Books : The New Contented Little Baby Book: The Secret to Calm and Confident Parenting

Rating: - Very Helpful
You'd have a hard time following Gina Ford's routines to the letter, but a routine based on her ideas has worked very well for my husband and I. We now have our evenings back and have a good evening and night routine. Although I was not having big problems with my baby, his night feeding pattern was variable. Using the routine, the baby now goes to bed before he gets too tired, we have our evening to relax, then his last feed and change fits in with us going to bed. He only needs one feed in the night. There are also good guide lines on expressing milk and replacing breast feeds with a bottle. This book is not without fault but gives some very good advice.

---

Rating: - Very unhelpful
Very unhelpful. This book suggests that all babies should behave in exactly the same way and as all mothers know - this is utter nonsense!
After 1 week of trying this routine and having a thoroughly unhappy baby who put on no weight and cried continuously, I can honestly say that I not only felt like a complete failure and was pulling my hair out, but also felt totally guilty that I couldn't get the routine to work for me. (1 week is a long time when your baby is only a couple of weeks old and you're a first time mum getting no sleep!) Thankfully I went to see a breastfeeding counsellor who talked some sense into me about not using this book and I never looked back. My son got into a good routine himself and was a lot happier into the bargain! All babies are different and I really believe that mothers should trust their own instincts.

---

Rating: - Goodness - Calm down everyone!
This book is to be taken with a pinch of salt. It is not compusory to do EVERYTHING she says in the book to the letter. Every baby is different (as all you mums out there will know) and each one will have different needs. I found this book rather amusing but took from it what would work within my lifestyle (being a working mum and trying to get my child carer to stick to routines was a bit different) but the feeding and nap times if stuck to loosly, then, it does kind of work without actually trying too hard.
And to all of you who have said that Gina doesn't have any kids herself - does it really matter? Think of those of us who have older toddlers/children and listen intently to the advice of 'Supernanny' - she also doesn't have kids and does a good job. Are we not all a bit jealous of their success? They can work their magic on other peoples kids, then go home and have a good night's kip, wake refreshed in the morning and actually get to have breakfast!!!

---

Rating: - Good but shouldn't be used as a bible
I was advised to buy this book before I had my son (my first child). I read it and thought it sounded horrific. However after he was born I set about trying to follow the feeding routine and within days realised it was completely unreasonable. So my son and I settled in to our own feeding routine. However, I did find that by 'loosely' following the timetable for naps, he soon fell into a routine of sleeping which also followed with a full nights sleep.

When my daughter came along 3.5 years later I had to have a c-section and decided that as I couldn't go anywhere for 6 weeks anyway I wouldn't worry with a routine. However come week 7 and after a week of being up constantly during the night with my daughter and having my son getting up just as I was going to bed I realised that I couldn't carry on like this and picked up the book again. Like before I 'loosley' followed the sleeping patterns and within a week she was sleeping peacefully through the night with just one feed and I was starting to feel more human.

I think the trouble is these days we read these books and take them as gosple rather than taking it as advice. I've recommended this book to all my friends but not without explaining first that it needs to be used as a reference and not to follow word for word.

---

Rating: - Concepts are brilliant. Use it as a GUIDE!
If the baby sleeps well, then mum and dad also sleep well and we as parents are then able to give our baby 150% of our love and attention during the day, which can only serve as a great foundation for his self image and security and early education. Most people I know, who don't use any routine at all, have spent the last 6 months in zombie land, stuggling to get through each day and constantly begging the child to sleep. How can these tired mothers give their children QUALITY awake/play time???

Using "most" of the tecniques in this book, I had my baby sleeping through the night at 6 weeks old and he is exclusively breastfed. He also goes to sleep at all his day and night sleeps, without any fussing, crying or help from things like dummies, rocking etc. The book has enabled me to know when he will be getting tired and put him down to sleep before he gets overstimulated, hence making going to bed a happy time. He is a good sleeper, due to the many things I learnt from this book and because of this, we can then have an active social life and a happy and orderly household.

Do I use controlled crying? No. I don't have to! Going to sleep for my baby is a happy thing. If he cried for more than 5 minutes total in a day, I would take him to the doctor, thinking something was wrong!

Do I believe in demand feeding? No. I would prefer my baby, not to have to be so starving hungry that he needs to scream for his food. I prefer to feed him on a regular basis, to prevent him from getting hungry. Surely this is better than them screaming for food, right!? But of course if he is hungry, I would feed him him. Routine feeding, is just demand feeding with a maximum time limit put on it!

However if purchasing the book, you must understand that it is a "guideline" for what to work towards, not a rule book. You do not have to stick to the times strictly with military precision! You are the parent who knows your child best and can think for yourself. You need to be a "parent" and make decisions every day on whether something is working or not. Also, you are ALLOWED to adjust and tweak the routines to suit your child and family. And if one day doesn't go to plan, don't think you are a failure, just try again the next day. It will eventually fall into place and you will then benefit from the hard work put in, in the early days, by having a fantastic baby who every says is "so content, I wish my baby was like yours!".