Posted by
anneNtim
18 yrs ago
Anyone following the Gina Ford routine? My baby is 6 weeks and I am (somewhat) following, but more using her routine as a guideline. Anyone on the same routine but baby cannot stay awake for the recommended time - up to 2 hours? My baby can only stay awake for about 1hr each time so ends up napping for longer than the recommended time as well. She sleeps fine throughout the day, but I noticed she is harded to settle at bedtime (7pm). Other than that she's quite a content baby
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Totty
18 yrs ago
Absolutely hated this woman with a passion when i had my first, i found her book to be totally Hitlerish and stopped me and my baby from doing what we wanted and when.
However, i did take the sleep routine and feeding routine from it and that worked great BUT i did allow my bubs to sleep in her pram rather than cot if we were out and it all worked out well.
Sleeping thru from 6 weeks for the first baby and 5 weeks for the second baby.
Just read the book with a huge dose of salt and take what works for you!
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Kmom
18 yrs ago
agree with Totty. If you read her books more as a guideline rather than the rule, then you achieve similar results without getting in the way of you and your child.
I personally followed the Gina Ford Toilet Training in one week and it worked for my son... but not in a week.. more like 2 weeks. was quite happy with the results.
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your baby is only 6 weeks! don't stress, it takes time to get into a routine.
we used gina but not every single detail. i think you will need to adapt to suit the needs of your baby and family. sometimes for some parents who are alone and have a toddler for example, your baby's nap might be disrupted so that you can pick your older child up from nursery.
what i personally feel is whether you use gina or whatever baby expert's routine, a routine is better than no routine. we spent the 1st year of our baby's life trying to establish a solid bedtime, naptime and feeding routine. when he turned one, we were confident that the routine was established well enough for us to bend the rules at time. it never hurts and in fact good for a child in exercising some flexibility - an extra 30 mins nap or later 30 mins bedtime on special days, weekends, etc is absolutely fine. but you should have a good routine by then that your child understands that the general rules in the house still stands.
anyway, back to gina...regardless of critics i find good if you can follow her routine but don't stress yourself following it. but i would really recommend her feeding routine because i find that compared to other baby books, her feeding routine progresses most naturally into a proper breakfast/lunch/dinner schedule when you finally introduce solids later.
good luck!
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Hi, we have followed GF routine for our 1 yr old twins from day one and absolutely love it - so do the babies. Dont worry - the babies do not do what GF says for months! I was pulling my hair out that they would not stay awake "as told", but keep on trying to stick to it, because eventually (i think it was around 3-4 months mark) they start falling into the routine. She is right that the babies love routine - at least ours do. Now they know when they are supposed to go to bed, etc, it is totally worth sticking to your guns with GF! Good luck
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Totty
18 yrs ago
joshmomm - is she going through a growth spurt? Also is she getting enough milk? Could you try dropping a b/feed for a formula?
Not a midwife just a mum of two passing on any advise that may help and STOP GETTING STRESSED, bubs will sense it and it will wind ehr up too. Take 5 mins, close the door and take deep breaths and remember it's not like this for long.
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I am a HUGE Gina Ford fan.
Followed her and by 10 weeks and another by 12 weeks both babies slept through from 11-7. It was lovely that first long night of sleep. I intend to do it again - with #3.
BUT the schedule really doesn't sort of sync up until closer to 3 months, especially day time schedules. The two things I really tried to do was make sure that babies were AWAKE after 5 PM, bathtimes on time, and bedtimes and wakeup times were consistent. If my baby fell asleep a bit earlier, I figured she was tired, and let her sleep, and then I would let her sleep until the determined Gina Ford wakeup.
for the feeds - she says something like 7:30-8:30 for feeds - and I would think of the appointed hour as a "buffet bar." I would allow my daughters to eat as much as possible during the time. Sometimes it would be two feeds during that time, and other times it would be just one. But I would try to maximize the minutes of feeding - and the other trick was to feed again right before the end of the "buffet" period. After the baby got better at eating, it was more clear when she needed more and when she wouldn't need it any longer.
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Agree with Wheelymate and hkchoichoi. Love the long night sleep. If you follow Gina's routine you'll find your baby sleep through the night naturally and in a much longer stretch than others. My baby is now 8 months and sleep through from 8 to 7-ish without a need to feed in between. My friends are all amazed how he manages to sleep so long and so well (and he's 100% breastfed). I heard that this is best for his brain development - not to mention we parents can enjoy a good rest in the evening.
Having said that, baby couldn't quite follow in the first 3-4 months - kept falling asleep and stay awake at the wrong time. And it was SO HARD to settle him at 7pm too. But I did fed and bathed him at the suggested time and he gradually follow this routine. Now at 8 months, we are less strict on him and we allow some flexibility over weekends too. He still manages to stick to his own pattern which helps a lot in planning our own time.
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Joshmomm - definetly give it a go - I started using Gina Ford when my girl turned 2 months and it took her just a month to get on track. I did not follow the routine 100% but used it as a guideline. It worked out well for us - baby was happy I was happy - and by 4.5M she started to sleep from 7:30pm to 6am!! Hooray!
She's 9 months old now and still on Gina Ford and she's a big and healthy and happy baby!
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tly
18 yrs ago
I was trying to be open minded and did some research on Gina Ford and Ferber in terms of sleep training. But after hearing some stories about 2 friends who weren training their babies following the Gina Ford method, I was too heart broken to follow it. I hear you're suppose to use her book only as a guideline, but these 2 moms seem to follow it to the letter. I hear their babies do not stop crying everyday because they're so hungry! How can someone not feed a few week old baby when it's hungry? I breastfed and sheesh, if you don't feed when the baby demands it, then you can forget about breastfeeding. So after hearing about this little bit of info on her I didn't even dare read on about her sleep training methods. I also read a ton of negative review about her book on Amazon. In the end I settled with Ferber and had my breastfed baby sleeping through the night in one week.
I know I've made my judgement on her quite harshly, but I think in the end its knowing she's not a sleep expert nor a pediatrician that got me. I have full respect for nurses and midwives, but I feel more comfortable reading advice from someone who's actually done research and IS a sleep expert for children.
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