Montessori Monday: Kale's Floor Bed

Normally I do a montessori-inspired activity for the Montessori Monday link-up, but I thought I would also start sharing some of the ways we have embraced montessori methods and philosophies into our home and daily life. 

We enjoyed a family bed from the night Kale was born until we decided to night wean around 15 months. While we followed Dr. Jay Gordon's method for night weaning, which is specifically for families that bedshare, we knew that night weaning in our family involved Kale and I moving to separate beds. We decided to move Kale {and Kris} to a floor bed for a couple reasons: 

• We were not finished co-sleeping. While I had to move out of the family bed to make night weaning a success, Kris was happy to stay with Kale and enjoy all the cuddles. This meant that a crib or a toddler bed was out of the question, so we put our spare double mattress into Kale's room. {If you're interested, here's a post about our night weaning journey}
• We liked the philosophy behind a floor bed - that kids can be independent and decide when to go to sleep and when to get out of bed. According to Montessori, humans have a natural tendency to explore the environment and learn from it. By allowing the child to experience his environment in this manner, he will be able to understand all of its components and will be comfortable and at ease when alone in his room (from mariamontessori.com)

The transition to the floor bed was pretty seamless. Kale was used to sleeping in a regular bed with Kris and I and we had always kept ours low to the ground. With Kris still there, the only thing to adjust to was not having me there all the time (I still bedshare with Kale when Kris is away and in the morning when he leaves early for work). 

Kale only fell out of the floor bed a small handful of times (and slept through most falls). The bed is close enough to the floor that it wasn't a big deal. 

In terms of getting out of bed on his own - well it just doesn't happen. When Kale wakes alone in his bed, he will call out for us and stay put until we get there (mostly because he's still half asleep). There have been a few times that I'll be in the shower when Kale wakes up and he's wandered in. We actually wish that he would get himself out of bed, but Kale pretty much always waits for us. 

Our entire house is childproofed, so we don't have to worry about him wandering into another room or playing in his room if he did decide to get himself out of bed. In Kale's room there are plenty of books he can reach if he did decide to help himself {here's a link to a tour of Kale's room}. Next to his room is his montessori-inspired playroom. He just needs to figure out that getting out of bed by himself and exploring is ok! I'm assuming that he's used to waking up with one of us in bed with him, so when he wakes up alone, he's confused and so he just stays put and calls for us. 

{This is Kale pretending to sleep.}

The floor bed has been great for sleep, but it's also made Kale's room more fun! We all pile on the bed at night to read stories and Kale can jump on and off as he pleases. He loves to run and throw himself on the bed and roll around. We don't have to worry about him falling off or banging his head on anything (besides the wall!). It's also pretty awesome for jumping off: 

Here are some great resources if you're thinking about using a floor bed in your house: 


Maria Montessori - "To Crib or Not to Crib"
Mama Milieu - "The Montessori Floor Bed"
Mon Petit Amour - "Montessori Floor Bed" 

And just for fun: 

Don't forget to check out the other amazing montessori monday posts! 

 

We'd love a vote :)