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the principles of this are not covered in any textbooks
pmsl
cry eat poo cry eat poo etc etc
I hate my brother. My newborn niece needs waking at night to be fed. Bastard.
you need a bette rbook shop. Haynes covers everything!
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cry eat poo cry eat poo etc etc
new babies... new parents... same routine
Stoner - Member
I hate my brother. My newborn niece needs waking at night to be fed. Bastard.POSTED 1 HOUR AGO #
That's what [i]he[/i] says!
damn right wrong bookshop pmsl
The textbooks seem to assume that all small babies behave in the same way. A classic from Gina Ford: "don't let your newborn stay awake for more than 2 hours". ****in genius Gina, what do you suggest - ketamine?
The books are all bollocks trust your instincts*
* Although if I did do this my Mrs Would have a 4 year old child back in her womb..
My newborn niece needs waking at night to be fed.
They're doing it wrong. If she's asleep, at night.... get some sleep for christs sake. Since 6 weeks in ours will sleep 6-8 hours a night. Pretty damn happy with that tbh.
eat poo etc etc
Babies eat poo? Eeeeewwwww
They're doing it wrong. If she's asleep, at night
nah. She was doing it from birth (3 weeks ago) so a regular feed is still a good idea.
TBH I think they have to wake her ANY time they want to feed her. The maggot's positively narcoleptic!
The biggest mistake I made with my newborn was waking them to feed. Just stick the bottle in their mouth and they will drink, magic!
Sage advice from my brother-in-law "If you don't like the advice in one book, read another one. They are all different"
Since 6 weeks in ours will sleep 6-8 hours a night. Pretty damn happy with that tbh.
Advice from my Fatherhood book: "There will always be some people that claim their baby sleeps right through and has done since they were little. Those people are LIARS and you should never talk to them again" 🙂
Waking every two to three hours to be fed is pretty much normal for breastfed babies, because they only get a little milk at a time. Bottlefeeders can sleep longer at a earlier age because they get a tummy stretched full of formula which keeps them going through the night.
the principles of this are not covered in any textbooks
It all boils down to:
1) Hungry
2) Uncomfortable
3) Tired
4) Ill
Uncomfortable can be:
a) Too hot
b) Too cold
c) Poo / wee.
They're not really that complicated, as you'll discover if you have a second child.
Best advice I ever had was: after changing a nappy, scrub your hands the cleanest theyve ever been. Then sniff your finger nails and scrub them again 😉
I hate my brother. My newborn niece needs waking at night to be fed. Bastard.
If, when she's 2 years old, they can still say that, then they're either lying or they're very heavy sleepers. The things I learn from having two girls very soon after each other (now nearly 5 and 6 years old) are:
1. Babies change personality /sleeping / eating / defecation patterns entirely at random - not sure if there's any developmental / astral / hormonal logic to it but don't be surprised if their little darling turns into some non-sleeping, ever-hungry hell-child in the next few weeks. THen you can be smug in return.
2. Baby books are just excellent ways to empty your bank account and make excellent coasters for the many cups of coffee / tea you'll need to while away the small hours. I dont think we even looked at any of ours after this realisation hit home when our 1st was about 10 weeks old.
3. Everyone's an expert. What's missing from this statement is the (* in their own kids) bit. No two are the same and my / my wife's parents / friends / relatives all think they have the answer for what current ails your children. And they just don't - no harm in trying to filter out the bits you think might be relevant but the person who knows your baby best is you (stating the obvious I know).
4. Having a 2nd child put everything firmly into perspective. Hindsight's a wonderful thing and we were a lot more relaxed with the youngest compared to the new-parent constant fretting of the 1st.
5. It goes past VERY quickly. Seems like only a blink ago that we had little ones in nappies and prams. Now we're at the "I want an iPhone stage already".
Good luck!
I disagree...
We use gina ford as a general (I agree that's she can be too anal at times) guide - as a result we have our evenings to do what we want and when we are travelling we know when to stop to feed the kids etc.
It's been completely alien to all the family that we are waking the nippers when they are asleep etc but both have slept through from about 8 weeks (the little fella is a lighish sleeper, the girl sleeps like the dead).
Kids cry when they are hungry, tired or have filled the nappy - unless they are ill obviously. If they never get tired or hungry you always know to change the nappy. You have to be a bit organised but it works so well in my opinion.
Edit to say - what are you doing feeding them during the night at 2 years old?
4. Having a 2nd child put everything firmly into perspective. Hindsight's a wonderful thing and we were a lot more relaxed with the youngest compared to the new-parent constant fretting of the 1st
this is so true, when you hear people with their newborns banging on about how hard it is etc it makes me want to ****ing vomit.
if only they could see how ****ing inconsequential half of the stuff is they're worrying about and relax it would make their lives so much easier. While some of this is the benefit of the experiance with the first teaching you how to cope, there just so much that isn't worth worrying about
(I'm by no means exempt, I was right worrying **** with the first, when #2 came along it was a lot more fun)
Funny how hora junior loves kissing mrshora but not me......then he likes kissing my feet (runs across and plants a smacker on them).
What gives?! 😆
He also loves chasing the dog around and kissing him!!
I mainly read:
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[i]Fatherhood: The Truth[/i]
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[i]The Bloke's Guide to Babies[/i]
Both were pretty funny and still managed to sneak in good advice (including decent advice for men that other books don't cover, like how to deal with a sore hormonal mother etc)
We also found "Babycalming" to be quite a good book:
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It's not too Ginazi Ford. Just sensible ideas for keeping the little one chilled.
