Posted by
Slammy
17 yrs ago
Hi,
I would like to hear from people who have tried and succeeded with the Gina Ford routine.
I have a six-week-old baby and at night, she becomes fussy and doesn't sleep until midnight or later.
I am trying to follow the Gina Ford routine in the hope that I can settle my baby down to sleep around 7 or 8 o'clock.
It seems that my baby's normal routine is to sleep at midnight and become fully alert and awake at midday. (ie. she doesn't sleep through the whole 12 hours - she wakes at night for feeds and in the morning after her feeds, I have a difficult time keeping her awake).
I need to shift her natural body clock earlier by a few hours, so she can sleep around 7 or 8, and then be awake in the mornings!
I would like to hear other people's success stories, how old their baby was before they managed to get them to sleep early... and other people who have babies that get fussy in the evening and cluster feed before finally going to sleep. What did you do about your problem?
Thanks!
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we have used GF from day one with our twins - and it tooks us months but we got there. Of course your baby does what its body tells him at this age - you just have to stick to it really - it is a bit easier when they are 3-4 months old but to start with - it was total mess in our house as well! I still tried to keep them awake (not really easy at all as I am sure you have discovered) when they "should be awake".. It started working more or less around 3 to 4 months... and really working by around 6 months - even tho mine two are not really good sleepers and they used to wake up at night (not for a feed or anything) at least once till they were around a year old...
But it is totally worth sticking with it - dont know whether we would have got there without Gina Ford's routine - i have not tried - but now they girls are on 7pm-7am and 12.30-2.30 nap - as she said they would be....
It is bloody hard work but worth it in the end... Good luck!
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We used GF when she was 5 months old and it really worked like magic. She had an incredible routine when she was with her foster family but it only took us about a week to get her to GF's.
It is really good to have children on routine. It made our lives easier and not so unpredictable at all times.
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agree with Mighty - routine is great for kids, they love it - they know exactly what is coming next and not so upset when you tell them bath and bed now - they were expecting it - so no tantrums going to bed etc..
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Hi my boy is now 1.4 years old, and i've 'tried' to use GF routine since he was borned. but, i didn't stress about my boy not following it. indeed he didn't follow the routine till he was 5months old, and only with the help of pacifier!
my boy naturally sleeps early since he was borned. so i don't have your late night issue. but i do recall waking him up 7am few times when he was just a little baby. but i dont' remember doing that too frequent as i couldn't wake up too. i however remember many times i tried to get him to sleep in instead! ha.... so at about 5 months, my boy started to sucks his thumb, i decided to replace that with pacifier. that also help him to settle to GF routine (unknowingly to me initially). i then follow GF routine for the waking, sleeping and eating time. but in terms of quantity of milk, my boy can never drink that much. following the routine helps me to predict when my boy wants to sleep, and gives me a better idea to organise my own time.
but i don't recall how long i follow the routine....soon, as i have better ideas of taking care of baby, and feel more confident, i do'nt bother to follow the routine, and merely follow my baby routine and my own instinct.
so..don't worry too much if your baby doesn't follow the routine. eventually your baby will ahve a routine that will help you to better organise your own time.
good luck
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PDNS
17 yrs ago
Right Cara. I have never read a book about routine for baby but when I had mine, I established my OWN routine that work out well for me and my kids. I never used black out curtains in the day but pull the curtain away to make the room bright and put the music on. They are able to sleep in anyway (of cause they love their own beds in their own rooms) but no problem in the stroller in a crownded restaurants or a house full of visitors. They sleep anywhere and anyway whenever their nap times. I started them routine when they are about 3 months old. It takes 3 weeks to form a habit so Slammy, keep doing it and eventually you and your baby will get it/there. At 6 weeks, go with the flow and relax.
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Hi everyone,
Thanks for your replies - it's reassuring to know that persistence will eventually pay off and I should not expect instant results!
I am not really keen on rigid routines - in fact, the only reason I decided to try GF was because baby never gets tired until close to midnight, even though I limit her daytime naps.
So at the moment, she has two main problems with the routine. The first is that during the lunchtime nap from 12 to 2pm, this is when she's most alert and playful, until she eventually falls asleep around 2 or 3pm. I suppose I should not be too bothered by this... as long as I make sure she doesn't sleep beyond 5pm so I can hopefully put her to bed by 8pm.
Her second problem of course is not getting sleepy until midnight!
Has anyone had a baby who is fussy and awake from 7pm until midnight... and what did you do about this? Matilda hospital says don't worry about this behaviour and that babies grow out of it. I hope so!
Thanks... :-)
Thanks for sharing your experiences - when I read GF, I got the impression that babies would take to the routine straight away
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I think routines are brilliant, and agree with those above who say that they'd be lost without them.
i also never read the books, and since i wanted to get back to work, did my own thing and worked baby's sleep and feed times to suit my own. but yes it will take few weeks. Or really worked my hours around baby's rythm.
how about a nice warm bath around 6.30 or 7.30pm if u want her to sleep at 8.00 and a full belly of expressed milk or formula. the bath always made mine really drowsy. maybe you can try giving her a bath at 11pm on the first night and then bring it forward by half hour increments...
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Hi Goddess Kali,
We've always bathed baby at the same time every night - around 6 or 7 ish - but it never makes her drowsy. She loves bath time and is very playful afterwards! I was getting my husband to do a 9/10 pm feed of expressed milk but now I've decided to bring that forward to after bath time, to see if tanking her up then will make her sleep earlier.
She must be getting tired with all the times that I'm waking her up to try and make her sleep at night... because now it's 8 am and she's dead to the world and unlike the past few days, today I just can't rouse her...
