From Contented Baby to Confident Child

If you are looking for answers, they are here. The specific, firm, detailed structure Gina Ford offers to parents at sea in The Contented Little Baby Book is to be found in reassuring measure in her latest book, From Contented Baby to Confident Child, a veritable handbook of concrete suggestions, case studies and advice.

Without wasting time on peripherals and philosophies, she dives straight into her subject matter, giving the parent who has specific concerns down-to-earth directives. Her routines are carefully planned and inspire confidence. Based on her 20 years' experience as a maternity nurse, these are practical routines that work.

She addresses most, if not all, of the issues that confront parents in the early years and is definite in her advice. Her style is authoritative yet helpful: for example, "Your baby is not a toy. Do not feel guilty about restricting the handling in the early weeks, especially prior to sleep time"; or, on restoring routines after illness, "Once I was convinced he was totally recovered, I would get tough and leave him to settle himself". And yet, for all the firmness and discipline, one senses Gina's babies like knowing where they are--and frazzled parents won't say no to a good night's sleep either.

The section on toddlers deals with walking, talking, feeding, dressing, tantrums, sibling jealousy and aggressive behaviour and includes helpful scenarios, replaying them with suggestions of how a tantrum could have been averted. In one scenario she describes how Thomas, aged 15 months, is allowed to play a Sunday morning game in bed, throwing a ball very gently. Six months later, with a new baby also in the bed, Thomas throws better and harder, and despite many entreaties to be gentle the baby is hit, resulting in screams all round. Gina comments on the parents (who lose their temper with Thomas) "It was ridiculous ever to expect the child to be satisfied with throwing the ball gently--balls are not designed for gentle play, the parents' expectation of Thomas playing gently with the ball in the bedroom was unrealistic".

Other topics covered are: how to potty-train your child in less than one week; how to cope with second babies; building your child's self-esteem; separation anxiety; and teaching discipline and good manners. (For more on toddlers, see Steve Chalke's Parentalk: the Toddler Years.)

Gina Ford challenges the received wisdom concerning demand feeding with delicious irreverence. Whatever your own views on the subject, this alone makes it a fun read. --Rebecca Pickering

View other editions of From Contented Baby to Confident Child.
View books by Gina Ford.

how to alienate that small person in your life ... - Rated
gina ford unfortunately seems to have the view that kids are a luxury and should interfere with your life as little as possible (seen and not heard, and preferably not seen, actually).
i heard great things about gina ford so dutifully bought the book like a good new mom and was horrified to learn how i 'should' be treating my baby.

get deborah jackson's Baby Wisdom: The World's Best-kept Secrets for the First Year of Parenting for some understanding how the majority of the world population (except us civilised western parents) do it.

Not as useful as book one - Rated
I bought Contented Baby and for the first 8 months I had a classic contented baby, he slept, ate and I felt calm and in control.

I got the second book to check up on later development. I found this one much more 'filler' than the first book, there are some useful suggestions but nothing new and tbh most of the book is just rehashing basic principles.

If you are a big fan of Gina then you will probably want this on your shelf, however DON'T expect the month by month routines and tips we got in the first book.

I think Gina is great for babies and parents in the first year, after that as babies turn into toddlers things get a little more complicated! I also found this book to be very smug and patronising in places.

Contented Baby - Rated
I was bought this book as a present from a well meaning friend. We decided to give it a go, and for the first couple of weeks we tried to follow the plan - what a terrible few weeks they were! I have to say that this miltary style of parenting is not for us - who could leave their most precious bundle of joy crying in their cot for hours? in the first few weeks, being a first time parent is scary enough, without feeling like a failure as you were ten minutes late with bath time, or expressing etc - in the end, both myself, Daddy and baby ended up from being far from contented!

We ended up buying "the baby whisper" - much much better + lots of helpful information.

Smug Midwife - Rated
That was the title we gave to the delightful Gina Ford!! We loved her first book The Contented little baby book - this one less so as it concentrated on siblings and how they affect things - my daughter has none! However I do agree she is self righteous and smug - as she never gets it wrong! If you can laugh at that then you too can have a peaceful baby - and dare I say - you can look smugly at those around you complaining of sleepless nights...

The guilt trip starts here... - Rated
I admit Gina Ford has some good ideas regarding babies and toddlers. Most of it seems to be common sense or trial and error, and most parents are looking for ideas regarding various problems which this book has. But it's not new information - you can get it on a decent website. But this woman is SO self-righteous. It's as if she is trying to start a band of disapproving parents who think you are insane for not doing it their way. I'm glad I bought this book when my toddler was two and not the first one. If I had read that before having my baby I'm certain I would have had post-natal depression from the guilt she and her worshippers heap on. Watch 'Little Angels' instead and save your money.