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Anyone trying Gina Ford?
hi ladies
i know this is contraversial so i just want to say i'm not looking for an argument
i am just ridiculously exhausted with him feeding every 2 hours (which means by the time he's fed, burped, chnaged, settled that i only get an hours sleep at a time) and in need of some structure
so today i've started him on the Contented Little Baby routine and it seems to be going reasonably well
he woke at 6am so we had a feed then and a top up at 7.30 - then he went to sleep til the 10am feed - got sleepy bang on cue at 11.20 and asleep by 11.30. Awake just in time for 2pm feed then a bit of play time before going to sleep perfectly on time at 3.30.
the only struggle was the split feed at 5 for bath time - we normally do it at 8 or 10 and the initial feed just takes the edge off but today he was starving! gulped down his "half" feed but was still hungry and crying so i gave him some time on the breast (he's mostly bottle feeding) and he latched on straight away (that's a rarity) and guzzled
so then he was nice and settled but wasn't hungry for the post-bath part of the feed - just complained at me trying to make him breastfeed. in the end he accepted a bottle for the last half of the feed so was nicely stuffed - then went straight to sleep when i put him down at 7. he's still asleep now so hopefully will make it to 10pm
if i manage to get from 10 to 7am with only one feed in between i might have to send Gina Ford a big bunch of flowers! i'm not expecting it to happen to be honest but if i can get more than an hours sleep at a time i will be sooooo happy
so is anyone else doing Gina Ford? and if so, how is it going?
i know this is contraversial so i just want to say i'm not looking for an argument
i am just ridiculously exhausted with him feeding every 2 hours (which means by the time he's fed, burped, chnaged, settled that i only get an hours sleep at a time) and in need of some structure
so today i've started him on the Contented Little Baby routine and it seems to be going reasonably well
he woke at 6am so we had a feed then and a top up at 7.30 - then he went to sleep til the 10am feed - got sleepy bang on cue at 11.20 and asleep by 11.30. Awake just in time for 2pm feed then a bit of play time before going to sleep perfectly on time at 3.30.
the only struggle was the split feed at 5 for bath time - we normally do it at 8 or 10 and the initial feed just takes the edge off but today he was starving! gulped down his "half" feed but was still hungry and crying so i gave him some time on the breast (he's mostly bottle feeding) and he latched on straight away (that's a rarity) and guzzled
so then he was nice and settled but wasn't hungry for the post-bath part of the feed - just complained at me trying to make him breastfeed. in the end he accepted a bottle for the last half of the feed so was nicely stuffed - then went straight to sleep when i put him down at 7. he's still asleep now so hopefully will make it to 10pm
if i manage to get from 10 to 7am with only one feed in between i might have to send Gina Ford a big bunch of flowers! i'm not expecting it to happen to be honest but if i can get more than an hours sleep at a time i will be sooooo happy
so is anyone else doing Gina Ford? and if so, how is it going?
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Replies
not 100% perfect but so so close!
and i feel brilliant for having some half-decent sleep and not feeding every 2 hrs!
so i would definitely recommend trying it Becca coz i was like you 2 days ago - exhausted
Hope it continues to go well for you X
But it sounds like what I'm doing anyway. :P
but if you follow her routines to the letter then you're supposed to put them to sleep in their cot in the dark nursery for every sleep except the 4pm nap (when it's recommended to go for a walk) and you put them in the crib in your room from 11pm to 7am
also you're not supposed to make eye contact or talk during the evening / night feeds etc
i prefer letting him sleep in the carrycot downstairs during the day so am just using the timings
yesterday got messed up really badly (MIL / SIL came over and when he fell asleep an hour early they made me feel really bad about trying to wake him so i caved and let him sleep) but we still managed to get him to sleep 8pm to 11pm then until 3.30am but he wouldn't go back to sleep as he had slept loads during the day so he was awake for 2 hours!
ah well, trying to get back on track today
her routine-but as she goes through a growth
spurt it all goes out the window... I do find she
goes down at 1900-2300 most of the time..which
gives me a chance to get bits done x
The only routine we have that works is bedtime... Phoebe has a bottle, pyjamas on and every other night a bath, between 7 and 8pm, she then goes to sleep in her carry cot in the lounge with us till we go to bed at 11pm, she is then changed has a bottle and sleeps through till around 2am.. But after that is a nightmare! She takes around 2 hrs to re settle after the 2am feed, I already do it in the dark and don't talk, and that doesn't seem to work, shell fall asleep on the bottle and then as soon as I put her down she is wide awake again!
I also want to start putting her down awake to self settle, but so far having not a lot of luck with it
As much as I love cuddling her to sleep it's a pain cuz she always wakes up when I put her down and we have to start all over again!!
i stopped trying to stick to the routine yesterday because it was too hot and he was v sleepy but i made sure he finished a good 4 oz at every feed (he was taking 2-3oz a couple of days ago) then he was really hungry at 11.30 and had almost 5 oz and slept through until 4.40am - woke for a feed and change then went back to sleep at 5.20 until 8.30!
the other change i made yesterday was to put him to sleep in the carrycot in our room - instead of the crib (also in our room)