Gina Ford fans - help!

My baby is 6 weeks old. She's been loosely on the Gina Ford schedule since she was 3 weeks old. It's starting to fall into places except she can't fall asleep at 7pm. Here are her naps:


9am - 45min

11.45am/12noon - 2hours

4pm - 45min


Sometimes she sleeps a little longer than 45m. Also, when I feed her after she wakes up from her naps, sometimes she falls asleep again. Does that mean she is sleeping more than usual in the daytime?


I nurse her at 5pm, then bath, then nurse again around 6pm. She is still awake and I nurse her again around 6.45pm or so. I find that cluster feeding in the evening works for her as she is able to last until 10pm.


Now, the problem is that she wakes up several times between 7pm and 9pm. Is she getting too much daytime sleep?


She has not been trained to fall asleep on her own. I plan to do cry-it-out when she is a little older. She is only 6 weeks old. Right now, she falls asleep either at the breast or being cuddled/rocked. Why is it that she can sleep long stretch in the night (from 10pm to 2am) but not sleep well at 7pm?


I would greatly appreciate any advice you may have.

My BB used to fall asleep on my breast and few mins after we put her down in cot, she woke up and cried. Then we fed her again or rocked her back to sleep. It was really tiring.


Until we came across Gina Ford routine when she was 4 weeks old. We follow everything the books says. It works for us immediately. We only let her nap at suggested times. And we don't rock/ cuddle her to sleep anymore. We put her in cot while she is still abit awake. The first few days she cried right after we put her down but we did't pick her up again or talked to her, we just kept patting her back and made "shuu shuuuuushuuu" sound only. Oh! Don't turn on the light too! After maybe 45 mins she would stop crying and fall asleep. Don't be scared by me saying "45 mins". The time we spend on settling her actually gets shorter and shorter. By 5 weeks it took 30 mins, then 20 mins at 6 weeks, 10 mins at 7 weeks, now she is 8 weeks old and it takes only 5 mins or less.


We put her in cot at about 7:15pm, she sometimes wakes again 1 or 2 times before 8:30pm. We don't go to her. We just ignore her and she will then stop crying and falls back asleep. As long as you are sure that she fed well and the temperature of the room is fine, letting her cry (this cry sounds a bit different than her "real cry") for 10-15 mins won't do any harm. She will learn to settle herself back to sleep.


Hope helps :-)

Hi Well2, I'm keen to let her cry but she was born 6 weeks early. She is 6 weeks old now which means "full term" now. I'm not sure if it's too early to let her cry.


Which nap time did you do the crying method? If it's morning or afternoon nap, it's only 45min so she may not get much sleep if she's crying.

hi vvv


i know this is always a heated topic and my view is each to their own but i do think 6 weeks is too early and Well2 babies cry might be just a grumble (so she is lucky)but i know my little one could not have been left that young. Also some babies really do grow out of the falling asleep on the breast thing (although not mine) i think a lot depends on their personality and i know lots of people who have had babies who have i think crying it out is over 6 months but i know one friend always left her baby (even at four weeks) for 4 mins before she went in and they have a fantastic sleeper so maybe it works and 4 minutes is not so long (although it will feel like it). I definately beleive in helping them self settle gradually but maybe not letting them cry this young - try the swaddle to make her feel cosy then patting and pick up if crying but a maybe a little bit awake when you put her down again. like i said everyone has a different opinion on this and i could not have left my baby that young and did not beleive in any kind of crying it out although we are having to do it when he is older after trying absolutely everything else. I don't regret it though they need comfort at this age especially an early bub - go with your instincts.

My bb isn't natually an easy BB. Before we put her on this routine, she could stay awake and cried all day long and got herself very overtired. The only way we could get her to sleep was to put her in the buggy and walk her for 1-2hrs or feed her lying down in "my bed" and let her fall asleep on my breast. Honestly,i didn't enjoy her (feel guilty to say that, anyway)as i was really really exhausted in those days. I am sure my BB wasn't happy either until we found Gina Ford when she was 4 weeks old. Now she eats and sleeps at the right times. She is a whole lot happier and contented. And i am happy and finally enjoy being a mum. I don't know, maybe my BB likes routine....!?


I first tried the cry it out method when she was about 6 weeks old at her lunch time nap (12-2:45pm) Cos this one is longer. The morning and late afternoon naps, i only pat her back and do "shhhhh shhhhh" sound. Remember to swaddle her when she sleeps. :-)

I have never read about GF book, don't know who is she until now, and I don't even know there is such thing that we need to read certain book/s to let baby to sleep. What I do with my 6 months old boy is that right from the beginning, I let him drink (b/f) whenever he wants, let him sleep if he wants. Baby cries and stays awake for certain reasons so i just tried my best to settle him. No doubt, it was tiring but there is something that mom has to do when you have a new born, it takes time for baby to adjust to the world and for us moms to adjust to 'Temporary no longer sleep thru' the night'. I told myself not until he is 8 weeks old, he is too young to sleep thru' the night so i nursed him whenever and stayed awake when he is awake. At around 10 weeks old, i started to introduce routine to him bit by bit, it only took him 2 weeks to settle to my routine. Then a friend sent me a book names 'sleeping through the night' by Jodi A. Mindell. I read the whole book but could not register anything in my mind except the phrase 'sleep begets sleep'. So i tried on this, i let him sleep as long as he wants to sleep, the more he sleeps, the fresher he gets, the fresher he gets, 'the playful n active' he becomes, the more playful he becomes, the faster tired he gets and then he sleeps again. The moment i saw the sign of him sleepy, i will slow him down and talk to him, play him music and put him down the crib and stay with him for few minutes and walk out, he will fall asleep by himself. He has been this since he was 10 weeks old.



