Tuesday 14 October 2014

Our Floor Bed: Pre-rolling

I'm finding that before Reuben can sit up there aren't many "activities" that I can do with him. Of course we play and interact but as far as the wonderful world of pinterest montessori activities goes it doesn't seem to kick in until we're working on fine motor skills etc.

So before he turns 6 months (in 2 weeks... eek!) and starts sitting independently it's about organising his spaces.

First up, the floor bed.


Yep, people look at me strange. Yep, they usually say "like, a regular single bed, on the floor? Oh.".

But with the support of my gorgeous hubby we decided, if we're going to do Montessori, this seems like a pretty essential part.

The theory behind the floor bed is recognition of the space around them, independence when they are able to move around and responsibility and trust for sleeping/quiet time.

Confession: the floor bed is easy when bub isn't moving around. Lately, Reubs has been shuffling around the bed so, inevitably, the day will come when he falls off. How will I deal with this? By hoping like hell he's a quick learner and only does it once or twice.

The pros so far has been that it's easy to pick him up, put him down, read a book to him while sitting next to him, comfort him by lying close to him when he's unsettled.

The cons so far is fear of falling (yet to happen, but will soon).

The challenge of the floor bed for us was that we didn't want it directly on the floor for air circulation issues to solve this we bought a trundle which makes it a few more inches for him to fall and an edge of which we've added some foam to soften the blow.

I'm excited about how Reubs will interact with his room once he's mobile.

For more info check out these posts:
http://laurenhartmann.com/2013/11/our-montessori-floor-bed-experience.html
http://www.voilamontessori.com/en/guest-post-the-floor-bed/

2 comments:

  1. Hi, how did it all go post roll? My baby is just starting to roll and we are freaking out about it!

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  2. It's been a really good thing for my boy. Yes, he used his face as a fifth limb, yes he fell out frequently but we softened the area with pillows and blankets and now he's an expert at getting in and out. You can peek in sometimes and see him reading and then a little later peek in and he's asleep on the bed and he's on 13months old. We did get rid of all the furniture though and put in baskets for toys etc. as we were worried about safety. Good luck, persist if you can handle it, we frequently cuddle and read a book before bed, much nicer than looking through bars!

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