From Contented Baby to Confident Child: Amazon.co.uk: Gina Ford: Books

Amazon.co.uk Review

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

Product Description

So, you followed "The Contented Little Baby Book" to the letter and your baby behaved like a dream - at least for the first few months. But as your baby grows, so his or her routines and patterns change. In her years as a maternity nurse, Gina has been able to learn valuable lessons from watching her charges' older siblings and in this new book she applies this knowledge to the many problems parents face in the first three years. From feeding and sleeping problems in the first year, including weaning and early-morning waking, to teething and potty training, Gina offers her own particular brand of down-to-earth advice. She takes a look at toddlerhood, showing how to deal with tantrums, sibling jealousy and food fights and reveals how to build your child's self-esteem, as well as to discipline and teach him or her good manners. She also shows you how to make teeth-cleaning fun and to put an end to annoying habits such as thumb-sucking, nail-biting and eating dirt. "From Contented Baby to Confident Child" is essential reading for all parents who have already benefitted from Gina's advice and would like to learn more.

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49 of 50 people found the following review helpful

Use this book - if you don't your'e potty ! 22 Nov 2000

By Mr A.J. Scott

Format:Paperback

Like most mothers I was positively dreading potty training, especially as I had already tried unsuccessfully three months prior to reading Gina Ford's second book.

On reading this masterpiece, I realised where I had gone wrong on my first attempt. We had tried over a 3 day spell, but as my little girl had not taken to the idea, we had quickly scrapped the potty and returned to nappies. Now, equipped with Gina's book, I realise that my toddler was not actually ready to be potty trained - she was showing very few of Gina's "signs" listed near the beginning of her potty training chapter. More importantly, I had not done any of the essential preparation either, with my daughter.

However, second time round, I followed Gina's thoroughly researched chapter precisely, and my daughter aged 2 and 4 months was potty trained in 3 and a half days. We have never looked back.

I cannot reccommend Gina's second book enough, but particularly this potty training chapter. I found her tips on preparation excellent, and the advice on the actual training quite incredible. Her list of equipment might be considered to be common sense, but quite frankly I had not thought of these very handy pointers, so it was a 'Godsend'. Her idea of a chart was invaluable, it helped me monitor the progress, and without it, it would have been impossible to remember all the accidents and all the successes.

Although my daughter was under 2 and a half, I was concerned about her stubborn nature, so I actually followed Gina's idea of using raisins as a reward, but as she was so quick with the training, we never had to get involved with bigger treats, and I made sure that our raisin supply quickly ran out, so that no habits were formed!

All in all, I would like to say a massive thank you to Gina Ford for making this task so straight forward for myself, my toddler and indeed the rest of my family. Most importantly my toddler has not had any tears over this important training, and for this reason she has no psychological hangups with her bladder and bowel control - she is now becoming very confident at using the loo by herself, so the potty was made redundant very quickly. As my daughter is not three for a while, I am following Gina's advice and leaving her in nappies at night time.

This book is a 'must-have' book for parents of toddlers!

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20 of 20 people found the following review helpful

Very disappointing, a rehash of book one. 30 July 2001

By A Customer

I was really looking forward to this book, as her first book was fantastic. However, Ford simply rehashes the first book with few ideas for years 1-3 as promised. An incredible disappointment. Don't waste your money.

35 of 36 people found the following review helpful

A must for parents with toddlers 5 Mar 2001

By katiebwer@aol.com

I followed Gina Ford's "The Contented Little Baby Book" to the letter which turned our first year of parenthood from a potential sleep deprived nightmare into a wonderfully positive experience. I was at a loss when my child turned one. Gina's book "From Contented Baby to Confident Child" is the first book I have seen which gives practical advice and solutions to the wide ranging issues faced when dealing with a toddler. From sleeping habits to thumb sucking to tantrums she offers practical solutions and down to earth common sense advice backed up by extensive research on each subject. This book is invaluable in helping parents deal with the ever changing stages that young children go through.