Just wondered about a book

[Iuil]

"shaz" wrote
> Hi all,
>
> I was given a book a while ago called The New Contented Little Baby Book
by
> Gina Ford, I flicked through it and get the general gist of what it
> suggests, I was wondering if any one on here has read and tried to follow
it
> and what you thought? It seems very strict to me, but the general
> principles seem OK.
>

I tried to read it, I really did. I managed to get halfway through the
first chapter before I quit in disgust. I scanned the remainder of the
book.

The author has no children of her own although she has worked as a nanny and
maternity nurse for many years. It struck me more like an obedience
training book, the kind that you'd use for dogs.

I don't think you'll find many people here who would recommend this book (or
"The Baby Whisperer" either). Books often recommended on the group are
those written by Dr Sears or approved by La Leche League.

Jean

--
HOLLY: Nothing wrong with dog's milk. Full of goodness, full of
vitamins, full of marrowbone jelly. Lasts longer than any other type
of milk, dog's milk.
LISTER: Why?
HOLLY: No bugger'll drink it. Plus the advantage of dog's milk is when
it goes off it takes exactly the same as when it's fresh.
LISTER: Why didn't you tell me, Holly?!
HOLLY: What, and spoil your tea?
(Red Dwarf: Series 2, Episode 1)

[shaz]

Hi all,

I was given a book a while ago called The New Contented Little Baby Book by
Gina Ford, I flicked through it and get the general gist of what it
suggests, I was wondering if any one on here has read and tried to follow it
and what you thought? It seems very strict to me, but the general
principles seem OK.

Thanks for any replies.

Shaz

[Mogget]

In message >, Iuil
> writes

>I don't think you'll find many people here who would recommend this book (or
>"The Baby Whisperer" either). Books often recommended on the group are
>those written by Dr Sears or approved by La Leche League.

Well ... I would. I read them both and did find them helpful. It may
sound daft, but to a clueless new mum with no experience of babies, the
advice "feed your baby when she's hungry. And let her sleep when she's
tired" was about the kind of level I needed :-)

You couldn't slide a bus ticket between what my nine-month baby does and
what Sergeant-Major Gina Ford prescribes - but she does it because
that's what suits her, not because I've "put" her on that schedule. If
my baby had been unhappy fitting into the rigid schedule, I wouldn't
have forced her.

My baby needs a lot of sleep and if she doesn't get her morning nap and
her afternoon nap, then there's hell to pay. Plus my health is still so
poor that I am completely dependant on my baby having an afternoon nap
so that *I* can have a sleep too.

Don't get me wrong, my baby is fed on demand - it's just that it's all
fairly predictable and she's settled down to textbook feed times.

One negative thing I would say about the Sergeant Major is though it's
obvious that she really loves babies, her style is quite off-putting.
Eg for night feeds, no eye contact, no talking, no playing. She and I
have parted company now; I read in one of her books a case study about
three-month old twins who were very brutally weaned off the breast onto
the bottle, due to the mother's exhaustion. She counted it as a
success. I really didn't like what I read.

Oh yes and another thing I didn't like was that when I started to
introduce solids to DD I followed the Sergeant-Major's weaning book.
All was well at first, it was a sensible plan that took it slowly and
gently. And as I read further it became clear that if you followed the
plans, at the age of one year you would have a baby that was fully
weaned, off the breast and bottle. I didn't like this assumption, that
you want to be stopping breastfeeding.
--
Mogget, the Churl in the Puce Greatcoat

[Iuil]

"Mogget" wrote
>
> >I don't think you'll find many people here who would recommend this book
(or
> >"The Baby Whisperer" either). Books often recommended on the group are
> >those written by Dr Sears or approved by La Leche League.
>
> Well ... I would. I read them both and did find them helpful. It may
> sound daft, but to a clueless new mum with no experience of babies, the
> advice "feed your baby when she's hungry. And let her sleep when she's
> tired" was about the kind of level I needed :-)
>

Sears says that. So does Penelope Leach.


