Gina Ford has come to the rescue with her answer: the key to a good night's sleep for the whole family lies in teaching parents to understand the changing sleep needs of their growing baby. This book informs and reassures parents, dispelling many common myths and anxieties and offering practical solutions that work. Key principles: Works on the basis that you can gradually distance yourself and still let your bub learn to fall asleep on their own. The aim is to have a baby who’s happy being alone at bedtime and so is happy when they wakes alone at night and can then self-settle.

When I put it to her that her books might be an unconscious attempt to provide her mother with the tools that might have prevented her depression (and her father's departure soon after her birth), she replies: "Yes, yes, I think so. If my mother had had my book, I probably wouldn't be the way I am. I would be a solicitor or something, with three kids, and that would be no bad thing because it is quite difficult being the UK's leading childcare expert and being childless. People do love to have a dig at that."These are the various stages of sleep patterns and feeding that your baby will go through during the first 6 months: Whether you see Gina Ford as the Great Satan or as the Patron Saint of Modern Mothers, hardly any parents are neutral about her. For first-timers there is no escaping The Contented Little Baby Book. On five separate occasions, my partner and I were told that we "must" use it by zealous, if well-meaning, other parents (we did not take their advice). Now comes her new book, Potty Training in One Week (to some parents this title may seem as plausible as World Peace in One Week). Key principles: Babies shouldn’t be left to cry for more than a few minutes because crying creates a negative sleep association, which may be detrimental. But, as the critics cry, having had no babies of her own, how can she really know what it is like to have a baby cry it out?

Gina Ford clearly states that the routines she provides in the book are created to meet the natural sleep and feeding needs of babies. When reading the book I found it concerning that in general the amount of daytime sleep she suggested for a baby at any given age or stage (up to 12 months) was actually an hour or two less than normal recommendations. This means she is not meeting a baby’s natural sleep needs. She says her routines are structured to ensure babies never get overtired, but my concern is that she expects babes to sleep less than they should, which in turn can cause overtiredness. Her routines may work for some babies (think very easygoing babies), but the more sensitive babies, will definitely struggle with getting less than ideal sleep.

Gina Ford sleep method

Learn the secret to getting your baby to sleep through the night--so you can get the rest you need. You’ve heard horror stories about babies who cry constantly, need to eat every two hours, and never learn to sleep through the night. And now, whenever you think about your soon-to-be-born bundle of joy, you can’t help wondering how you’re going to manage those two a.m. feedings and non-stop crying jags--and how you’re going to live your already-hectic life on little (or no) sleep. Relax! If you follow the practical, real-life advice in The Contented Little Baby Book, your baby should be sleeping through the night at around six to ten weeks. You’ll learn why you shouldn’t follow the conventional “feed on demand” advice. You’ll understand why even older babies can benefit from sleeping and eating schedules. And soon you’ll have what every parent wants--a happy, healthy, contented little baby. Drawing on twelve years of experience researching and studying the natural sleep rhythms and feeding patterns of young babies, one of Britain’s top maternity nurses shows you how to… * Recognize the difference between hunger and tiredness