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Sleep

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Original poster

Is Gina Ford 'compatible' with using a sling?!!

13 replies

WaitingForWineOClock · 15/05/2015 17:01

Hi,

I'm intending to have a go at the Gina Ford method when our baby arrives later this year (no anti-GF vitriol please! ).

I know that one of the principles of the method is that the baby is put down for each sleep, so they get used to being separated from the mother for sleep times.

However, I'm keen to use a sling to take the baby out on walks with our dog (as a pram and our daft labrador will be a bit of a tricky combination to manage!).

I appreciate that the baby will sleep in the sling, therefore the walks would be in 'nap' times, but I'd be really grateful for other people's experience about whether using a sling will then make it difficult to get the baby to settle by himself at other times.

Thank you!

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TheoriginalLEM · 15/05/2015 17:02

Errr good luck with that. GF will not receive a good reception here! a sling however soundslike a lovely idea

TheoriginalLEM · 15/05/2015 17:04

the only reservation i have is if your dog is a puller id worry he might pull you over. i worry alot though

cherryblossomtime · 15/05/2015 17:05

Gina Ford probably uses a nice sturdy pram and sensible brogues for dog walking.

NoParking · 15/05/2015 17:05

IME it's fairly easy to get a baby who sling naps to sleep in their cot at night, but hard to get them to do that for daytime naps until they're a bit older. I think mine settled in a cot most evenings around 12 weeks, but daytime cot naps were nearer 7/8 months (I kept trying but took them out if they cried, one day they both just went to sleep).

zippyswife · 15/05/2015 17:08

GF won't be well received here, however it worked for me and the many friends in RL that recommended it to me. So good luck with it- I followed it fairly loosely and thought the principles were good.

On the note of the sling- I tried one but mine didn't take to it. I guess it would go against the idea of putting them down to sleep but of you didn't use it all the time it would probably be ok. I'm sure she wrote a bit on slings but can't remember the advice.

MabelSideswipe · 15/05/2015 17:10

I think that you are asking different questions:

Will using a sling mean your baby will be hard to settle elsewhere? No not in my experience.

Can you follow Gina Ford and use a sling? Not if you want to follow her routines to the letter no. If you want to read the book and take little bits of it which appeal to you and ignore the rest and all power to your elbow. There are far better and more useful baby books out there though (in my opinion!).

fivepies · 15/05/2015 17:10

No idea about Gina Ford, but I did walk my dogs with a baby in a sling. I did this with both DDs from newborn to over a year old. They both loved it and when little often slept for the whole walk. Never had any issues with pulling on the lead (two big labs).

Alanna1 · 15/05/2015 17:31

I used GF and a sling. I love GF. But its a guide, not a bible. I used it to understand roughly when to feed and roughly when my baby might be tired. I think it works best for bigger babies.

Original poster

WaitingForWineOClock · 15/05/2015 19:30

Thanks everyone, that's really helpful.

Our dog isn't a puller, but I could just imagine having to stop every minute to untangle him from the pram. Plus a sling would be much easier off road.

Cherryblossomtime - I will definitely add brogues to my shopping list!

OP posts:

ChilliCrouton · 15/05/2015 19:37

I did gf with all four kids and loved it, I found once I'd trained then to nap in their cots, it was then easier to be flexible and have the odd nap in pram /car, knowing that they would always sleep in cot the next day as that was the norm. You could always do the dog walk at morning nap time and so lunch time nap was in cot? My last two babies always fell asleep in the school run, so were used to one nap a day in pram, and one in bed. I'm baffled as to why anyone would want to do anything while their baby naps other than put their feet up for a cuppa!!

fredandme123 · 15/05/2015 19:55

Baby is 14 weeks and only just starting to settle into GF routines- agree with the others who advise use it loosely especially in the early days. I have a sling and my baby spent the first 8 weeks of life sleeping in it during the day as I just couldn't get him to sleep in his basket (we have a rockinbaby pouch and for a little newborn it is snugly and SIMPLE no complicated method of getting into it when baby is screaming).
Don't stress about routine until the baby has worked out their rhythm and you can fit a routine Gina or otherwise around that!
Her book really doesn't cover settling a baby who has no idea how to get themselves to sleep yet and I really struggled in the early days with 'put baby down for a nap' I have to say as a first timer I thought it would be that simple (it is not!)
Get to know your baby and figure the rest out later!!

kiwiquest · 15/05/2015 20:52

Agree with Fred, for first 12 weeks you can't spoil them, just do whatever makes your life easier. Don't stress too much about routine. DD slept in Moses basket, sling, car seat, on me, bouncy chair so long as she slept! DD hated being put down at first I spent a lot of time cuddling her to sleep, getting her to self settle was a gradual process of putting her down for a few minutes at a time. Once she could suck her thumb it just clicked and now she's more or less in the GF routine (18 weeks), loves her cot but will still sleep in her buggy or sling if we're out. People hate GF because they take it as gospel, I just cherry picked from it what worked for my baby and adapted it to suit. DD may just be the sort of baby that naturally likes routine (I like routine too) which makes it easier.

FoamyOne · 15/05/2015 22:59

I have used GF very loosely with my 3. By which I mean, after the newborn phase (first 12 weeks = anything goes) I have tried to roughly stick to the nap and feed times which she suggests (with the caveat that I would never not feed a clearly hungry or even just upset baby - there has, e.g., never been any 'cooled boiled water' on offer in this house!). And some (most) of her methods are really too harsh for me. And I have rocked 2 of my 3 babies to sleep until 6+ months... So actually on thinking about it I didn't really do GF at all. But insofar as naps went, I found that the morning nap, and the 3rd nap (for as long as it lasted) could be anywhere - car / pram / sling. But once they got a bit bigger I aimed for a lunchtime nap in a cot roughly 5 days out of 7, as out-and-about naps were often too short. I didn't have any problems with mixing and matching sleeping locations. DD is 5 months now and I'm a big sling fan, but if planning a longish walk now usually aim to go straight after a nap rather than for a nap, as she can stay awake in the sling now for ages.

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