What did i do when he cries, i walk in to the room slowly, give him a smile, tell him and assure him that everthing is o.k, kiss him and walk out slowly. (K.I.S.S = keep it short n sweet).


I am glad that i did not know anything about books on sleep and never read any until he was 10 weeks old.



Remember: The 1st 6 weeks with a newborn can be difficult. Get sleep whenever you can.


Relax, very soon you will be able to sleep through the night and lots of nap in the day!

I've had two children on the Gina Ford routines which has worked excellently for us. My advice would be to try to wait a bit longer before worrying about your bub being totally in routine. I found that by about 10-12 weeks, they were much more settled and were much easier to settle in the evening. It's quite common for babies to have a difficult period between 7 and 9pm. I would stick to it during the day, not let bub cry too much or worry about self-settling, until a few weeks down the track - especially if he/she was premmie. Give yourself a bit more time and I'm sure it will fall into place. It's worth persevering - and very rare that 6 week old babies behave exactly as you want them too! Good luck.

Agree with BV. Don`t fret that your baby is not following the routine exactly, although, granted, Gina Ford can end up thinking you have to do so. My baby is almost 8 months old and we`ve been following Gina Ford since she was about 3 weeks. It has worked well but we also had problem settling at the 7pm sleeptime. Some, thankfully rare, nights she`d cry on and off for almost an hour. It took a few weeks but eventually she settled without fuss. As BV says, that time of night is a common time for such "problems" and your LO is still very young. I don`t think mine settled at 7pm until she was around 3 months old. Whilst I would still recommend her, don`t let Gina rule your life entirely and just accept that it does take time. Good luck.

Agree with BV and Sarah369. It takes time. Don't stress yourselves out. Just keep trying and it will evenutally fall into place.


By the way, i have been bottle feeding my bb with expressed milk at 6:15pm feed after bath. Cos i wanna make sure she eat enough so that she sleeps well til 10-11pm. Not sure if this is one of the reasons she settles fine at 7pm??

And I recently let hubby to bottle feed BB with formula at 10-11pm feed. Hopefully she will sleep through soon. As i remember,she has slept through the night 2 times so far. But not in a row of course. I understand most babies sleep through at 10-12 weeks. So i won't push.


Good luck :-)

Thank you all for your advice. Good to know that some of you had problem with settling baby at 7pm too, at least I know it's a common problem.


I usually do split feeding at 5pm and 6pm, and 6pm is a smaller feed as that breast produces less milk. I fed her both breasts at 6pm today and she lasted till almost 10pm! I think I may have nailed the problem: she wasn't getting enough milk! That's why she could not settle well at 7pm. I will try the same approach tomorrow evening and see if it works again.

VVV, i am a huge GF fan (i keep on mentioning her on the forum, sorry ladies!) - our twins are 14 mnths old and have been on GF since day 1. And yes, first 3 months or so is a complete right off - they will do what they like and there is not much you can do about it. Ours would not sleep and we would do the shoosh and pat (Tracy Hogg "Baby Whisperer") with them for ages.. And then at some point, your litle one will just surprise you by totally falling into the routite. Just dont give it up, it really-really works!! Your baby is still tiny - 6 wks! No way, they would do what we want (or what Gina says for that matter) - give it till about 3 mnths or so... Good luck!

Ms cheerful

I agree with your style completely.

I read books and threw them all out cause my first child was a poster child for all these routine books and my second copuld not and would not conform and I had to go with nature.

Let your child sleep as long as they want.

Also I think stressing about routine and doing everything right can actually add far more stress to your very tired life when you have a new born.

Mine are now 1 1/2 and 3 and it goes so fast. It really is only a short time that you have these sleep and feeding worries. By the time there is no difference between a child who was a good routine baby and one who was a nightmare with waking all night long.

P.S - breastfeeding gets sooooo much easier after 6 weeks, then again after 3 months. Seems baby gets the hang of it at these stages and can feed on more of a schedule then.

Hi Mumof2boys,


We as new moms can read as much as we can but sad to say, our babies hasn't read any so it will be so hard to get them (and us) confirm to someone else's suggestion routine. After having two baby yourself, i am sure you can also write a book, if not, an article about sleeping base on your experience, ya?!


I called my mom and sister to ask when is their babies sleeping through the night on 1st week, both told me to not even think of it at this stage until they are almost 3 months old so I took their advise and shut up, like you said, go with nature and no stressing at and don't feel overly tired. Well, accasionally sleepy as I tend to stay up longer to gaze at baby's sleeping beauty :) My fault.


Well, mumof2boys, we can only speak from our own experience. As for other moms, don't stress on debate about this topic too. Do whatever you feel good to yourself and baby, everything will be OK. BTW, I really enjoy taking care of newborn and b/feeding, not that easy, I did cry when nipples were sore but nothing is impossible. LLL is a bit help. Let us enjoy motherhood till the fullness.