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Pregnancy

Gina Ford v Tina Hogg???

86 replies

FraggleRock77 · 01/09/2013 15:32

Which did you go with if any at all? I have friends who've done a mixture of both. Just trying to read up before the big day! X

OP posts:

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ladystarkers · 08/07/2017 16:37

Neither. Go with the flow. Babies dont need much.

Ginlinessisnexttogodliness · 08/07/2017 16:36

I'd love to know if OP used any with success!

Ginlinessisnexttogodliness · 08/07/2017 16:35

I'm just curious as to exactly how many of these gurus have actually had their own newborn babies to care for? 🤔

Flisspaps · 08/07/2017 10:41

Samhumble start your own thread - people will reply to the OP and I think they'll be way beyond Gina Ford or Tracey Hogg now.

Lunalovepud · 08/07/2017 10:23

Your baby won't have read the book so won't know what they are supposed to be doing - you'd be better off spending your time reading something exciting or catching up on box sets etc before baby arrives.

I never read any books, just went with the flow.

I'd never trust a book on parenting newborns written by someone who didn't have their own kids though.

TheSlowLoris · 08/07/2017 09:50

This thread is 4 years old.

grasspigeons · 08/07/2017 09:42

Neither if you breastfeed - I did find 'what to expect if you are breastfeeding and what if you cant' useful to a point. I also vaguely remember getting something out of the no cry sleep solution at about a year old.

I like Gina fords weaning book but taken with confidence to not follow it rigidly. I found a lot of annabel karma ls recipes sweet.

I actually had this do book about pregnancy to 5 years old from the 80s that was incredibly useful. It had pictures of rashes etc in it. It wasnt a follow this regime book but like a fact book.

imjessie · 08/07/2017 09:33

I 'Gina forded ' both my children . They are completely different . Girl/ boy .. prem/ not prem .. NT/ sn ( so it turned out .. not reflux/ reflux !!..... I did exactly the same with both of them and they both slept 12 hours at 12 weeks .. literally exactly the same !!...... I think they key to all this is naps in the cot , everything from 7 pm - 7 am is in the cot / bedroom and teaching them from day one to self soothe/settle from day one... I've helped loads of friends with babies do it too and they all sleep at 12 weeks for 12 hours ... good luck !

Aria2015 · 08/07/2017 09:26

I did baby whisperer and it was great. I didn't start it until lo was about 10 weeks and I was exclusively breastfeeding and didn't find it an issue. The main message of her book is making sure your baby gets sufficient sleep and activity for their specific age. My lo naturally seemed to fall into the feeding pattern but I did do 'too up' feeds as and when I wanted as ultimately I was feeding on demand.

I found that my lo really took to it and it was nice to have established nap times because then i knew when some rest periods were coming.

I didn't follow to the letter, just took the main routine and adapted it. Didn't do her no cry method either as I found the best way to stop lo crying was to feed him lol!

bluechameleon · 08/07/2017 09:18

I liked What Mothers Do by Naomi Stadlen. It doesn't tell you how to look after the baby but it does help you to understand how you are helping your baby through all the things you are naturally doing. I read some other gentle parenting-type books but I found some of them difficult. Breastfeeding didn't work out for us and some of those authors can't seem to imagine that someone might want to follow lots of other elements of gentle parenting but not be breastfeeding.

Lemondrop99 · 08/07/2017 08:44

I've been given a Gina Ford book and I know two mum's who swear by it. I'm open to most thing and usually over research everything! But a few chapters into Gina's book and I felt really unimpressed by the whole thing. I put it down and have no intention of going back to it.

Funnily enough (coming from someone who over researches everything....) I haven't read any other books and I don't feel the urge to. I can't explain why. I just think I'm going to hold, hug and feed my baby at first as it's too early for a routine and see how we get on. As he gets a bit bigger, we'll likely need a routine but I expect he'll guide me on what fit him.

(Watch me eat my word and be rabidly reading all the books I can get, two weeks after birth )

Samhumblesmith · 08/07/2017 08:34

Hi, I'm having issues with my 1.5 year old sleeping. I've followed TH theory loosely with some 'accidental' parenting and need some major advise of how to get back some sleep. Anyone used a consultant as such that followed the TH theory as that's what I want to stick with? Thanks xx

FraggleRock77 · 05/09/2013 14:01

Thanks Totes, that's what I'm doing x

OP posts:

Smartiepants79 · 05/09/2013 14:00

As others have said. Read them. Take from them what's useful to you, your personality and your baby's personality.
I exclusively breast fed both my daughters and still loosely used Gina Ford with a bit of the baby whisperer thrown in.
I feel they both talk a lot of sense and as long as you don't take it as Gospel they can be very useful.
I also would agree to not try to start anything for at least 6-8 weeks especially as this is a first baby and you've no other children to worry about.
I am a big believer in routine even for breast fed babies. It gives them security. People always comment how relaxed and chilled out my DC are. They were both very contented babies. Some of that will be luck and personality BUT I believe they rarely cried because they very rarely had a need to. Our routine made sure they were never too hungry or overtired. Their needs were met before they even knew they needed it!
Good luck with your baby. You'll be fab I'm sure!

