In the late ’90s and early 2000s, millions of new parents around the world swore that following his uncompromising advice gave them the good night’s sleep they craved – but so did many others have called baby sleep guru Gina Ford’s approach “cruel” for suggesting babies. you must let it “scream” for a maximum of 12 minutes.
Now, despite the current NHS advice Contradicting many of his “firm but fair” methods for helping newborns learn to sleep through the night, his techniques are apparently making a comeback, with a new generation discussing his approach.
These techniques – including not looking at your baby after 10 p.m. – first came to UK attention in 1999, when the former Scottish private maternity nurse dubbed the ‘queen of routine’ published The Contented Little Baby Book.
She advocated a strictly timed routine for sleeping and eating, and after her techniques spread like wildfire through word of mouth, Ford sold millions of copies and, if estimates are true, earned millions of pounds.
Queen of routine: Gina Ford’s The Contented Little Baby Book became a word-of-mouth hit after its release in 1999, and although her strict advice is widely contradicted by current NHS advice, the former Scottish maternity nurse still has many fans.
More books followed in the early 2000s, focusing on everything from pregnancy to potty training.
Kate Winslet and Jamie Oliver’s wife Jools were once among his celebrity fans, and many parents will still tell you they raised “Gina babies”, who thrived on routine.
Others, however, claimed that the diet only worked if “babies are robots” and suggested that it went against natural maternal/paternal instincts not to soothe your newborn when they cry.
Indeed, former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg said in 2012, citing Ford’s anger, that he had refused to use The Contented Little Baby Book after trying it with his eldest son Antonio.
He described how, on a difficult night, he and his wife Miriam finally lost patience, saying: “I’ll never forget – in the middle of the night, Antonio woke up. Miriam said to me, ‘What does the book say?’ I remember saying to her, ‘Okay, we need to stop this. I outsourced my parental instincts to this book.’
Ford’s first book, The Contented Little Baby Book, was a word-of-mouth success and sold millions of copies. Right: The author said his method could encourage newborns to sleep through the night from eight weeks old.
Ford responded by telling the Sunday Times later in the week: “Clegg may think his comments are funny – and indeed they are, because he has just insulted the parental choice of more than two million voters.”
Now 64, Ford, who has no children, grew up in the Scottish Borders and moved to Edinburgh to study hotel and catering before working as a private maternity nurse. During her 12 years on the job, Ford cared for 300 babies.
In recent years, she appears to be happy and low-key, having not published a new book since 2012, although global versions of The Contented Little Baby Book – including in Chinese, Turkish and French – appear to have been re-released in 2021 and 2022 . .
Nick Clegg said in 2012 that he refused to use Ford’s best-selling The Contented Little Baby Book because he felt it had “outsourced my parental instincts”, sparking criticism. Ford’s fury.
Parents-of-five Jamie and Jools Oliver were once fans of Ford’s approach, as was Kate Winslet, right.
An Instagram account that claims to be Gina Ford’s official point of contact, but has just over 6,000 followers, responded to an initial email from MailOnline but did not respond to a further interview request.
However, despite the lack of new books, it seems there is still an enthusiastic audience among millennial parents, who, like generations before them, are desperate to put their children to sleep as young as eight weeks old, as Ford’s techniques claim.
What exactly is his advice? Essentially, the book advocates strict rules, with advice such as making sure babies are fed on a strict schedule, not letting them fall asleep while feeding, putting them to sleep alone in a very dark, quiet room, and wake. before 7 a.m.
This contrasts sharply with advice offered today by the NHS, which tells new parents to “cContinue feeding your baby until you think he is finished or until he is completely asleep. This is a good opportunity to try and get some rest.
Elsewhere, the NHS says not to ‘worry about keeping the house quiet while they sleep’. It’s good to get your baby used to sleeping despite a certain amount of noise.
Ford also suggested in his first book that babies should be in their own rooms “from day one.” The NHS says babies should sleep in the same room as their parents for the first six months of life to reduce the risk of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome).
In August 2006, the parenting website Mumsnet launched a discussion forum about Ford’s methods, with many people highly critical of the advice in his book.
Ford later took the website to court, telling the Mail on Sunday in 2007: “This had been going on for years on this website and I was fed up. »
There were fears that the site would have to close because it could not afford a costly legal battle. The two sides reached an agreement in 2007.
So what do modern Mumsnetters say about Ford? An article from last year, in which a parent asked, “Is anyone still using their sleep routines/approach?” was met with mixed reactions, but there were certainly many fans among them.
One responded: “GF saved my sanity! I had a good sleeping and eating routine in place by 6 weeks. My DC is now a teenager and seems well adjusted…so assume it’s not hurting him! I’ve suggested younger friends who have trouble sleeping try it.
Another wrote: “I know quite a few parents who were destroyed by the book. It was too prescriptive and those who struggled felt like they had completely failed because it didn’t work for them.