She Slept in Her Mother's Bed Till the Age of 11. For Six Years She Bought Clothes for Babies She Would Never Have. Millions of Mothers Swear by Her Advice but Others Call Her Cruel...Now in a Rare Interview Gina Ford Hits Back ; As the Baby-Raising Guru Prepares to Sue Her Many Critics,a Fascinating

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IF GINA FORD did not speak with a lilting Scottish accent, you would want to invent one for her. It strikes you instantly that the childcare guru resembles no one quite so much as the likeable fictional nanny Mrs Doubtfire who appropriately perhaps used the same firm-but-fair methods that Gina has spectacularly made her own.

You can imagine many a harassed mother being soothed by the gentle balm of Gina's particular brand of cheeriness.

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She Slept in Her Mother's Bed Till the Age of 11. For Six Years She Bought Clothes for Babies She Would Never Have. Millions of Mothers Swear by Her Advice but Others Call Her Cruel...Now in a Rare Interview Gina Ford Hits Back ; As the Baby-Raising Guru Prepares to Sue Her Many Critics,a Fascinating

'All I did was write a tiny little book about sleeping and feeding,' she says with a chuckle. 'It was published with no publicity and spread by word of mouth.' That was in 1999 and The Contented Little Baby Book, advocating a strictly timed routine of sleeping and feeding, went on to sell more than half a million copies.

But her methods are controversial, provoking eulogy and consternation in equal measure. Her supporters among them Kate Winslet and Heather Mills McCartney insist that 'Gina's babies' are contented, happy and able to sleep through the night from eight weeks old...

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