Parenting expert Gina Ford hits out at NHS for giving 'vague' baby advice, as 'the more vague the advice is, the less responsibility it has to take for helping parents'

Parenting expert Gina Ford has criticised the NHS for giving 'vague' advice about babies as she develops an app to give struggling parents 'on-the-spot' help.

The childcare guru says the guidance being given to parents is a 'political problem' and has become too baby-led in recent years.

Ms Ford, 70, known for her divisive parenting style, said: 'The more vague the advice is, the less responsibility the NHS has to take for helping parents.

'The advice given to mothers in recent years has become very vague. In the past, health visitors would have given you detailed advice... They tell you to rock your baby to sleep... They don't tell you that you could face hell in seven months' time when your baby can't get to sleep without being rocked or given a dummy,' she told the Telegraph.

Ms Ford, who advocates a rigid timed method of sleeping and feeding, became a household name after millions of copies of her books – including The Contented Little Baby Book - were sold in the 1990s and 2000s.

Although she didn't have children of her own, she used her 12 years of looking after 300 babies as a maternity nurse to develop her regime. She tells parents their baby will sleep through the night if they keep to a strict routine from birth with feeds and naps at precise intervals.

Ms Ford is developing an app, which will launch in August, and 'goes much further' than what is currently available, she says, 'giving people on-the-spot advice'.

Unlike other apps, hers will advise mothers and fathers via push notifications every one to two hours throughout the day.

'People say it's natural for babies to be up three times a night at six months and that's just not true. It's the mechanism of feeding and sleeping that people struggle to understand.'

Ms Ford explained: 'If the baby hasn't slept well at lunchtime, then the app will redirect them to the relevant information to get the day back on track.'

On her 'controlled crying' method, which critics dubbed 'cruel', she said: 'I've never advised parents to let their babies cry it out . . . there should not be a lot of crying.

'I've always said controlled crying is a last resort . . . and should only be done when you have looked at all other areas.'

She said it was 'frustrating' that her books had been misinterpreted and her advice was to ensure that the baby was fed properly first. 'One must always assume that the baby cries because of hunger,' she added.