| my baby is 14 1/2 mths now. i tired the gina ford thing when she's 1 mth old. TOTAL disaster. it was impossible to put her on the schedule. she had a mind of her own & knew when she needed a nap & when she didnt . re: feeding, i breastfed & that "20 min on each side" leave me with blocked up ducts all the way to my armpits; & baby only had front milk - hence lots of gas & crying when put down (cos the gas was hurting her). i finally got mrs chee (lactation consultant) who told me that not necessarily 20 mins on each breast for everyone. for me, my baby had one breast each feed.
that said, my sis-in-law had a baby 3 months older than mine. she followed that book by the dot, & her baby followed it with no problems. she also breast-fed but gave formula at night & express at night instead of feeding directly. my best friend has 2 sons, tried it with her first, didn't work; tried it with her 2nd, worked wonderfully. my other friend had twins, she followed gina ford by the dot, her twins were sick a lot & not gaining weight much but she still followed strictly. i heard that in the beginning they would cry for the 15 mins (supposedly naptime), still pick them up although no nap just cry & still follow the book (also formula fed). and after several weeks, the babies went on the schedule.
all in all, i think it depends on your baby's temperament. if you have an easy baby, then for sure. but if you have a touchy/spirited one, maybe not. i'd think it'd be easier for formula fed babies to follow it, cos u'd know for sure no blocked ducts, and full babies & all (in any case if you bf, u should feed on demand). but do read the book to the end, especially the case files. miss ford lets babies cry for a whole night, and she can tolerate starving them for 12 hrs so that they'd take the bottle. i can never do that to my OWN baby. i certainly doubt of she can do that to HER own, but then she never had any. i guess it makes it easier to be baby nazi when she doesn;t need to empathize w/ the mothers. i think u can probably tell that i am very against gina ford. cos i think she's too strict. for crying out loud, those are just babies & they need love & affection.
in the meantime, maybe you can check out the baby whisperer who's more gentle & realistic.
good luck!  |