FraggleRock77 · 05/09/2013 13:57

Thanks Totes, that's what I'm doing x

OP posts:

Totesamazeballs · 05/09/2013 09:23

I read a myriad of books including those mentioned when I was carrying DC1. It stemmed from a lack of confidence on my part and also i tend to research subjects I know little about!

I did try Ford for about two days and then realised it wasn't for me. Hogg is more relaxed but I still didn't end up using her methods because I quickly gained the confidence to find my own way and we built a routine around DC - I observed any patterns and then encouraged them. And the thing is that babies patterns are constantly changing in those early days so it would have stressed me out to get too hung up on fixed routines. I am an organised person but surprised myself in learning to go with the flow more.

DC has a routine but it changes according to how he is feeling and what we have on in the day, eg, I am not going to put him down for a sleep if he isn't tired, even if he was tired at that time yesterday.

I am a great believer in having a routine but one that you build together and I was lucky that DC was amenable to that.

Saying that, I know people who have followed book routines religiously and sworn it works for them. It's totally personal at the end of the day and dependant on your baby's nature too.

Why don't you read both and see what you think?

RoadToTuapeka · 05/09/2013 06:36

I thought baby whisperer was useful for basic idea of eat, awake time, sleep which both my two did quite happily although with quite different timings.

Other friend's babies did the 3 hour followed by 4 hour routine al la Ford but mine didn't, but still napped fine, fed when needed etc. I actually tried Gina Fording it one ill fated morning when DS1 was about 5 months old, at 5am when GF says 'give em half a boob and then they will be up for a proper feed at 7am to start a routine properly. And try to get over that early waking/feed'. Erm, no, how do you do half a boon, baby woke as he was hungry, so did of course not settle, wanted more food, fell asleep at 7, we all had a horrid start to the day, so never again!

Best of luck, trust your instincts and your baby, you will do just fine.

FraggleRock77 · 05/09/2013 06:12

I don't know either?

OP posts:

Queazy · 05/09/2013 05:59

What is cc? Sorry to be a bit thick x

EST0106 · 04/09/2013 22:17

I did gina ford from about 5 weeks, loosely. I like the 7am til 7pm day, it helped me organise my time and despite what some people have said, I did need to be guided as to when DD should be sleeping. The first 5 weeks were a blur of me shoving my boob at her every time she squeaked, in hindsight she was knackered and needed a nap not milk! Did have to supplement it with a bit of cc, book called 'solve your childs sleep problems' or something, at around 10 months. I know people have some strong views on here about cc but I don't regret it for a second. DD now sleeps 12 hours plus a night, every night and has done since we did it. She also doesn't seem to we've been adversely affected!

mumoftwoboysS · 04/09/2013 20:43

workingonit don't mind at all- tried pm'ing you but for some reason i'ts not working so apologies to the others where this is a bit off subject/not of interest!

basically after a week I got the whole bleeding/cracked nipple thing and it was just too traumatic/painful. Second time round I got the same thing despite MW telling me the latch was good. I still feel guilty for stopping and wish I'd just pushed through the pain but blood coming out when using the breast pump was the last straw! This time will ask for more help and I also wonder if latch wasn't right. Have read somewhere that if you hear clicking when feeding it means the latch isn't right and I definitely heard that. (but didn't know at the time it wasn't right) Good luck with your DC3! This time I'm going to be armed with an electric pump and good nipple shields to help me through the first few weeks. How many weeks are you? I'm only 25 weeks- if we're similar maybe we can keep in touch and support eachother through that tricky bit. What went wrong with you with BF (if you don't mind me asking!)

FraggleRock77 · 02/09/2013 17:31

Thank you for all the feed back. It's really helpful x

OP posts:

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ScrambledSmegs · 02/09/2013 14:58

To be honest, whatever works for you and your baby. DD1 had silent reflux (undiagnosed for months) and both GF and TBW made me feel really incompetent.

I ended up throwing the books out and just trying to get through the days as best and calmly as we could.

Btw I found very early on that GF didn't really 'get' breastfeeding, I ignored every single scrap of her advice on that! Tracey Hogg too, but by the time I TBW I already knew to skip the bfing advice.

Queazy · 02/09/2013 14:12

I was given Ford and bought Hogg. Both talk of some golden routine and tbh I found both pretty tiresome. I do think Hogg's bit about introducing your new baby to each room in your house is a bit much too. They weren't quite the two extremes of approach I was expecting, and worth a flick to take what you can from them. They're always in our local charity shops so I'd buy secondhand, save buying them full price and if nothing else, at least a good cause wins

MummyJetsetter · 02/09/2013 14:01

I very loosely followed gina ford. It's fine to use as a guide but too rigid to follow to the letter. x

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