Montessori floor bed set up

[babydino]

Hi there. My DD has been co-sleeping since birth and is now 6 months old. She is an awful sleeper! :( We just got a naturepedic twin mattress for her room for naps for now, but wondering if I can get some tips on safety and setting it up? I believe it is higher off the floor than recommended for one, so is that ok? Can I put stuff around it in case she rolls off? Should I put something around the wall where the mattress meets it, in case she knocks her head on the wall? How do I keep the mattress snug against the wall so there is no space for entrapment? Any other tips on baby proofing her nursery? I want to hang some things low on the wall, but what can I hang it with that would be safe? There is a glider that locks, is that safe? I just feel at a total loss for babyproofing it but love the idea and really want it to work. Thanks!

[JudiAU]

I am under the impression that floor beds (Montessori, co-sleeping, natural, whatever) for infants are not usually twins because a young infant who can roll can either fall off the bed or be entrapped by pillows or whatever you've put around the bed to stop the falling. Falling off the bed is probably preferable to being entrapped but not something I'd want to risk. You might want to rethink this bed + age combo.

Usually I've seen Montessori twins with older toddlers, like 2, who appreciate the independce of being on the ground but aren't at risk for as much injury from falling and/or entrapment.

You might consider converting your larger adult bed into the napping surface for now, with pillows blocking the far edges. The baby would still have more room.

[Super Pickle]

I was just talking to my kids' pediatrician about this last week. We want to set up a Montessori nursery for our new LO and plan to do a floor bed.

Our pediatrician, who is very laid back and reasonable, siad he didn't see any problem with a mattress on the floor as opposed to a crib, as long as the room is thoroughly baby-proofed.  He said that the safest arrangement would be for the mattress to be away from all walls, to prevent the baby rolling off and becoming trapped. Putting pillows around is probably not very safe, since they are a suffocation hazard. Depending on how high the mattress will be, a little bump is probably safer than falling face down into a pillow. 

[babydino]

Thanks for the comments so far. Her room is definitely not big enough for anything more than a twin and we want her to become adjusted to sleeping in there so when we move her to own room it will be less of a battle, hopefully. I do not want her napping on our adult bed because I think the danger of her rolling off is much greater than a mattress on the floor. We have a friend's child that rolled off the adult bed despite the pillows blocking the edges, so I'm not comfortable taking that risk. Maybe she'll have to sleep on the floor for now?? Wondering how the twin mattress is so different from the crib mattress that so many people use? Her crib mattress (in our room) is almost as thick as the twin and obviously much smaller. Thanks again for the info thus far.

[Super Pickle]

I asked our ped. if he saw any safety hazards inherent in getting a twin as opposed to a crib mattress, and he said no. He said we might as well get a twin since we're going to need it anyway. And I was thinking that if it's a twin, I can lie down beside baby and nurse him to sleep, then slip away, whereas I couldn't fit onto a crib mattress with him.

I've had babies roll off my adult bed before, and it is scary. And the pillows are just a suffocation hazard, whether they are on the floor or on the bed.

[JudiAU]

I think few people use a montessori floor bed for an infant and even fewer do it with a crib matress. Most people do it when the child is a little older. And co-sleepers and family bed people tend to have the infant in the primary bed with them and then often an adult (dad) is usually on a twin added on to the primary bed.

How are they are different? Well, the crib matress is usually encased is a box of sorts to prevent the baby from rolling out of it. And although many people ignore the recommendations, crib bumpers are not advised.

In our case we had a king size bed with a crib shoved against it, a cosleeping bumper on the other end (under the sheet) and a few pillows. And we swaddle late so she was around 5-6m of being a little non-moving burrito. But once we had unswaddled her the bed wasn't safe anymore because she was very very active in her sleep. We had to use the crib for naps although she continued to co-sleep with me at night.

Our Ped who is very by-the-APA-book but never offers parenting advice didn't raise an eyebrow to anything we did. But she does advise strongly against bumpers...

[babydino]

We are planning to continue co-sleeping at night, but her mattress is for naps. I know 2 people who used crib mattresses for infant montesori beds and there was nothing there to keep the child from rolling off. Both infants rolled off numerous times.

[MJB]

We've been using a floor bed for naps since my 1 year old was very young. She has a thin IKEA crib mattress-- it's ~3" thick. She could not get hurt rolling off of it. Around 9 months she started sleeping there at night although she comes into our room around 1-2am. 

Honestly even with the thickest mattress, I don't think a baby could get hurt rolling or crawling onto the floor. If you are worried put a rug under the mattress to pad the fall. The whole point of a floor bed is that they can get in and out of it on their own from the start. 

[ollyoxenfree]

I know it's been posted before, but from Sew Liberated (a Montessori mom and former teacher), this Montessori bedroom with a floor bed is a favourite! A few years later, and here's a room for the now-toddler-aged and his baby brother. 

DS and DD both slept on a double-sized futon as toddlers. It was about 6 inches thick. IIRC (it's been a very long time!) they each rolled off a couple of times, but it never resulted in injury. Love the floor bed!  

[hildare]

we started a floor bed for naps a little bit later than you did for yours.  we use a twin mattress.  it's still very practical for us today with dd approaching 2. 

i think, just do all the things that are advised for a crib-- no pillows, careful with sheets and blankets, etc. 

you could get one or two of the bed rails.  i don't think they have to be used on a regular bed to work, it seems like they would tuck beneath the mattress.  also, if the mattress sliding around on the carpet was a problem, you could put beneath it some of the rubbery rug pads that keep rugs from moving. 

otherwise, you could, since it is a twin and easy to manipulate, slide it in the middle of the floor when putting baby there, and then nudge it up against the wall for the daytime use of having baby play in baby's room.  i don't think falling off a twin mattress would hurt a babe, but if you were worried, you could always use a flokati rug or something beside the bed to pad the floor a little.