Baby routines

I recently bought the new contented little baby book by Gina Ford. For those not familiar with it, it is series of (very strict) feeding and sleeping routines with the intended outcome that your baby will sleep through the night at an early age. Now, I love plans, lists and routines but even I find that the routine suggested very restrictive and dictator-ish, so much so that the book is now know as the little miss bossy book at our place. After a quick google search I found that most people had quite strong views about this book (and they weren’t all positive). If you are thinking of getting this book the salient points are:

1. Babies learn by association – therefore you need to put some routine around the “big” night time sleep so that bub can differentiate between it and nap time. This might include bath time and definitely includes putting bub down in his nursery.


2. Keep feeds at night very quite – avoid eye contact and don’t play with baby. Cuddles etc. are fine but they should be of the settling variety.


3. Try to keep sleeping during the day to gradually reducing hours so that the night time stretch becomes longer. Feed more during the day.

Gina offers a number of routines (and they are to the minute!) as well as some suggested solutions to common first year problems.

Isaac is a good baby and we certainly aren’t out the “pulling out our hair trying everything” stage with night time feeds. But we are trying a variant on the schedules that she suggests. Probably the hardest thing about Gina’s book is that she s one of those authors who dictate rather than suggest. She really does make you feel like you are doing the entirely the wrong thing if you go against her advice. Again I say that there is one expect on you and your baby – and it’s not Gina Ford – it’s you.