The Complete Sleep Guide for Contented Babies and Toddlers

by Gina Ford

Sleep is probably the most misunderstood and confusing aspect of parenthood. Babies are supposed to sleep most of the time, aren't they? Well, some do, but an awful lot don't. If your child is one of the many who has trouble sleeping, and disrupts your own days and nights in the process, don't despair. There are ways of encouraging regular sleep patterns, and in this book Gina Ford reveals exactly what they are. Starting on the first day at home after the birth, she advises new parents to disregard any advice to let the baby's habits rule the roost. By creating a structure of regular feeding, sleeping and playing times, parents can help their baby to find a rhythm that will be comfortable for all concerned. Among the questions this book answers How much sleep do babies need? What's the difference between a sleep and a nap? When can certain feeds be dropped? Gina Ford's blueprint for creating happy and rested babies and parents has been successfully applied over many years.

Genres: Parenting, Nonfiction, Reference

Paperback

First published September 18, 2003

Reviews

[Nele Fraeyman]

Baby’s die na 2 weken al perfect op schema leven qua eten, slapen en spelen: wie zijn ze? En willen we dat eigenlijk wel?

[L Longhurst · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dreadful book full of advice which runs contrary to NHS guidance. Ford claims that responsive feeding creates unrealistic expectations on the part of an infant, ignoring the fact that babies don’t have a rational mind or even a fully-formed consciousness until several months old and therefore cannot have expectations, only needs which are either met or not. Her solution to most things is to let babies cry, even from birth, so that they learn to “self-soothe”. Again, this assumes a cognitive capacity that babies don’t have. No other species does this with their infants, and although babies do eventually stop crying, this is because they operate on instinct, and instinct tells them that if they cry and no one comes they will attract predators instead. So essentially they are shutting down in order to conserve energy and hide from predators so they survive. Quite the lesson to be taught at 2 weeks old. And it implies that unless you follow a rigid routine of ignoring your baby you will have sleep problems for years. This is clearly not true. Reading this made me feel like a failure because my baby didn’t do as he was supposed to, according to Ford, and distressed me by requiring a most unnatural and illogical set of behaviours. Ford’s defence is always “people buy my books so I can’t be advising anything harmful.” This is like saying because people choose to drive fast, it can’t be dangerous.

[Theresia de Reus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Een goed en helpend boek! Wel een heel strikt schema, wat soms heel “streng” kan overkomen.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have heard a few people criticise this book and say she is far too strict with routines and that it is too restricting. Yet these people still don't get a full nights sleep! Yes it is all about set routines but after reading this book and following the guides my daughter was sleeping through the night. With a lot of perseverance. I was clueless when I became a mum and as someone who loves her sleep I was willing to try anything. Highly recommended.

[Andrea · Rating 1 out of 5]

"Crying down (birth to six months)
The process of crying down to sleep takes between 10 to 30 minute. The more over-tired the baby is, the louder and longer he will cry. Dr. Symon stresses that this technique will only work if the baby is allowed to settle himself to sleep. Parents who find the crying difficult to ignore are advised to wait minutes before going in to him. ... They conclude that a 20-minute 'winding down' bedtime routine, coupled with ignoring crying for gradually increasing intervals, is an effective way of dealing with babies and children who resist sleep."

[Lucie Wicks · Rating 4 out of 5]

My son had been a good sleeper from 8 weeks-ish and apart from the occasional off night had slept through. Fast forward to 7 months old and my gosh....he was a nightmare, wouldn't go down until 11:30pm and that was even if we were lucky!!
This book was a fantastic trouble shooter and as first time parents, we were so grateful for a plan and suggestions. Going forward we know what we need to do to remedy his situation :)

[Lies Schroeven · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dit boek geeft aan dat er maar 1 manier juist is. Er wordt heel veel het woord "moet" gebruikt en het houdt geen rekening met mensen die een onregelmatig ritme hebben. Vanaf het moment dat je kind naar de opvang gaat, zijn de schema's in dit boek amper te volgen.

[Nicola Paszkowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting enough, sadly it didn't work for my son! A good read nevertheless.

[Ilse · Rating 1 out of 5]

Niks voor mij. Schema’s tot op de minuut en ml. Belerend en sturend.

[Coralie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn’t really align with the author’s point of view and the method that was presented but it did help me create a solid daytime routine

[Lara · Rating 1 out of 5]

De schrijfster zegt telkens: De baby's die bij mij waren... Dat stoort me. Ik vind dat het boek vanuit eigen dunk geschreven is. Daarbij komt dat ik het echt heel vreemd vind om vanaf week 1 een strak schema te moeten hanteren om dit te laten slagen. In week 1 ken je je kind nog niet. Je kind moet wennen aan de buitenwereld, dus ik zou zeggen laat het schema links liggen. Geniet van je kraamweek en knuffel je kind zoveel mogelijk.

[Saira · Rating 3 out of 5]

Haven't tried it yet

Haven't tried any of the methods yet, but I don't care for the three feedings schedule. Our daughter is on the small side and still needs to nurse 8 times a day. I don't care about her waking up to eat at night, I just want her to fall asleep earlier so we'll see if any of the routines work.

[Ereader · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love how much this book made sense for my fuzzy sleeper, off course I took advice and applied it to the character of my child, but the understanding of sleep for my difficult sleeper was what made this book Amazing for me.

[Milda Jensen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Perskaičius daviau 4*, po bandymo pritaikyti - 1*. Šiaip gal būtų verta dviejų už naudingą informaciją, bet kai ji praskiesta skatinimu emociškai smurtauti prieš savo vaiką - ne.

https://azuoliukas.wordpress.com/2021...

[K]

I think if I adhere to her guidance I am never going to leave the house again.

[Angela Randall]

Apparently this is overkill and impossible to do, but generally following nap times will go a long way towards sanity.

[Maria Marinas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Want to survive motherhood?? There you are.... The Instruction Manual ;-)

[Kyra Schiffers]

De schema's van Gina werkte voor mij (en mijn dochter) fantastisch. Ik ben tevreden.

[Nermine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think the book is theoretically good but I'll still try it and see if it's logical and practical.

[Anamarija · Rating 4 out of 5]

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very prescriptive and specific I used it mostly for the schedules but I relied much more on Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Baby

[Hayfa · Rating 5 out of 5]

"فك أزمة"