Another vote for the "Fatherhood" book here. He couldn't stand Gina Ford either, which automatically raises him in my estimation.
Saccades - Member
I disagree...We use gina ford as a general (I agree that's she can be too anal at times) guide - as a result we have our evenings to do what we want and when we are travelling we know when to stop to feed the kids etc.
It's been completely alien to all the family that we are waking the nippers when they are asleep etc but both have slept through from about 8 weeks (the little fella is a lighish sleeper, the girl sleeps like the dead).
Kids cry when they are hungry, tired or have filled the nappy - unless they are ill obviously. If they never get tired or hungry you always know to change the nappy. You have to be a bit organised but it works so well in my opinion.
+1 for Gina Ford
My daughter has been so much happier since we gave her a strict routine. The parentals were a bit freaked that we woke her up to feed at times, but they tend to come round when they see that she spends the majority of her waking time with a smile on her face.
We can take her away without any problems, as Sacchades has said just takes a little planning, with setting off etc.
Matt
OK. Time out everyone. This is taking the "dadsnet" meme far too far.
Behave yourselves. Get back into the F1 thread now!
I think that for any given routine or parenting style (gina ford, baby calming book, baby whisperer etc.) there are probably about 10% of babies who comfortably fit into that routine. Parents who get a baby that fits the routine of the book they choose rave about it.
Personally I've met a few people who tried the Gina Ford and it didn't work.
Our baby was always on demand feeding / sleeping etc. when she was little. Once she was a little older (ie. doing stuff other than just eating and sleeping), we started trying to make sure she was in a place to nap at particular times, and went to bed at particular times.
Personally, for us and her, it was definitely the right choice - now (14 months) she has a routine of getting up etc. which we've settled into by kind of mutual agreement and trying to work out what she needs - she goes to bed at about 7 to 7:30, when she gets tired, and generally gets up at about 7. She has a nap when she gets annoying and tired - right now usually one nap a day, different times depending on activity. Food wise, we all eat three meals a day, plus she has snacks if she gets hungry, and don't really have to mess around timing everything exactly.
I think the advantage of the Gina Ford type things is that you get a plan for the day that you can work around. The disadvantage is that it can be very inflexible (for example one Gina Ford baby I met will only sleep at the right times, and only when put to sleep in the right way in the right place, and that appears to continue well into toddling age).
The advantage of working around natural rhythms and letting them do stuff when it feels right, is that you have quite a lot of flexiblity - like with ours, I recently went to Berlin, and she slept on planes, trains, on me in the sling, on the back of a bike, in an odd city apartment. I didn't do any particular planning, except to make sure that I got home in time for bedtime. I didn't have to keep doing particular things at particular times of day to make sure she had the right naps, didn't sleep too much in the day, ate at the right times etc. she just kind of lets me know if she's hungry / tired etc.
Just wait till you get to weaning - that is the next big thing where people do stuff really differently. We're on the hippy end of that too, we stopped adding salt to cooking, and she's always just eaten pretty much what we eat, no messing around with pureeing stuff or baby food.
I'm curious, how does the Gina Ford stuff work when someone else is babysitting or when they go to nursery?
Do you have to give them the timetable and insist they follow it?
I'm curious, how does the Gina Ford stuff work when someone else is babysitting or when they go to nursery?Do you have to give them the timetable and insist they follow it?
Yup.
Although we are quite flexible with it, give or take half an hour or so, make allowences for bits and bobs etc.
Edit to say - what are you doing feeding them during the night at 2 years old?
Return edit - general point that our youngest was a law unto herself until about 2. The eldest, not a problem (swings and roundabouts and all that).
Advice from my Fatherhood book: "There will always be some people that claim their baby sleeps right through and has done since they were little. Those people are LIARS and you should never talk to them again"
😀
To qualify the statement I made, I said she's slept for 6-8 hours a night since she was 6 weeks old. This is true. She is currently 8 weeks old 😉
Never read any baby books as I feel there's too much conflicting advice, which my wife's opinion would probably trump anyway... That Gina Ford stuff sounds like hell on earth for me.
Ours slept 7-11-7am religiously to 6months old. Que lots of smugness from mrshora and me sceptical and mute (scared of jinxing anything)..... C.6months Kraken awoke with a massive vengeance. It was like Godzilla rampaging through a Japanese town (his bedroom).
Fack we were on edge. If the dog yawned I'd be almost mental that that yawn would carry upstairs through 3 solid brick walls/floors.
Now I'm so used to interruption I've no issue with sleep deprevation if it happens.
Oh and I've been in A+E today due to a leaking ear.
Our first, a 6 month old here. We put her out of our room at 4 weeks - she was too noisy and kept me awake. Now she sleeps 7-6 every night.
Play time with dad after work at 5:45 - 6:20 bath - 6:50 last breast feed. 7 Sleep in her cot in her own room.
Dream feed at 10:30 then down all night.
Routine routine routine. Walk with her and dog at 7:30 another little kip then lunch at 12:00, tea at 4:30. Sleep at about 13:00 for 1.5 - 2hrs.
Done.
Reading too many books is bad for you. All have some good and bad points even Gina Ford. We got given lots and my wife read most of them. I read none as my opinion was see how it went and lets face it my opinion wasn't as important.
We used Gina's timings to give us a framework for routine and made sure we let him meet lots of people and visited lots of people so he got used to sleeping in other places too. Worked well, he is a hungry monster and dream feeding at 11pm etc helped, now at 11 mths he does 7-7.
They do all appear to be different however so just do what feels comfortable, ignore the lots of well meaning advice you don't like and remember they are suprisingly robust.