Montessori bed question

ForeverEverAfter

 Does anyone have a Montessori bedroom for their LO, and if so, does anyone use a floor bed?

The more I read, the more I want to, but we were given a nice crib from my MIL and I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. Right now she is 6 months old and only in the crib for naps and sleeping in a travel PnP next to our bed at night. When finished, her room will be completely babyproofed with a gate at the door. If I put the toddler rail on the crib (so she can get in and out herself) would that be better, or worse? And how young would you leave a baby on either a floor bed or crib with toddler rail? I don't mind room sharing as long as needed, but once her room is done I want her to get the most benefit from it. 

Emerald27

I would not leave a baby in a bed who was not yet able to safely get off the bed by herself.

I do have friends who have a Montessori style bed, with the mattress on the floor, and their baby slept on it in their room unitil he was 2, and then they transitioned his bed into his own room.

This has worked so so well for them, and we plan to do the same with DS when we are done bedsharing...at some point. ;D

ETA: Why not do the floor bed until she's walking and then set up the toddler bed with the crib? Thank your parents for the gift and tell them you can't wait to use it for her as a toddler.

BrittanyDoesDerby

We have a floor bed! It's currently in our room, as DD doesn't do so well in her own room by herself, but it's working wonderfully. I wouldn't do a toddler bed because it is significantly higher than a mattress on the floor.

 For a few weeks, she was in her own room on her bed and it was positioned on a foam mat. She rolled off a few times but didn't even notice because her mattress is only 2 inches off the floor at the most. We exclusively bed shared until four months, and then moved her to her floor bed. She sleeps most of the time in her own bed, but if she's having a rough night I bring her into ours. We haven't had any issues so far. When she shows a little more skill at crawling, I'm going to put up the baby gate in our doorway just so she doesn't escape and hurt herself. The original plan was to put the baby gate on her door, but we've adjusted to meet her needs.

ForeverEverAfter

Thanks for the input! I really like the concept of a floor bed

We can't do the floor bed in our room because of pets and lack of floor space. Once she outgrows the travel PnP (3" left in length) she will have to move to her room. 

 Would it be safe to have the crib in the same room with the floor bed? In crib configuration there's no way she can climb in or on. That way I don't have to move it yet and we would wait to switch the rail until she's older. Or take it apart and store it once we know the floor bed works for her.

pixieprincss

We've left the crib side-car up since DS1 was born, but we started having him nap in a floor bed in his own room at 9 months when were concerned about him rolling or crawling off our bed. If we had the space, we'd probably segue DS2 into a floor bed for naps, but we don't--so he still does all of his bed sleeping in our bed/the side-car. We have no intention of getting DS1 a higher bed until both boys are older and then we think we'll go with Ikea's low bunk bed.

StefandTodd

We used a futon mattress on the floor as his floor bed which he started sleeping on at around 14 months. Now he's on an actual twin mattress on the floor.  I think it's been great!

RioG1978

I just wanted to say thanks for posting this - I have never heard of a Montessori-style bedroom, but it is exactly the answer to what I have been looking for.  DD's bedroom drives me crazy... it just doesn't seem conducive to a good sleep for her, no matter how I try to "fix" it.  She still sleeps with us for the most part, but I am very excited to try this, with a floor bed, and setting it up like in some of the photos I have googled. 

Robi1

I'm Montessori trained and I have a Montessori room set up for my baby. We plan to have baby on the mattress from the start. We also have a little Moses basket for sleeping in other rooms/in our room if we want to for a while, but we're definitely planning for baby to sleep in his/her own bed most of the time. We got 3.5" Ikea mattress that is really low, but still very firm and comfortable. I'd definitely recommend it! 

ForeverEverAfter

RioG1978:

I just wanted to say thanks for posting this - I have never heard of a Montessori-style bedroom, but it is exactly the answer to what I have been looking for.  DD's bedroom drives me crazy... it just doesn't seem conducive to a good sleep for her, no matter how I try to "fix" it.  She still sleeps with us for the most part, but I am very excited to try this, with a floor bed, and setting it up like in some of the photos I have googled. 

That was me too. The nursery wasn't "right", and I came across the idea while blog surfing. I read Montessori from the Start, and it had good info about preparing the environment. I was already doing a lot of the recommended things anyway without realizing it. I removed the dresser, and put in a closet organizer (moved the storage boxes from the closet downstairs lol), and made the whole room baby level. I still have to buy a low shelf and mount a mirror. Im leaving the crib assembled for the time being. I'll just put the mattress on the movement area rug at night to start. Once she's walking I'll put the toddler rail on it.

Thank you pp for the link to JoyfulAbode!! That blog is awesome and inspiring! I've just ordered that camera Perfect timing, I was going to buy an audio monitor because I couldn't find a video one I could afford that would work with my phone. 

crabbypatty426

I'm just lurking here, but I wanted to tell you to check Ikea for that bunk bed. I don't know if it's everywhere, but mine is discontinuing it and it's being clearanced out now. I've been planning on that bed since my DS1 was born so I'm going to buy it and keep it in the box stored somewhere in case they don't replace it with something that good!