Hey y’all,
Most Americans opt to put their babies to sleep in a crib or something similar (with sides). But we’re doing things differently. We’re starting our son out in a floor bed right from the start.
A floor bed is more practical for his father and I, but more importantly, it will help his independence once he begins crawling. This is part of the Montessori philosophy. If he decides to get out of bed to play, that’s his perogative. It’ll teach him to self-soothe and to entertain himself. It will also give him the responsibility of staying in his room and taking himself to bed when he’s tired (if he gets out of bed in the first place).
I’ve bought a baby gate for his room so he can’t actually leave it. That could be very bad. A gate will also keep the dog out of the baby’s room, so that’s also a plus.
I’m very excited about this. My entire parenting philosophy is treat my son like a tiny adult. Yes, he’s learning about the world and won’t be perfect at things, but if I’m teaching him anything, I’m going to go ahead and teach him how to be a big boy. After all, that is the goal. And I don’t want to teach him to sleep in a crib just to turn around and have to teach him to sleep in a bed. This is the same reason we’re doing Elimination Communication. We started talking him to the bathroom at three weeks, and he’s 75% ‘potty trained’ already at two months. Although, it’s more of him just knowing that the bathroom is where you potty. He won’t use his diaper unless absolutely necessary. He won’t even use his baby potty. He wants to go in the bathroom. I’m not going to teach him to go in a diaper and then fight him to use the toilet when he’s in the ‘terrible twos.’
If there’s anything else I should look into as my son gets older, please let me know.
Metta
Frugal Treehugger 