anyone read gina ford's book?

[notsoslimnow]

hi wondering what people's thoughts were on her idea of putting baby down for a daytime nap on his own in his ''big cot''????

Haven't had my baby yet, but SIL1 recommended GF to me and SIL2 - BIL1 mentioned that it was useful but you have to avoid the bits that don't work...
So MrNC got the GF sleeping book and gave it to me to read before SIL2 (who had a month-old at the time). The advice didn't seem so bad for older babies, but the SCARY warnings for looking after your newborn terrified me - it basically said If you do not make your own swaddling blankets and wrap your babies like I say, your baby will DIE!!!.

I refused to pass the book on to SIL2 until her baby was over 3 months - admittedly she's less hormonally emotional than me. She says she's now finding it useful... but her baby seems fairly placid and amenable to sleeping anywhere anytime anyway. I've made it clear to MrNC that Squirmy is going to get everything on demand for at least 12 weeks, and I'll worry about sanity after that...

I never read her book (but then didn't read any books entirely tbh) as I had friends who had their on opinions on her methods and it put me off.

Quite glad too! I never swaddled DS, he couldn't have coped with it as he overheated at the drop of a hat. Still can't get him in sleeping bags either (too hot). But I did co-sleep with him for first 6m, then moved him into his own cot, where he stays quite happily 98% of the time (unless he's not well).

As other posters have said, read it, take what you want and like and what works for your LO from it, and discard the rest. Same goes for all baby "bibles".

gina??? who????

I dont see what the problem is - some ppl have said it really worked for them and other ppl hated it - surely like all things baby related.

I have read the book - about 50% of it 'appeals' so they will be the bits ill pick out and try and ignore the rest.

She does say a couple of things though - follow the routine, if it all goes wrong at say 10am then just do your own thing for the rest of the day and try again the next.

the whole cot thing she said that if you put them in the cot for the day time naps then when you eventually move the baby from the moses basket/crib to the cot the baby will already be familiar with the cot. But you dont have to do that (I wont)

Starlight has summed it up beautifully with the survival comment. Please do not stress about doing it all right and perfect. Go with the flow and get sleep when YOU can.

notsoslimnow - When I was pg with dd (PFB), I had all the GF books, and was committed to using them.

When dd was born, it just felt wrong somehow. I never used them, I never even read them after she was born. It seemed to go against all my instincts, and I was just too bloody knackered to bother.

Fast forwward 16 months, dd has slept through twice in her whole life. Something tells me that my next child may not encounter the same indulgent mummy that dd had .

I'm not an advocate of GF's methods at all, nor do I judge those that use them and who they work for (apart from Eamon Holmes' missus, she does my head in). I think you should do whatever feels right for you and your family once lo is with you.

I sort of skim read her book when my son was a couple of months and I was panicking that he wasn't in a 'routine'. But looking back he was in a routine - just one of his own devising!

With regard to the cot business, my ds wouldn't sleep in his moses basket during the day so the HV suggested trying him in his big cot for day-time naps and it worked! Then a few months later when it was time for him to try his own room at night time it was no big deal and he slept through the very first night.

I know what some people think of GF's methods but I think that idea definitely can work.