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

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That book is cruel, I cannot believe people would subject a baby to such routines and actually wake them up whilst they’re sleeping.

We use Google Analytics to see what pages are most visited, and where in the world visitors are visiting from. Of course, I realised that the reality could be different as different babies would react differently to routines, but it still gave me peace of mind to have some structure to the approach. I also found that I spent more time stressing over what came next than enjoying time with my baby and I felt that she wasn't particularly supportive of breast feeding.If you are looking for a very concrete schedule with specific times and detailed instructions, then this is the perfect book for you. I think Gina’s message can essentially be distilled down to this: “By being consistent and patient with your routine, your child will adapt and know what to expect at what times of the day and night. I appreciate that full term babies may need fewer calories in a 24 hr period and Gina actually mentions prem babies’ need very regular feeding to ensure they gain enough weight.

In letting your little one sleep as long as they want, you will end up giving them less sleep overall, as they will wake up more frequently due to hunger and an out of kilter body clock. Admittedly my daughter Poppy is only 13 days old but I have found that she wakes naturally roughly ever 3-4 hrs of her own accord for a feed and to be changed. These books are more of a manual on how to be a shite parent and a lack of confidence on part of the parent. The routines are incompatible with breastfeeding for most people but mothers are not warned about this. A quote from the “Daily Telegraph”, but this cry could equally have come from the thousands of mothers who have put Gina Ford’s kind but firm routines into practice and put some calm back into their lives.

This sounds a bit odd but if you don’t do much reading, a large book can be rather intimidating and off-putting. Please don't misunderstand me, she never frowns on it directly and there are entire sections dedicated to it, but since this style of parenting accounts for every detail, not knowing how much a baby has eaten doesn't quite fit with that model. Especially since a baby who wants to nurse longer than her time allots for throws off the rest of the schedule. Now as a new parent and dad blogger I feel it is my duty to learn as much as I can before my little one arrives.