For each new baby, I dug out that Gina Ford roadmap and by the fifth kid I pretty much knew it off by heart. Follow a routine for a baby at least 2 weeks younger (maybe try the 1 week old routine if you want to start Harry on it now) As Gina’s reputation grew, she was approached by a number of publishers, and in 1999 she wrote her first book, The Contented Little Baby Book. It was a runaway success, largely due to enthusiastic personal recommendation, its matter-of-fact style and practical approach appealing to fathers and mothers alike. With a new edition of the book published in 2006, it continues to be the bestselling parenting book in the UK, with sales of over half a million copies to date. It has also been published in the US and in several foreign language editions including Spanish, Hebrew, Dutch, Portuguese, Polish, Russian and Chinese. Since the success of her first book, Gina has gone on to write a further nine books and co-written two others, covering subjects such as Weaning, Feeding, Sleeping, Potty Training and Twins, as well as the popular Ella and Tom series of children’s books. Maybe it would help your baby to use it intially to get a good couple of hours worth of sleep, which would hopefully be followed by a few more good naps as he will be happier and not as overtired/irritated. If you do buy it then don't let your baby get into the habit of sleeping in that and not sleeping in his moses basket. Gina Ford (born c. 1960) is a British author of childcare books in the United Kingdom and a former maternity nurse who has cared for over 300 babies during her career. [1] Ford's 1999 book The Contented Little Baby Book advocates a daily routine for both the baby and the parents, with the day divided up into very precise slots.

i couldn't get either of my 2 to follow gina or baby whisperer routines cause one never slept longer than 30mins during the day on his own and both breastfed on demand, and the whole thing totally stressed me out! they both kind of got into their own routine after a few weeks and i was much more relaxed feeding on demand and letting them sleep as and when they wanted but i know the feeling of desperately wanting a routine and i have tried a few times but it's not for me. anyway... Gina Ford's bestselling The Contented Little Baby Book established Gina as one of the UK's most influential voices in baby and childcare issues. Her groundbreaking routines have been the salvation of hundreds of thousands of parents and her sound advice on weaning and sleep has guaranteed contented little babies in households around the world.I think Gina Ford's perspective is skewed by the fact that she is a professional who gets called in for children with problems. Therefore, she thinks ALL children will develop problems if they don't follow her routine. I think that's as silly as thinking that every child who eats sweets will develop diabetes. Babies are individuals, and they all have different personalities. Trying to fit them all into one little box is ridiculous. In answer to criticism about her methods she writes, "I would never advise that young babies should be left to cry for lengthy periods of time to get themselves to sleep. I do stress that some overtired babies will fight sleep and they should be allowed 5-10 minutes' 'crying down' period." Ford writes further on this subject in her book. There are ten routines to follow that take you from birth to 12 months. Follow it to the letter and many parents find that their ‘Gina baby’ is sleeping through the night from a few weeks old (Gina says this is possible from as early as eight to 12 weeks) but if you haven’t followed the plan from birth and got into difficulties with sleep, it’s not too late.

When he reaches stage two, where he is settling within 10 minutes for several nights, you should try leaving him to self-settle using the crying down method. It is important to understand that crying down is not the same as controlled crying. Crying down usually lasts around five to ten minutes at which point it will turn into fussing before he drifts off to sleep. It will also help with the self-settling if your baby gets used to being happy in his bed if you put him in it for short spells during the day, when he is fully awake, with a small book or toy to look at, whilst you stay close by, talking and reassuring him.

Once you have ruled out genuine hunger as a cause, and are ensuring that your baby is well fed, I would advise that you try a solution that I call the ‘assisting to sleep method’. The aim of this method is to get your baby used to sleeping at regular times during naps and in the evening, which will help him to sleep through the night as soon as he is physically able. After genuine hunger and the wrong sleep associations, I find that too much daytime sleep is the most common reason why a baby does not settle in the evening, or wakes frequently during the night. When this happens a vicious circle soon emerges where the baby needs to sleep more during the day because they are not sleeping well at night. GF insists on many occassions throughout the book that "her babies" all slept through the night/didn't get colic/blah and therefore her methods are proved correct. Well, how unscientific is that? It doesn't appear to occur to her that she doesn't work with a random selection of parents and children - far from it, since she's helping out people who can afford her and - by definition - you could switch the language around and just say that the conclusion from this book is: get a nanny. The idea is that your baby should be able to sleep through the night by eight to 10 weeks. Plus, this method allows you to plan your day around your baby’s feeds and naps, giving you time to do whatever you need to or catch up on sleep. It's worth noting however that the NHS recommends starting a routine after three months. Here’s the tough part. You can’t always respond to your baby when she cries. Ford’s method recommends that you leave her to cry for an hour each day, something which isn’t for all parents. How does it work? In 2004 Gina recognised that, despite the wealth of parenting information available, many mothers still felt isolated. In an effort to fill the gap, Gina launched ContentedBaby.com and, in the process, created a wonderful, supportive and dynamic on-line community.

My daughter naturally begins to get sleepy around the time that Gina Ford suggest that you put them down so that helps but every once in a while we do have off days. She says you should put them in a dark room so that the light doesn't wake them once they go into a light sleep after 30-45 minutes. That may be what's happening with your baby. If he hates sleeping in a dark room it may be worth turning the light on in the hallway outside his room instead of having his bedroom light on, and each night shut the door a little bit more so he slowly gets used to having less and less light going into his room each night.

Many babies mix up their days and nights until about 3 to 4 months, sleeping long stretches during the day only to perk up once the sun goes down. Helping your baby learn to tell day from night is a key first step to getting into a workable routine. Learn to read your baby's cues Other than that, he may be going through a growth spurt if it has only been happening for a few days. I'm assuming it's a long term problem though. I would say that babies do need some sort of pattern so they know the signs for bed time, and wake up time etc, but they should be aloud to have a say in things to. Whats the point in keeping a baby away for hours in the day if your baby wants to sleep as Gina Ford says to, it could just lead to a gumpy unhappy baby. Our LO slept for 18-20 hours in 24 untill he was 6 weeks. I had to be stroking his hair, with a lamp on and the door left open, and the baby needed perpetual motion to nod off. If you want to start with the routine then start with the waking at 7 and it should fall into place from there with the napping and night time routine. Then work on the feeding routine though I must admit we demand fed (is there any other way?) so I couldn't advise you on getting the feeding into the strict routine.