Gina Ford routine

M

mama-to-be

Registered User
Anyone following the Gina Ford routine? My baby is 6 weeks and I am (somewhat) following, but more using her routine as a guideline. Anyone on the same routine but baby cannot stay awake for the recommended time - up to 2 hours? My baby can only stay awake for about 1hr each time so ends up napping for longer than the recommended time as well. She sleeps fine throughout the day, but I noticed she is harded to settle at bedtime (7pm). Other than that she's quite a content baby
 
We've followed Gina Ford's routine from birth. By 5 weeks, he was "sleeping through the night"... as in we only had to dream feed him at 10 and then again at 6am. At 5 weeks, he was sleeping by 7pm. Today, he still sleeps at 7pm. Bub loves his routine and gets cantankerous when it's off. So we still follow Gina Ford's suggestions with a tweak here and there. I must say though... the first couple of days trying to get him to sleep at 7 (when he was about 4 weeks old) were rough. But it's paid off and I'm glad I toughed out those days. :yeah2
 
I found that my babies were ready for a nap again after about 1.5 hours of wakefulness, max 2 hours and they were overtired. I think you will have a much easier time napping your child if you catch them when they are starting to get sleepy versus overtired, so just follow your own babies cues and you will be doing great. I am leary of a one size fits all approach to parenting books, not all babies are the same. I haven't read this book so can;t comment on it directly, but I do think if you feed your baby when the baby is hungry, nap the baby when the baby is tired, play with the baby when the baby wants to play, generally follow your baby's lead, this is the best and easiest way to go about it. Babies know what they need and you will figure out how they tell you.
 
Don't give up on Gina, if it is not working right now then keep trying... By sticking to her routine it will really pay off. I was criticised heavily for following her, but my daughter has slept from 7 till 7 from the age of 4.5 months and the people who criticised me are STILL have problems at 20 months!!!!!!!! Keep going, don't give up on Gina, the routine will help you in the long run I promise!
 
Thanks for input. After I've fed my baby she normally dozes off and if I put her on her playmat/rocker she'll only last about 15 mins and then yawns or gets irritable (ie she's tired). So I'm wondering if a baby can actually last 2hrs (awake) or is my baby just a "sleepy baby"????
 
One more thing, Gina says to feed baby for 25-35 mins on breast and then the 2nd breast if baby's still hungry. I find my baby stops feeding in 15-20 mins. After that she'll refuse to take anymore milk. Anyone else's baby feeds that quickly?
 
I love the Gina routine - my 5 year old still to this day goes to bed at 7 and doesnt wake until 7am - I think it is a fab routine , the only downside being that it is not very flexible but for 90% of the time it saves my sanity! Interestingly I have a 7 month baby who has also followed the same routine since birth but since I have had to return to work my helper is struggling to follow the instructions and my baby has begun waking earlier in the morning ... I do remember it being very very difficult to keep her awake in the early days, but the hard work then definitely pays off....
 
my baby was also on the routine since the day coming home from hospital and she has pretty much stuck to it, sleeping thru the night from 8 weeks, apart from when teething. She is now 16 months and is a good sleeper and never whines and refuses to go to bed at bedtime. In fact, when sleep time is near, she will automatically say "sleep sleep, night night" before we actually prepare her for bed. It was difficult to keep her awake for the stated time at first, but then I found that certain activities kept her more awake than others, like playing on activity mat etc., then I just made sure she spent those minutes that she find harder to stay awake on the activities that stimulated her more. But after a very short while, she got used to the routine and managed to stay awake for the time stated. I know many have slagged off the Gina Ford routine, but it has worked very well for us and our daughter.
 
Hi. Just arrived from UK with my 6 month old last week. We have followed Gina routine from about 3 weeks and also found it very helpful for both me (I need some routine too) and babe - who has slept through to 7am after 10:30pm feed for several months now. Even helped by fitting flight time to fit in with 10:30pm feed - no problems on 12 hour flight. You can initially get a bit paranoid (I and other UK friends who followed did) if babe does not follow exact routine, but what you soon realise is that they probably will given time. Like Zones I also have friends wishing now that they had tried it. It isn`t all plain sailing, however, as the book may have you believe from day 1. My babe had problem at 7pm sleep for many weeks - crying for up to an hour on occasions (and yes we did comfort her after say 10 mins). Think that is fairly typical time of day to cry and they do grow out of it - eventually. As for quick feeder - another friend of mine also had a quick feeder (10 mins b/feed) and she`s doing very well weight wise at 6 months.
 
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