[Porkies = Porky pies = lies!!! . That's your UK gift of slang for today : ) ]
In the UK, the Queen of scheduled feeding is Gina Ford, who is author
of The Contented Little Baby Book. She advocates timed and scheduled
feeds, and there is a serious lack of evidence-base to her
programmes, which change (bewilderingly) every couple of weeks, but
which extend to the time you (the mother) rise and breakfast, and
which include advice to express in order to feed by bottle in the
evening. She's a bit like Ezzo without the religion and without the
corporal punishment. She is very well known, and her books sell well.
Yesterday I was doing some work for the day job with a very nice
lady who had brought her very cute and smiley little 10-week old baby
to work with her. Knowing I was a breastfeeding counsellor, she
informed me she was 'a huge Gina Ford fan' and how GF worked
'brilliantly' and her baby was 'so happy' and how 'determined' she
was that the baby would get into a routine etc etc etc.
But I was with her from about 10.15 to 4.45 and she certainly did not
'do' Gina Ford!
Her baby fed on five separate occasions ( I counted....she didn't).
She didn't look at the clock, but fed her
when she 'asked' and also when it fitted in with what we were doing,
and she did not time her on each side, but guaged by the baby's
responses whether to offer the second side, to pop her on a bit
longer.
She guaged when she could 'get away with' taking her off to give her
to someone else to cuddle/wind when she was not able to continue
holding her. When she felt her baby really needed to have a
good nap, she fed her a bit longer until she (the baby) zonked out.
Most of the time, asleep or awake, the baby was in someone's arms,
or her mother's arms. I did not hear or see the baby cry at all, yet
we were in a hot and fairly chaotic workplace.
She told me she didn't express as it was too much hassle, and she
might as well just feed her.
Her baby was very contented!
It struck me, in a way that it has never done before, that in some
quarters of our society, it's fashionable to say you are 'doing Gina
Ford'. But in fact, you aren't doing anything of the kind.
When your pregnant friends ask you how your baby is so contented, you
tell them you are doing Gina, and how well it works. And so the Gina
Ford reputation grows on little more than air.....
I wanted to say something to her, but I couldn't think of the right words!
Heather Welford Neil
NCT bfc, tutor, UK
***********************************************
To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]
The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html
|