> You couldn't slide a bus ticket between what my nine-month baby does and
> what Sergeant-Major Gina Ford prescribes - but she does it because
> that's what suits her, not because I've "put" her on that schedule. If
> my baby had been unhappy fitting into the rigid schedule, I wouldn't
> have forced her.
>

The point being that *she* determined the schedule, not you. My 15 month
has a schedule too and if she doesn't eat or sleep on time she gets
mega-cranky. But I didn't need Gina Ford to tell me how to force her into
that schedule. I much preferred Penelope Leach's method of "reading the
baby not the book" once you have the cues figured out.

> My baby needs a lot of sleep and if she doesn't get her morning nap and
> her afternoon nap, then there's hell to pay. Plus my health is still so
> poor that I am completely dependant on my baby having an afternoon nap
> so that *I* can have a sleep too.
>

Heh. I took *2* naps with DD today :-).

> Oh yes and another thing I didn't like was that when I started to
> introduce solids to DD I followed the Sergeant-Major's weaning book.
> All was well at first, it was a sensible plan that took it slowly and
> gently. And as I read further it became clear that if you followed the
> plans, at the age of one year you would have a baby that was fully
> weaned, off the breast and bottle. I didn't like this assumption, that
> you want to be stopping breastfeeding.

So you're not really recommending her book, are you? ;-)

Jean

--
HOLLY: Nothing wrong with dog's milk. Full of goodness, full of
vitamins, full of marrowbone jelly. Lasts longer than any other type
of milk, dog's milk.
LISTER: Why?
HOLLY: No bugger'll drink it. Plus the advantage of dog's milk is when
it goes off it takes exactly the same as when it's fresh.
LISTER: Why didn't you tell me, Holly?!
HOLLY: What, and spoil your tea?
(Red Dwarf: Series 2, Episode 1)

[shaz]

Thanks for your opinions, I personally don't think I could be as strict as
the book recommends!

Shaz

"Iuil" > wrote in message
...
> "Mogget" wrote
> >
> > >I don't think you'll find many people here who would recommend this
book
> (or
> > >"The Baby Whisperer" either). Books often recommended on the group are
> > >those written by Dr Sears or approved by La Leche League.
> >
> > Well ... I would. I read them both and did find them helpful. It may
> > sound daft, but to a clueless new mum with no experience of babies, the
> > advice "feed your baby when she's hungry. And let her sleep when she's
> > tired" was about the kind of level I needed :-)
> >
>
> Sears says that. So does Penelope Leach.
>
>
> > You couldn't slide a bus ticket between what my nine-month baby does and
> > what Sergeant-Major Gina Ford prescribes - but she does it because
> > that's what suits her, not because I've "put" her on that schedule. If
> > my baby had been unhappy fitting into the rigid schedule, I wouldn't
> > have forced her.
> >
>
> The point being that *she* determined the schedule, not you. My 15 month
> has a schedule too and if she doesn't eat or sleep on time she gets
> mega-cranky. But I didn't need Gina Ford to tell me how to force her into
> that schedule. I much preferred Penelope Leach's method of "reading the
> baby not the book" once you have the cues figured out.
>
> > My baby needs a lot of sleep and if she doesn't get her morning nap and
> > her afternoon nap, then there's hell to pay. Plus my health is still so
> > poor that I am completely dependant on my baby having an afternoon nap
> > so that *I* can have a sleep too.
> >
>
> Heh. I took *2* naps with DD today :-).
>
> > Oh yes and another thing I didn't like was that when I started to
> > introduce solids to DD I followed the Sergeant-Major's weaning book.
> > All was well at first, it was a sensible plan that took it slowly and
> > gently. And as I read further it became clear that if you followed the
> > plans, at the age of one year you would have a baby that was fully
> > weaned, off the breast and bottle. I didn't like this assumption, that
> > you want to be stopping breastfeeding.
>
> So you're not really recommending her book, are you? ;-)
>
> Jean
>
> --
> HOLLY: Nothing wrong with dog's milk. Full of goodness, full of
> vitamins, full of marrowbone jelly. Lasts longer than any other type
> of milk, dog's milk.
> LISTER: Why?
> HOLLY: No bugger'll drink it. Plus the advantage of dog's milk is when
> it goes off it takes exactly the same as when it's fresh.
> LISTER: Why didn't you tell me, Holly?!
> HOLLY: What, and spoil your tea?
> (Red Dwarf: Series 2, Episode 1)
>
>