Floor Bed Question

[jyllebean]

Hi All- I'm new to mothering.com and this is my first post! I am very interested in the Montessori method and I am trying to implement it in our home somewhat. My dd is 6 mos and we have been living in NYC in a very small apartment! We are moving next month and dd will finally have her own room! We are trying to decide if we will buy a crib, but I am considering using a floor bed. (We are currently using a pack n play and and also co-sleeping part of the night). My one big question-- once dd starts crawling, how do you keep them from crawling out of bed and playing with their toys when they really should be sleeping? Like if they won't go to sleep at night or wake up too early? Do you keep their toys somewhere else, or do they just not do this? What have your experiences been for those of you that have done floor beds?

Thanks so much for your help! I'm excited to learn from all of you.

Jill

[kaydee]

We use a gate at the door. Some probably wouldn't be comfortable with that, but it works for us. Our son's room is a safe place, and has lots of toys in it. If he wakes up before us, he usually just amuses himself in there. And this way, we don't worry about him getting out in the middle of the night and us sleeping through it (we are heavy sleepers). We did this, however, when our son was older than your dc. He was about 1 year, and slept on a small futon on the floor.

[vagabonder]

I'm still learning about Montessori, but I was under the impression that the idea behind the floor bed was that they had the freedom to get out of the bed and play with toys when they were done sleeping? I don't have personal experience myself, but it seems if the room is child-safe then this gives them the independence to decide when to sleep versus when to play. I'd be really curious to hear from others, though, since I am planning on doing a floorbed also.

[medici]

Hi everyone! I placed my son's crib mattress on the floor a few weeks ago and he seems to be pretty happy with it. He just turned 6 months and doesn't crawl yet. He's rolled out of bed a couple of times, but I have a rug on the floor on the side that's free. I have also had to change what he wears to bed so he can be free to move around if he gets onto the floor (his footie pajamas are too big).
The one thing I wish is that I did not buy a crib because now I want a bigger mattress. Ideally, the mattress should be a full-sized one. I would suggest that you get your daughter a full-sized futon or mattress now and avoid the crib altogether. I think that if you start now, before she starts crawling, it'll give her the opportunity to explore her room visually. Once she can crawl, at least what I am hoping with my son, is that it will be dark when it's bedtime so he will sleep and then have the opportunity to play when the sun comes up and he can see. I don't have a gate yet, but I just keep the door closed. As always, I will remain flexible to change the room around to his needs. Montessori From the Start by Paula Polk Lillard and Lynn Lillard Jessen is a great book that explains the floor bed and room setup from birth to 3 years. I just wish I had discovered it before my son was born! Now I'm trying to sell my crib, changing table and co-sleeper!!
Good Luck!

[Maluhia]

Maya has been in the floor bed since she wanted out of ours around one year old. We sleep together with her there early in the night then move out of her way once she starts sleep kicking.

My daughter rarely wants to play in there right when she wakes up - instead she gets up and comes the short distance between our open doors. We've had to babyproof the entire floor in case she goes somewhere else but at almost three years old it has not happened yet.

There are times when she gets up from nap and plays on her own in her room but it's VERY rare. She loves it and so do we.

[wrzos]

My ds is in a big bed now, but when he was small we did the floor bed thing, and gated his room. Really the gate was more to keep him off the stairs, b/c once he was proficient at them, we taught him to join us in our room if he wanted to get up in the middle of the night. Occasionally he would go directly downstairs to play, so we did put a high slide bar on the outside doors to prevent him from getting out of the house without us being aware of it. Other than that, he had complete freedom throughout the house.

[dancebaraka]

Yes, I believe the idea is that the child can awake freely and work in her room if she no longer needs sleep. Placing her selection of materials on low to floor shelving, etc. helps her have complete access to everything she sees.

[willowtree]

i also agree that the idea is that the floor bed gives the child the freedom to sleep and play when he wants to.
my son has slept on a floor bed ever since he was born.
we share a room.

i remember having the same concerns as you,
but in time you will realize that having a floor bed is pretty much like having a crib,
the only difference is,
with a crib, if the baby wants out, he has to cry,
with a floor bed, if the baby wants out, he simply gets up and entertains himself happily.

[Boernemama]

A great website to review is www.montessorifamilies.com It is all about how to implement montessori principles in the home....esp. for infants.

[nkm1968]

For us, a full sized futon mattress worked best (we are co sleepers), with no lighting at night; only rarely after dd2 was about 15 pounds did she wake to explore or play, she would really sleep like 12 to 13 hours at night. One exception for us was when she was learning to walk and would wake up 2 or more times a night to "practice" (but would fall asleep wherever in her room) so we used a baby gate as only her room was truly safe for totally dark nighttime stumbling.

[nascarbebe]

I have a 2 yr old. We have a crib in our bedroom. DS naps there. At night he cosleeps for a little bit but mostly sleep in a "bed," which is just a pile of folded blankets in the space between the crib and our bed. I get up before him so in the morning when he gets up he can come find me or go play if I'm showering. We keep a few of his books in our bedroom but I try to keep it free of distractions. Sometimes he brings in toys at night before bed and I just let him. He sometimes plays with them in the dark until he falls asleep. I'm scared to move him to his room because of all the distractions but I think what we're doing is a good way to transition into his own room.