The New Contented Little Baby Book: The Secret to Calm and Confident Parenting is a book that every parent needs. It is full of great information on how to deal with a colicky baby, how to get your baby to sleep through the night, and how to generally be a calmer and more confident parent.
This book is an absolute godsend for any parent who is struggling with a colicky baby. It provides excellent tips and advice on dealing with a colicky baby and getting your baby to sleep through the night.
What emotions do parents feel during the first three years of their child’s life?
All parents feel a range of emotions during the first three years of their child’s life, from elation and joy to anxiety and fear. This book is an excellent resource for any parent who is struggling with their own emotions and who needs some guidance on how to deal with their child’s emotions.
Parents feel many different emotions during the first three years of their child’s life. Some of the more common ones include:
Love and affection
Love is something that all parents feel for their children, no matter how difficult they may be at times. This deep love and affection drive parents to do everything they can to protect and care for their children. This love can sometimes be overwhelming and can cause parents to worry about their child’s safety and well-being. In this book, Gina Ford discusses different ways to express love and affection to your child in a loving and nurturing way.
Pride
A new parent must be aware of the feeling of pride when they see their child reach a milestone or do something new for the first time. Parents may feel a great sense of pride when their child achieves something or does something praiseworthy. This pride can sometimes be accompanied by a sense of relief, especially if the child has been going through a difficult period. You will get to know your child better and start to see the world through their eyes.
Jealousy
Jealousy is a natural emotion that all parents feel at some point during their child’s life. Feeling jealous of your partner or friends who do not have children is perfectly normal, as they can go about their lives without the constant worry and stress that comes with parenthood. However, it is important to remember that your child is a blessing and that you would not trade them for anything in the world.
Anxiety
Anxiety is something that all parents feel at some point during their child’s first 3 years. Worrying about your child’s safety, health, and development is perfectly normal. However, if anxiety is preventing you from enjoying your life or from being able to care for your child, it is important to seek professional help.
Guilt
Well, with all the things mentioned above, of course, parents are going to feel guilty. Especially when they think about all the things they could have done better or differently. Parental guilt is a prevalent emotion and is usually caused by unrealistic expectations. However, it is important to remember that you are doing the best you can and that your child loves you no matter what. Gina Ford’s book can help you to understand and deal with your feelings of guilt.
The New Contented Little Baby Book: The Secret to Calm and Confident Parenting
In 1999, Gina Ford published The Contented Little Baby Book, based on her own experience caring for over 300 babies. Almost 20 years later, it is still one of the most popular parenting books in the UK. It didn’t take long for Gina to establish herself as a leading authority on matters related to babies and childcare.
This thoroughly revised edition will give parents up-to-date advice on raising a child. To consider the input from readers and users of the website, Gina has updated and expanded the information in her first book to explain better her philosophy regarding simple feed and sleep schedules and the issues surrounding them.
In this book, she explained that a healthy infant’s natural rhythms could prevent hunger, overtiredness, and colic, which can lead to excessive crying. To meet babies’ growing needs, Gina implements routines based on their stage of development. When a baby settles into Gina’s gentle routines, the baby will be at peace and happy since basic needs such as food and sleep are being met; he or she will be able to sleep for an extended period at night from a very early age on.
There are several chapters in this book dedicated to everything a parent needs to know about becoming a parent, and they include:
- Birth preparations
- Follow a routine and learn how it can benefit you
- The first year of milk feeding
- Learn how your baby sleeps
- Maintaining a routine
- Implementation of solid food based on government and WHO guidelines.
- Problems that occur in the first year.
Why do most parents recommend this book?
According to my personal experience, It has been a more effortless and more relaxing experience for me to have a second baby than I had the first, and I believe that this might be why. When I looked at my second child, I felt God had given me an easily-going child, although I was much calmer and more confident the second time around. Besides my priceless first-child experience, I would like to say that my newfound skills as a parent have also been influenced by Gina Ford’s The New Contented Little Baby Book, which I have just finished reading.
What is parent-led parenting?
Parent-led parenting is promoted in this book and is therefore quite controversial and unpopular today since it encourages putting your baby in a daily routine from the very beginning.
My first child came into my life with the simplicity of baby-led parenting; it wasn’t something I had to think about when I had all the time in the world to devote to him. With my first child, I had to pay attention to him; however, we had to find common ground with my second child. Because of this, I gave Gina’s routine in the hope that it would make family life easier for us.
Continuity is the key
Following the book’s clear and concrete instructions can build up your daily Contained Little Baby routine hour by hour on a typical day. It gives you useful advice on when to feed your baby when to change the nappy, when and how long the baby should nap each day when to bathe him/her, and even things like the best time to play with him/her! There are some logical reasons why these routines are structured in a certain way, in fact, the entire book is structured in a rigid manner, but it has some logical reason behind it.
Routines are designed to help children sleep and feed during the day in a structured manner. Nevertheless, there are babies who need more sleep and a shorter gap between feeds than others. Once your baby can go longer between feeds, make sure that these long periods occur during the night and not throughout the day. Babies often experience this problem, which can easily be avoided.
Some advice that Gina gives in her book
Developing the right sleep routine.
The first and most important thing you need to do regarding your baby’s sleep is to develop the right routine. This means that you must put your baby to bed at the same time every night and wake him or her up at the same time every morning. This may seem like a lot of work, but it is quite simple. All you need to do is put your baby down for a nap at the same time every day. For example, if you put your baby down for a nap at 1:00 pm, then you should wake him or her up at 3:00 pm.
It is also important that you follow a bedtime routine. This means that you should do the same things in the same order every night before you put your baby to bed. For example, you might give your baby a bath, read him or her a bedtime story, and then put him or her to bed.
Proper feeding time
Let’s explain this point with an example. Gina suggests putting your baby to sleep around 7:00 pm. So you need to feed your baby around 10:30 pm. This way, your baby’s tummy will be full, and he or she will be able to sleep through the night
Give your baby a daytime nap at the limit
Your daytime routine matters a lot to settling down your night pattern. Soothing Music for Your Baby
Gina suggests that decreases the daytime Nap time when he or she starts to grow. No matter what age it refers to, CLB routines all consist of sleeping 12 hours at night (between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m.). As long as the daily total of sleep hours is not exceeded, an individual can easily reduce night-time sleep and lengthen daily naps.
Proper breastfeeding
It’s common for people to think that you need to night feed your baby every four hours. Gina says that this is not the case. You should use only night feed your baby if he or she is hungry. If your night feeds your baby every four hours, he or she will become dependent on night feeds and unable to sleep through the night.
It is also important to note that you should not feed your baby immediately before bedtime. This will make it difficult for your baby to fall asleep and cause him or her to wake up frequently at night.
Final words:
The above four rules are the golden rules you must follow to get your baby to sleep through the night. However, this is just a glimpse of what the book offers. If you want to get the most out of it, I suggest you buy the book and read it from cover to cover. It is definitely worth your time and money!