For those of us who are new to this, Mumsnet is a big surprise. Mumsnet is just one of many parenting sites, set up by enterprising types who know that women in the home have never been more isolated, or bombarded by expert advice. The simple subject of childhood nutrition is now a minefield that can only be negotiated by the enigmatic and heroic few. Anyone who has innocently tried to feed a child a fish finger . . . let alone a sausage . . . will be able to talk to you about the meaning of real violence.

So, Mumsnet makes sense. It was established by two journalists as a virtual garden fence, over which a persecuted and beleaguered minority gets to share. It says it gets 10,000 hits a day. But Mumsnet may now be silenced by the mummy of them all. Gina Ford is a baby expert whose seminal book on the subject, The Contented Little Baby, and its spinoffs have made her a fortune. In the baby world, Gina Ford is the Big Banana, or whatever it is that children are allowed to eat these days.

It seems that Gina Ford came in for some criticism on Mumsnet. This is hardly surprising as, like many experts who have made a lot of money from our doubts, Ford seems absolutely convinced that she is right.

She has introduced the 21st-century baby to the concept of routine. After years of experts who insisted that breastfeeding on demand was the only way that babies would not grow up to be granny-bashers, the tide has apparently turned. Gina Ford is the one who is credited with having turned it. She is the child-care Canute. Several generations of granny-bashers later, it was time for something new in the nursery.

Or something old, depending how long your cultural memory happens to be.

Naturally, Gina Ford's firm views have sparked debate among mothers.

Telling mothers how to rear babies is a bit like telling battle-weary soldiers how to wage a war. While they might, theoretically, welcome being told about a foolproof system in the lecture hall, on the battlefield the consequences of failure are catastrophic.

No wonder, then, that wherever mothers are gathered together, there is the subject of Gina Ford in their midst.

The only person who does not agree with that rather mild statement is, er, Gina Ford. Her huge influence and success has not inured her to criticism. Au contraire. Ford's lawyers are trying to have Mumsnet closed down because she does not take kindly to the criticism of her voiced there.

They have written to the host company demanding that the website be disabled immediately. Talk about throwing your toys out of the pram.

"I'm surprised by people's vitriolic and personal attacks, " says Gina Ford.

Which just goes to show you that, however much she may know about babies, she has learned absolutely nothing about mothers.

Nevertheless, her presence in the baby world is so huge that Mumsnet said, in an online statement, that banning all mention of Gina Ford from the site "is a bit like barring discussion of Manchester United from a football phone-in". In other words, tears before, during and after bedtime.

But Mumsnet has complied. It has history with Gina Ford. Although this row has been going on for months, Ford was once a contributor to the site. Now she just won't play with them any more. They are not allowed to speak about her and, presumably, legal negotiations continue.

And, in case you are wondering where I found the courage to write about the fraught subject of childrearing when I do not have any children myself, it should be made abundantly clear that Gina Ford does not have any children either. So now.