Baby guru row threatens British mums' Web site

LONDON, Mar 6 (Reuters) When it comes to bringing up babies -- bathing, breastfeeding, or burping them -- few names inspire more passion than that of childcare guru Gina Ford.

The world-famous author of several of Britain's best-selling baby-care manuals, she is referred to by some as the queen of routine and by others as the devil.

But Gina Ford has had enough of the latter, and has asked her lawyers to help her put a stop to what she describes as ''relentless personal attacks on her'' on one of Britain's most successful parenting websites, Mumsnet.

The row has escalated over several months, covering pages of national newspapers and prompting thousands of messages to parenting websites. Now it may be heading to court.

Ford's ''The Contented Little Baby Book'' was first published in 1999, has sold more than a million copies around the world and been translated into four languages.

Her best-known publication, it is worshipped and reviled by new mothers in equal measure: some swear by her methods of getting babies to feed, burp and sleep to a strict minute-by-minute timetable. Others swear at them.

One Mumsnet posting, highlighted by Ford's lawyers as typical of the sort of attack regularly posted on the increasingly popular site, 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.

FORD TABOO For Mumsnet, which was started up in 2000 by two new mothers in London and boasts almost ten million hits a year from mums across the world, it's all getting a bit out of hand.

The site, which provides an online parenting community offering advice and information, has been forced to ban all talk of Ford on message boards visited by its 75,000 members.

Its directors live in fear of losing their homes and livelihoods if Ford takes them to court.

''We have taken the decision that the safest form of action for us is to ban all mention,'' Mumsnet founder Justine Roberts told Reuters by telephone.

''So we are in a slightly surreal position where, to be fair, we also have to take off very balanced, reasonable and positive comments about Gina Ford as well as ones which might be construed as upsetting to her.'' Ford's methods are undoubtedly prescriptive. The routine she suggests for a seven-day old newborn is detailed to the minute.

''Baby should be awake, nappy changed and feeding no later than seven a.m.,'' her book says. ''He needs 25-35 minutes on the full breast, then 10-15 minutes on the second breast ... Do not feed after 0800 hrs as it will put baby off his next feed ... You should have cereal, toast and a drink no later than 0800 hrs.'' According to an interview she gave to a Sunday newspaper last week, Ford counts the actress Kate Winslet and former model Heather Mills among her fans.

FREEDOM OF SPEECH The problem for Mumsnet is that debate on one of the hottest topics among British mothers is being stifled by fear of litigation.

Roberts likens it to ''barring discussion of Manchester United on a footie website''.

''There is another big issue here -- the issue of freedom of speech on the Internet. It is a very grey area, and definitely needs sorting out,'' she says.

In the United States, Web sites like Mumsnet -- so called intermediary sites -- are protected by legal immunity from liability for third party content.

In Britain, libel laws have yet to catch up despite calls from intermediaries for Web sites to be allowed to host free debate without fear of the law.

Mumsnet is not keen to be a test case. Roberts says they simply can't afford it, and are happy to apologise anyway.

The two sides are due to meet for mediation in the next few weeks, and Roberts is hoping to avoid a courtroom showdown.

''We don't really want all the animosity that goes with a High Court case,'' she says. ''If things that have been written on Mumsnet have been upsetting -- which they undoubtedly have -- then we are very happy to say sorry about it.'' ''Where we draw the line, though, is paying money. We are not in a position to and we don't think it's fair to ask us to.'' Ford, who has her own Web site where members pay a subscription and can email her questions about childcare, did not wish to comment further to Reuters, but in a recent interview rejected suggestions she is trying to close Mumsnet down and said says she simply wants to stop personal attacks.

''I know that (childcare experts) Penelope Leach and Miriam Stoppard say I damage babies. But three of my books corner 25 per cent of the childcare market. Why is that happening if I am damaging babies?'' she told the Mail on Sunday.

''Yes, I'm controversial. Yes, a lot of people call me the devil.

It doesn't actually upset me -- I just get fed up with it.'' Reuters BDP DB0934