Gina Ford grew up within an extended family on a farm in the
Scottish Borders where, even as a child, she loved looking after
younger cousins and neighbours. On moving to Edinburgh to study Hotel
and Catering, she joined a premier babysitting agency, and was hugely
popular with parents of young babies.
Gina’s
work took her first to London and then overseas but, wherever she was,
she still found herself drawn to families and called upon to baby-sit
or take on the role of temporary nanny. After several years Gina
returned to England and, given her skill and passion for working with
children, decided to pursue a new career in childcare.
For years
she was one of the most sought-after maternity nurses, specialising in
caring for newborn babies and toddlers with serious sleeping and
feeding problems. During this period Gina was nominated by Harpers & Queen as
one of the top ten maternity nurses in the country. She worked in many
parts of the world with hundreds of different families, from leading
lawyers and high-flying bankers to newspaper editors and other media
personalities.
Gina’s particular talent was not only nurturing the child, but ensuring that the mother was well cared for too.
As Gina’s reputation grew, she was approached by a number of publishers, and in 1999 she wrote her first book, The Contented Little Baby Book.
It was a runaway success, largely due to enthusiastic personal
recommendation, its matter-of-fact style and practical approach
appealing to fathers and mothers alike. Since the success of her
first book, Gina has gone on to write a further nine books and
co-written two others, covering subjects such as Weaning, Feeding,
Sleeping, Potty Training and Twins, as well as the popular Ella and Tom series of children’s books.