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Find a "method" that works for you, for example GF, and stick to it. It may take a week or two or it may take months, but as long as you keep at it, things will change.
This continues into toddler age and beyond. If you stick to your guns, whining and tantrum-prone kids will eventually calm down and realize these behaviors will get them nowhere.
"Has anyone had a baby who is fussy and awake from 7pm until midnight... and what did you do about this? Matilda hospital says don't worry about this behaviour and that babies grow out of it. I hope so!"
They do indeed grow out of it. As long as you are consistent and persistent.
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cd
17 yrs ago
My first one never went to sleep before midnight or later the first couple of months, then would wake at 5 or 6 for a feed, and was very fussy in the evenings. But because she was my first and I was on my own for a few weeks (hubby was away) I just followed her. So I fell asleep when she did, and we both went back to sleep till about 9am after her morning feed as I didn't have anyone else to get up for. The times gradually got adjusted.
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How does she react to darkened rooms? I woud carry mine into a really dark room and play some music to him.
But you know, everybody's right, figure out what's going to work for you and then stick to it. Things do change eventually. Also if she's playful and tranquil then just leave her in her cot with a nice mobile on and lights as dim as possible. do yuplay with her till midnight? i used to leave my baby in cot as much as possible to entertain himself (i picked him up or gave him attention if he got fussy or cried) but now he's really independent will do his won thing, play, look at books, nose around etc. getting sidetracked alot, but my question is if baby is getting very stimulated in the evenings.
one thing i read before haiving the baby that i really took to heart and (i think) helped, was that once you decide a bedtime, keep lights to a minimum. just to get them used to night time and daytime etc. When u get baby up fpr a feed, keep room as dark as possible, and avoid playing with baby.
good luck and hope she starts getting her clock synchronised to the rest of the world.
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mrsl
17 yrs ago
We did not do GF because it was too rigid for me (cannot bear to let babies cry, very limiting being tied to sleeping in the baby's own bed during the day etc). We do have a routine, but it evolved over time. It took a few months. I just observed the baby's natural nap times and organised the days around those. GF would have me shot but our children regularly slept in prams, car seats etc.
We did struggle with the run upto midnight for the first month or two. We did the usual bathtime etc., introduced the same soft music every night and just chilled out (it helped me to rest too). Eventually bedtime got earlier and earlier. Be patient and it will work. Babies are all different and vary in the time that they take to find what works best for everyone. Good luck with it.
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smsm
17 yrs ago
We did not do GF specifically but a mix of her and mine routine and i think by 4 mths she was comp following it and was off to bed at 8. One think which I made sure right from the day 1 was to let her sleep during daytime in bright daylight, no curtains drawn, so that her body understands the diff bet day and night and I would like to think that it really worked.
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Also try the baby whisperer/ Tracy Hogg. I found that it was a more flexible/ gentle approach to a routine and not so strict as GF.
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We attempted to use GF from day one, can't say we have ever succeeded in following her schedule exactly - tried for a few weeks but it was waaaayyy too stressful for all involved, but our daily structure has always loosely follow it
Probably did not help out LO was also a very fussy baby, he would literally cry incosolably once he hit 6 weeks old from around 6pm to 2am no matter what we did. Essentially we tried all the things you aren't "supposed" to do - walked up and down for hours, rocked him, sang to him, etc etc - but not much really helped. He would finally fall asleep (as would we) exhausted anywhere between midnight and 2am, but never slept brilliantly we did all the usual tips - popped up the head of the cot, swaddled, pumped his legs to help with wind etc etc. it improved significantly once we put him on infacol to help with the wind.
I remember thinking when he was 9 weeks old how am I ever going to be able to go back to work and function in a couple of weeks time, then all of a sudden he improved around 3 months old. The fussy evenings became less frequent and he started to go to bed earlier and go through the night.
It is very common for small babies to be fussy early evening, she will outgrow it, just no one can tell you how long it will take as all babies are different. Just keep persisiting with your routine (be it GF,s or whatever) and it will fall into place eventually
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"he would literally cry incosolably once he hit 6 weeks old from around 6pm to 2am no matter what we did. E"
Could he have had colic?
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We were told emphatically at the MCHC "we don't have colic in Hong Kong" - LOL. However, yes that is what we believe he had - hence the infacol. You can buy either the UK brand from Bumps to Bumps or Austalian made from most local chemists, they look slighly differnt but essentially do the same thing. You just need to administer the right amount (usually a few drops) everytime they have a feed - it seems to be an accumulative effect in their system to help (note not eliminate the wind problem and hence the crankiness).
We tried peddling back on the infacol once or twice, each time with a return to the evening fussiness and fretfulness, until around four months old when he seemed to have outgrown it.
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""we don't have colic in Hong Kong""
?!? Since there is no real accepted cause for colic, I find that hard to believe.
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cd
17 yrs ago
Yes colics tough, most babies seem to go through it between 2 and 3 months, lots of screaming evenings. We used to resort to driving our daughter round in the car late at night to get her to sleep.
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That's so bizarre to tell someone "we don't have colic in Hong Kong"!!!
Thanks all, for your reassurances! I'm thinking a combination of GF and following my own baby's routine seems best right now!
In reply to Goddess Kali... I try not to play with baby late at night but sometimes it's difficult to resist her when she's all happy and chatty!
Anyway, the past few nights have been okay - baby sleeping before 10 pm and being less fussy - so that's good! Maybe as she gets older, she can drink milk more efficiently, so it settles her earlier...
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