One of the most iconic and well known parts of using Montessori at home has to be the floor bed. Maria Montessori was very clear that small babies and children should not be sleeping in a crib, but on a low small bed on the floor. This gives babies and toddlers much more freedom of movement than is typically seen. In our family, all of my kids have been in a floor bed by 2 years old. However, Augustus was our first baby to be in a floor bed from birth. We are following the same path for Theodore.
This post contains affiliate links at no cost to you.
Just a reminder, I am sharing what works for my family. Sleep is a sensitive topic and you should do what feels safe and right for your family.
Using a Montessori Floor Bed with a Newborn
Teddy is relaxing in his Sprout Kids Floor Bed
This week, Teddy will start to take daytime naps in his floor bed. Up until this point, he has kind of been sleeping everywhere. We have a moveable bassinet that he often would sleep in on the couch or outside. I also hold him sometimes for naps, or he falls asleep while baby wearing. But, at 7 weeks, we are getting to the point where everyday noises are starting to wake him from his sleep. And, he's falling asleep less randomly.
With those two signs, I'm making the decision that he will start to transition to his floor bed for napping. We did the same with Gus, once he was past that super sleepy newborn phase the floor bed became his official sleep spot. The same will be true with Teddy. But, this will be a flexible process.
If you are thinking about transitioning your baby to a floor bed here are a few things to consider:
- Prepare your environment: make it a nice calm, safe sleep space.
- Be flexible: if your baby still wants/needs a nap in a carrier or your arms or the couch that's alright (if its working for both of you)
- It doesn't have to be all or nothing: if you aren't ready for nighttime floor bed, that works. There is nothing wrong with taking it slowly.
As we make this transition, we will move our sleeping routines to his sleep space and put him in the floor bed with confidence. But, I wont sweat it if he falls asleep somewhere else. But, with Gus I found the transition to be pretty smooth when we started at around this age. At this point, they are still pretty flexible when it comes to sleeping location (at least my babies have been).
We also made some changes to Gus' old room to make it more newborn friendly. That included flipping our floor bed back to the low setting, adding a cozy rug, and simplifying the play materials.
Over the next few months, when we are seeing signs of readiness, we will move Teddy to the floor bed at night. Things we will consider before making that transition include:
- amount he is nursing at night (we will continue to nurse on demand)
- whether our adult sleep is interfering with his
- if he is well adjusted to sleeping in his floor bed during the day
- my own readiness to have him in another room
This post is week 7 in my Montessori baby series focusing on Teddy.
---
---
