Healthy Living Books Books

Rating: - Life Saver
This book is clearly written in an accessible easy to read style and just makes total sense! Gina understands the natural rhythms of babies and her routines work! My son has had a tricky start in life, yet now he eats, sleeps and plays well - all down to the genius of this book! Everyone comments on what a contented baby he is - even his consultants. Since being able to get him into the routines, he as never been happier. Having predictability and structure in his life helps him know where he is up to and feel secure and helps family life. Though we stick carefully to the routines most of the time, we adapt them for special occasions and holidays, but once over, he is immediately back on track. He is adaptable because he gets so much quality sleep each night and day to recharge him. Knowing what will happen throughout the day just takes the guess work away and I know that his needs will be met day in day out! I can't praise it highly enough!

One thing though, I am staggered by some of the negative reviews - fair enough, if you don't like the idea of a routine at all and you prefer a baby-led approach then the book is not for you - although worth looking at to find out what the routines can do for you and your baby - you maybe pleasantly surprised. There is quite a lot of information explaining the advantages and disadvantages of different approaches and a baby-led approach is not necessarily the easy approach you might think of.

Moreover though, I think to suggest that putting your baby in a routine is damaging is worryingly misleading. My baby and several others I know thrive in it. This book meets baby's needs and contrary to belief offers flexibility within its firm principles. It recognises that babies are individuals and have slightly different needs and offers advice on what to do through different case studies.

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Rating: - Praise for Gina
I have 3 sons aged 5,2 and 1 and all have been raised the CLB way.

If you would like structure to your day and learn to understand your babys basic needs then give this book a go.

The book is presented in simple and easy to understand terms - most likely because Gina Ford knows that new mums dont have time to sift through the waffle and just want to be told how to do what needs doing.

My children all settled into the routine well and have fantastic sleeping habits ( all sleeping 12 hours per night from 18 weeks) and good eating habits.

I rarely felt anxious or stressed when they were babies, even with 16 months between my last two, because they were calm and content.
Despite what others may say the routine works with babys natural habits and forms the foundation for excellent sleeping and feeding patterns. The routine helped me establish a good milk supply when breastfeeding and helped me avoid the hours on end spend feeding like some of my friends. I was able to enjoy my new baby and understand his needs.

I cannot reccomend this book enough and so many of my friends also swear by this book.

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Rating: - Worked for me!
I read this book during my pregnancy and liked it straight away. I found the clear guidelines appealing and the explanations made sense to me. I have happily followed given routines and often turned to the book for all sorts of advice. I am a confident mum and my son is a contented baby - it certainly worked for me!

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Rating: - Waste of money
IMO - I find she contradicts herself throughout the book. Her routines are almost impossible to do. She makes no effort to help you adapt the routines if you need too, such as if your school runs coincide with her routines. You can really tell she has never had children.

I am gutted I bought the book, and feel liberated to finaly throw it away.

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Rating: - A father's perspective
Here's a father's perspective. My wife and I have two daughters, 5 years and 6 weeks. When we first read Gina, we laughed at the prescriptive routines and put it back on the shelf. With our first daughter we at first tried the Babywise series on the recommendation of a friend, but after three months we were a bit lost. When long should she play? When should we feed her? How much sleep should she have during the day so she'd sleep better at night? Should we cuddle her to sleep? Should we try formula? We were sleep-deprived, irritable, and our relationship was suffering. The honeymoon of a new baby had definately worn off -- it is no coincidence that sleep deprivation is used as a torture. That applies to your baby just as much as the parents. We were into that phase where parents with older children fix you with that 'been-there' look.

Withing a week of implementing "Gina," our first daughter settled into a routine, and started putting on weight properly and sleeping soundly. She
slept through the night at three months and five years later has had in
total seven broken night's sleep (due to flu and chicken pox) in her life. She still sleeps 12 hour a night. Most parents we know simply do not believe this, or say we're just lucky. Breastfeeding became easy. None of our friends or antenatal class who were demand feeding were still breastfeeding exclusively after 3 months, working or not. Our first daughter fed for a year. She was in child care at nine months; we tuned the routines without problems.

We've used the routines for our second daughter since she came out of hospital. At six weeks she's a contented baby bang on the growth chart predictions, sleeping soundly, and a joy. She's a charmer and we're full of love for her, just like her sister. Her older sister has accepted her easily; she knows when baby gets her feeds and helps as far as could be expected. We have plenty of time for cuddles with both. I'd say this is all because of the routines.

Gina arouses strongly polarised reactions, as you can see in many of the
reviews. Admitting to using Gina seems to be a taboo, we've observed. The odds are against you if you want to put a newborn on a routine; midwives in general seem to advocate demand feeding. Maybe the reason is that Gina herself talks about two types of parents: 'facilitators', who like to go with the flow, and 'regulators', who like to be in control. Both parents both need to be regulators determined to make Gina stick. I've observe that facilitators find the routines stifling.

Facilitators are very judgemental of Gina; my own mother called us monstrous control freaks. However, now she regularly expresses amazement at our daughters' weight, height, intelligence, ability to sleep through the night, good behaviour and happy natures. As does anyone else who meets them, although of course I'd say that. These people seem to be unable to join the dots.

Some reviews imply this book's purpose is to make parents' lives easier at the expense of the baby's wellbeing. Our experience is that happy and organised parents a happy and healthy child make. The book does contain tips for tuning and adapting the routines. Contrary to others' views, we've found we it easy to adapt the routines when holidaying (even between NZ to the UK) and visiting friends. Or just doing the shopping. Or leaving your children with minders. I'd go further: without Gina, these activities would be hell. Using Gina's like learning your ABCs and grammar; after mastering them you you have the confidence to write good poetry.

Criticisms? The book could be more tightly structured and edited, the layout is old-fashioned, the writing style is off-puttingly authoritarian, and the contents and index are a bit sparse.

Here's a simple test that will answer whether this book's for you. If being certain you can go out for lunch with friends from 12.00 to 14.20 safe in the knowledge your six week old will sleep soundly in a car seat throughout appeals, and that you can sit down with your partner at 7.30 for dinner every night, this book's for you. If the idea of making appointments fills you with dismay, don't buy it.