One day I would love to be one of those pregnant woman who just loves pregnancy. They just float around glowing, and feeling great. Instead, I'm one of those people that spends half of my pregnancy on the floor of the bathroom. When you already have children, it's really hard to be that sick for that length of time. Morning sickness can really put a damper on your ability to show up as a prepared adult in your Montessori home.
This time* there have been a few products that really helped me get through weeks and weeks of morning sickness with my kids in our Montessori home. These are things that appealed to multiple age groups, resulted in a ton of use, and were minimal effort from me!
3 Montessori Friendly Materials When You Have Morning Sickness
If you are experiencing morning sickness, or even just the exhaustion that comes with pregnancy, here are three must haves from our Montessori home.
A Wooden Chowki
This has been the biggest surprise for me of anything I've listed. This chowki became my constant companion during these weeks. I could lay on the couch and children could bring their work to the chowki to work near me. Sometimes it was my bigger kids that wanted to play a game or show me something. But, often it was my toddler that just needed to work closely to me. I could still mostly lay down, she could sit on the couch doing her regular activities at the chowki; it was exactly the solution I needed.
Penelope uses a buddha board on the chowkie.
Open Ended Pretty Blocks
Gus builds a castle with blocks from Hello Sugar House.
When I have morning sickness I need activities and materials that I don't need a lot of involvement in. I don't want things that are super messy, need adult intervention/correction, and can be used by lots of kids at once. Blocks fit every single one of these criteria. There's no right or wrong way to use blocks. They can be used a million different ways by lots of different children. And, they aren't going to leave sticky slime-like messes for me to supervise cleanup for.
I particularly love the blocks from Hello Sugar House because they are so beautiful. My kids are instantly attracted to the acrylic pieces and just spent hours and hours building with these. Again, it helped that I could just lay on the couch and watch nearby!
I particularly love the blocks from Hello Sugar House because they are so beautiful. My kids are instantly attracted to the acrylic pieces and just spent hours and hours building with these. Again, it helped that I could just lay on the couch and watch nearby!
Ted builds a village with blocks.
Playing House
When my toddler needed me to play with her during this time, I always suggested that we play house and that she be the mom. I was always the kid or the baby. And we would always play in her room or in the living room. I would lay in her floor bed or on the couch. She could bring me things from her Waldorf playstand house or tuck me in for a nap. It was quality interaction time that really still allowed me to rest.
Penelope plays with her Sarah's Silks playstands.
Morning sickness is such a tricky part of dealing with pregnancy when you already have children. For those of us with more severe sickness, it truly is miserable. I hope these few Montessori friendly ideas are helpful in helping you manage this time. With the help of a prepared environment, Montessori parenting ideas, you can make it through this!
*Unfortunately this pregnancy ended in a miscarriage late into the first trimester and we will not be welcoming a new baby this year.
