The New Contented Little Baby Book

If you are still struggling to get your newborn to sleep through the night, still getting up throughout the night to feed the little one, or perhaps you are feeling as if no end is in sight, you need to read Gina Ford's The Contented Little Baby Book. It may be the only thing you need to bring peace back into your frazzled existence with your tiny baby, or babies.

After all, this book promises to teach parents tried and tested methods to get their baby to sleep through the night by the time they are 10 weeks old.

For parents who are craving their first night of unbroken sleep, Ford's book may be the answer.

Ford's methods conjure up the image of a strict and loving old nanny from yesteryear. Her techniques go against the grain of many currently popular parenting philosophies. For example, Ford, an experienced maternity nurse, is against demand feeding, believes in the necessity of waking a sleeping baby in order to establish a daily routine. Her philosophy may not be the norm today, but Ford is confident of her methods based on years of experience handling hundreds of babies.

Providing an hour-by-hour, week-by-week guide on how to get a new baby into a routine, the book includes feeding and sleeping schedules based on a baby's age. The Contented Little Baby Book provides so much information that it may be necessary to keep this paperback book handy for reference should you employ Ford's techniques.

Experienced parents may not benefit from Ford's methods, but first-time parents may learn a lot from her ideas, and for the discerning reader of parenting books, this one is a must have. For the reader who would like to weigh other parenting methods before adopting Ford's techniques, the following books may be of interest: The Baby Book, by William Sears, M.D. and Martha Sears, R.N.; What to Expect in the first year, by Eisenberg, Murkoff and Hathaway; and Your Baby and Child, by Penelope Leach. --Abbe Jacobson

View other editions of The New Contented Little Baby Book.
View books by Gina Ford.

Excellent - Rated
I can not praise the theories of this book enough. My baby is 15 weeks old and since 11 weeks sleeps 2230 - 0730. You can adapt bits but generally it is great. He is a contented little baby. Seriously try it.

A blessing in paperback - Rated
After weeks of becoming more and more confused as to why our 6 week old baby was crying, desperately trying to work out what she wanted, receiving a copy of The New Contented Little Baby Book was a blessing in paperback. She has slept through from 11pm-7am since. The key for us was that we now knew exactly what she needed at any time of the day and instead of being bewildered or assuming she was hungry, we could meet her needs even before she was aware of them herself so no more crying - hurrah! I buy a copy of Gina's book for every new mum I know and have just bought her book on weaning.

It worked for us! - Rated
Don't take it as a bible, but we followed the spirit of it & have a very happy chappy at 10 months old who slept through at 3 months, eats well & is a real pleasure! I would recommend it, but don't get tangled up in it!

Sanity saver! - Rated
As a first time clueless mum this book was invaluable to me and my family and Im sure it saved my sanity in the early days. I read it while I was pregnant and it gave me great advice on what to buy, how to prepare and how to start off in the early days. Im not saying that following the routines is easy but as you learn more yourself about your individual baby you have more confidence to adapt the routines to suit your situation and my son is a calm, happy, confident child who sleeps and eats well! And Im a happy confident mum. Im expecting my second baby and have already reread the book again and intend to follow the same routine and refer to it again and again. Would not be without this book by my side! Highly recommended for its common sense, easy to read advice and info.

Not the answer to everything - Rated
Although this book has some practical advice such as what to put in your nursery and how to create routine for your baby etc. overall this book is simply not practical. Every baby is different, some have digestive issues, some need more comforting than others. The only person who can really know how to feed and nurture their baby is a parent. If used as a guide this book is useful, but don't follow it exactly or you and your baby will end up frustrated and unhappy. Pay attention to the signals your baby is giving you and their own rhythmns and follow your own instincts and you'll be much better off. I hate to be cliche but Ms Ford has never had her own baby and it shows- there is no 'secret routine'- there is just instinct and working with your own child's needs.