My babies have always come up with their own routines that didn't seem unreasonable to me. My big rule is that a baby has no right being awake for more than 3hrs.

You could set up a routine for the early days for other people though - set visiting hours at home between 2and 6pm. This will let you and baby snooze/feed/snooze/feed all morning and let you spend the evening in front of tv with your boobs out followed by an early night 'nap' for you.

That should be bath in baby's routine - mum can wash whenever she likes/can manage.

Oh yes - no visitors after 7pm worked very well for my family!

Thanks everyone for their advice!

We followed GF from birth and it worked terrifically for our DD (now 21 months). I didn't find it inflexible at all as I ensured that 1 or 2 of her daytime naps were always in the buggy so that I could get out each day.

Wait and see what your baby is like. Mine naturally veered towards the GF routine roughly at around 3 months. We have adapted it to suit us though. Up until then he was very unpredictable (born 4 weeks early). Agree with buggy naps unless buggy keeps baby awake - with mine it put him to sleep. Agree with Gladioli RE baths... nightmare.

Good luck.