Baby guru Gina Ford wins apology from mums' site

LONDON: Childcare author Gina Ford, known as the Queen of Routine for her no-nonsense approach to bringing up babies, has settled a legal row with a parenting Web site that allowed members to poke fun at her methods. 

Mumsnet said on Thursday it had apologised to Ford, paid some of her legal costs and will no longer tolerate personal attacks in its popular chatrooms. 

Ford, whose best-selling baby manuals sharply divide new parents, called in her lawyers earlier this year to stop what she called "relentless personal attacks" on the site.   
One posting claimed Ford metaphorically "straps babies to rockets and fires them into south Lebanon". 

Another, according to a published letter from her lawyers, suggested she was "cruel and uncaring" because she advised a mother to let a five-month-old baby cry for three hours.   

With the threat of legal action lifted, Mumsnet said it would allow members to once again discuss Ford''s methods, as long as they are "civil and fair".   

"Mumsnet will no longer bar discussion of Ms Ford's books and methods but will not tolerate personal attacks on her," it said in statement.

"Mumsnet urges all its members to remain civil and fair towards Gina Ford."   

The former nurse's 'The Contented Little Baby Book' was first published in 1999 and has sold hundreds of thousands of copies around the world. It advises parents to keep to a strict daily timetable to help their baby settle into a routine.

A spokeswoman for Ford was not immediately available for comment.

Mumsnet was set up in 2000 by two new mothers in London and boasts almost 10 million hits a year.