Look at our baby burrito!
She was about 6 weeks here
I swear, every time I look at Zoe she’s gotten bigger. It makes me think of the little girl she’s going to be soon, and how our parenting will go from changing, feeding, and helping her sleep on repeat, to ACTUAL child raising! Lol
So, I started looking into Montessori.
What intrigued me is how it really just goes back to the basics and fosters a child’s capabilities at every single stage of their development.
I’m one of those people that does their research on little things because I always want to be prepared (ex. I look at restaurant menus online before I get there), so of course before Zoe was born, there was a lot of studying going on.
You always hear how parents don’t get sleep with a newborn, but I wanted to see if there was a way to maximize our sleep while still meeting her needs and one of the tips was to always swaddle.
Since babies are born with the Moro reflex
...a response to a sudden loss of support and involves three distinct components: spreading out the arms pulling the arms in crying It is distinct from the startle reflex. Wikipedia
swaddling can help from them jolting themselves awake in the middle of the night because of this reflex, thus, getting more sleep.
I was SUPER on board with this, especially when Zoe was born and we witnessed her reactions to this reflex when she was awake (Moro reflex followed by hyperventilated crying). So we swaddled her for the first 2.5 months and all was good (Thanks Shanna, for the zip up ones!).
As I looked into Montessori and ways to implement it now even though Zoe is still so young, I found out that they’re not for the swaddle.
According to The Kavanaugh Report
Freedom of Movement is a key tenant to Montessori philosophy. Allowing young children to explore their body and their environment is so key to their development. A swaddle effectively eliminates the chance for a newborn to adjust to their larger environment and to work out the startle reflex.
I wasn’t so sure about this because I HATED seeing Zoe cry when the reflex kicked in. She was one of the babies that cried after, not one of the babies that reflex then go about their day.
BUT, she had started pulling her hands up to her face in the swaddle and breaking out, so I figure it was a good time to try.
First night, and no trouble! It was nice to not have to swaddle her, plus she is so cute with her arms up.
She slept well, and she’s been out of the swaddle ever since. When she’s awake during the day, her reflex isn’t severe like it was before. When there’s a sudden loud sound, she throws up her arms, then is over it, no crying. Even when she’s napping, she startles, then goes back to sleep!
This has been great for EC too as I don’t have a swaddle AND clothes to take off to let her pee in the middle of the night. For example, just last night, I heard her rustling around 2 am, I put her on the potty and she peed and went back to sleep in the same clean diaper. Around 6 am, she had to pee again, so I pottied her. Didn’t have to change a dirty diaper in the middle of the night! and sometimes, it’s all she needs to go back to sleep, not even having to nurse!
NEXT MONTESSORI CONCEPT TO TRY:
The floor bed
the Montessori Method urges teachers and caregivers to encourage independence by putting everything that a child needs at the child’s level. Children should be able to get to their clothes, their toys, their snacks, etc. without help from an adult. ... This principle applies to a child’s own bedroom as well — since it’s their room, everything should be within the child’s reach, and on the child’s level. This includes all furniture, clothing, books, toys, and artwork. ... The idea behind a Montessori floor bed is in line with the general principles of the Montessori Method: a child should have freedom of movement, and should be able to move independently around his (carefully childproofed!) room. For this reason, a floor bed is preferable to a crib, since a crib restricts movement and limits independence.
- The Baby Sleep Site
You can read more about floor beds here.
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