Customer Reviews
A guidebook - By: The Village Green Preservation Society, 31 Aug 2008 
I read a number of books on bringing up baby - but I didn't approach any of them as 'this is what you must do'. Gina provides some good advice & I'm sure that her routines have worked for plenty of people. For that reason her book is useful. Every baby is different - all I wanted was a book to provide reassurance when I felt out of my depth & Gina Ford does that. Would an alternative baby guide? Probably yes, but that doesn't detract from confidence I derived as a first time Mum from this book.
Every child is different - By: Kirsty Farrance-ball, 08 Aug 2008 
was given this book when my first son was about a month old, person who gave it to me raved about how fantastic it was, read it expecting very big things & thought some of the information was very good & some not so good.
As every child is not exactly the same, this will work well for some & not so well for others, but anything is worth trying once.
Book needs a warning - By: Tobias Ernberg, 06 Aug 2008 
I would definitely stay clear of this book if you want to actually enjoy your baby & not have to take the poor child to a shrink laterin life due to traumatised baby-hood. This book provides some sort of army regime for your toddler whereby there is no space for listening to the baby's personal needs & behaviours & probably provides more stress & trauma for the baby than anything else. I can understand people who have difficult babies may resort to this book, but there are other ways around this. I picked up the book the other day to see what Gina mentions with regard to starting with solids (which takes place at 6 months usually) & when I saw she recommended toast with jam for breakfast I couldn't believe it (how do they eat toast without teeth) & sheppards pie for lunch...hello? I mentioned it to a professional mid-wifein Switzerland who barely let me finish before she said "throw that book away". She had dealt with several parents who were attempting to follow the book, two of whoms children had to be takenin to hospital casualty to be tube fed as they were not putting on weight due to the stress entailed by the regime. Furthermore, several parents lose faithin themselves & get more desperate as they struggle with succeeding on this completely unrealistic & dangerous regime
Enjoy your baby - listen to the signs & learn together.
Good Luck
Totally Amazing! - By: Mrs RG, 28 Jul 2008 
I bought this book when my son was 2 weeks old & started him on the routines when he was about 1 month old & I was a bit worried that it wouldn't be for me as I like to rely on my instinct & go with the flow.
Howerver, I didn't find the routines restrictive at all & the idea behind the baby getting most of their milk during the day time hours seemed to make total sense. My son was 6 weeks premature & I was told that he would take about 6 months to settle down into any kind of routine. He slept through the night 7 til 7 at 2 months. Whenever my son went "off plan" for whatever reason, ie. dropping nap times or not sleeping properly, Gina had a probable reason & a plan to overcome it. I have to say - she was right every time & her plan sorted it out within a week. However, I wasn't a total slave to the plan, Joe dropped one of his feeds a couple of months before Gina advised to & also dropped a nap time quite a long time before she advised it, so I wasn't tying him to the bed & forcing him to sleep when he didn't need it. I also found her advice on controlled crying excellent & I did follow that to the letter & it worked, it just takes a bit of time & patience. I also used her for potty training as well & I started when Joe was 21 months during the easter holidays. Within 2 & half weeks he went from being totally untrained to being completely dry & using the toilet by himself, he would get on it & then call me for help. Within another month he was totally dry at night & a month after that was weeing standing up. He's been trained for a year & a half & has only had 3 night time accidents.
I'm now expecting my second (Joe is now 4)and I have every intention on following Gina again, the morning nap will have to be tweaked & started later as I'll be on the school run but I've every confidence it will work.
A lot of people are very sceptical & think it is too rigid ie. sleep times etc but if you read her carefully she does take other children & family needs into account & suggests adjustments to timings etc. I also know three or four people who were "totally against" her philosophy but who's own routines were actually no different to hers!
I would say, give it a whirl - you can't lose. If you don't like it, don't do it, but certainly don't knock it till you've tried it.
Love it or hate it - By: A. Drewett, 12 Jul 2008 I found this book to be badly written & quite difficult to follow. The same points could be communicated using half as much paper & the author seems to spend an awful lot of time blowing her own trumpet.
Don't let this put you off though, the underlying theory of the book is a good one but it is not presented simply. I perservered & found that by referring back to certain parts it made a little more sense.
I almost wore myself to a frazzle trying to implement the routines exactly as laid outin the book when I got straight out of hospital &in the end I adjusted & simplifed the routines a little, wrote them on the noticeboard (so my husband knew what was going on!) & everything just clicked.
My little boy has almost completely dropped his night feed at 8 weeks & was sleeping five to seven hours pretty much from ten days old.
The most valuable tipin the early days was to expressin the morning so my husband could do the 11pm feed, allowing me to have a bath & get to bed around 9pm.
My advice would be to read the book, & take some of the ideas & fit them into YOUR routine, otherwise its pretty difficult to even leave the house as every minute is accounted for.
Good luck.
