Today, I would like to discuss two important aspects of a newborn in a family. This would be involvement (of the child as a family member) and concentration.

Both these play an important role in the Montessori pedagogy. From birth, we must make sure we involve the child into our family and give them their place as an individual member. Additionally, we must do all it takes to foster concentration and this helps the child later in developing to their full potential/capabilities.

Involvement of a Newborn in the family

Should we involve a Newborn into everything we do at home? Or should we let them be safe in their cot?

Dr. Montessori said, "The needs of a newborn child are not those of one who is sick but of one who is striving to adjust oneself physically and psychologically to new and strange surroundings."

Montessori recognizes a newborn as a full human being deserving all the love and respect that any other human should get. Simply put, they should be a part of the family like everyone else.

A few things we did to involve Siyana were:

· When we had our meals, we would make sure she near the dining table (if she was awake) to be able to watch what we were doing.

· We read to her a lot.

· She spent a lot of her awake time during the day on the mat close to where I was working.

· We did not confine her to the room where her cot was. She spent some time in every part of the house.

Concentration in Babies – Does that even happen?

Absolutely! Have you ever seen a baby lost in thought and we disrupt them? They are not dreaming, they are concentrating.

Concentration in children is an extremely important topic in Montessori.  In the words of Dr. Montessori, “The first essential for the child’s development is concentration. The child who concentrates is immensely happy.

Instead of disrupting them, we should try and facilitate them so they can concentrate even further. This basically would help in developing their concentration in the future. Some of the things we can do is:

1) Provide them with a calm environment that does not include noisy, flashy toys. Always remember that less is more!

2) Let your child concentrate for however long they need. This is very difficult, as we never have time. We are always in a rush because there is so much to do and such little time! But we must wait. If you are in the park and notice your baby looking at something, please let them be. Do not disturb them as they are focusing and concentrating on something, which is important for their development.

Dr. Montessori in this regard quoted, "Adults can hinder this inner toil when they rudely interrupt a child's reflection or try to distract him. They take the tiny hand of a child, or kiss him, or try to make him go to sleep without taking into account his peculiar psychic development."

3) Maintain eye contact when talking. Babies watch and listen when we speak to them. They watch they way our lips move, our expressions and so we should try to keep eye contact with them for as long as they are watching us. I loved doing this as it gave me a chance to look at my baby more and watch her movements. But keep in mind, not to disturb them, which includes not even kissing them no matter how bad you want to.

This is in continuation to last week’s write up because there is just so much to do and learn when a baby is born! Believe me, you are learning something new practically everyday and it is such an amazing experience.

Last week, we discussed the basic essentials needed for the baby in the house.

This week it is more related to what all we can do and should avoid to do.

Sleeping at Night

"The newborn simply does not have any experience of night and day and takes a certain time to enter this solar routine. The child must experience this difference for a certain amount of time before the problem is naturally corrected." - Dr. Montanaro.

From the beginning, I wanted to try my best to make sure Siyana did not keep me up all night. I had heard so many stories of how children kept their parents up all night and that was a big worry for me. I understood the fact that she needed to realize the difference between night and day. She adapted well to it and slept well at night (of course, waking up for feeds). Even now at 13 months, she sleeps through waking up twice generally to feed and back to sleep.

What I did from Day 1 is:

1)During the day, I exposed her to daylight. She went out for a stroll; the curtains were open so daylight/sunshine could come into the house. When she slept during the day, I did draw the curtains but made sure that some light did come in the room.

2)Similarly, at night, once I took her to sleep, the lights went off and stayed off. For the initial 2-3 months I had a dim light on through the night. Even to change her at night, I would use the bathroom light that came into the room.

3)Every night we wash up, change her into her nightclothes, play for sometime, a light massage, she feeds and falls asleep. This is our daily routine and she has totally adapted to it now.

The feeling of giving birth to a baby is an unmatched one. Siyana is my first child and she has brought so much joy in our lives!

We have tried our best to bring up our daughter on the Montessori principals. Belonging to a traditional Indian family, I was at my mother’s for the ‘40-day period’ and once I came back home, it took sometime till we settled in; hence we did not get a chance to start Siyana on Montessori from birth. We did however incorporate a few basics and kept adding more in during the course of time.

It’s been an amazing journey so far, each day giving more to learn and experience. My daughter is currently 13 months old and I am going to share things I have done with her for her development from the beginning. I will also additionally add some more suggestions on what can be done as each child is unique and not everyone has the same way of growth.

Today, I will mainly cover the basics of a Montessori Room for an Infant. Contrary to baby rooms, in a Montessori environment, you will not find flashy, noisy baby toys. Instead, you will find a soothing, peaceful, natural environment.

A list of things that are recommended to have for your baby’s development:

Floor Bed

A basic mattress on the floor. The idea of the floor bed is to encourage independence, allow the development of the child’s will, and support their need for movement. The floor bed allows the child the freedom to get in and out of bed on their own, thereby reducing dependence on adults.  

The right time to start a baby on the floor bed, is generally when they are a few weeks old. We, however, were not ready and used a crib for Siyana for a long time before we started her off on the floor bed. I will have to admit though that I did delay this and should have done it much earlier. The crib is not something supported by Montessori as it restraints the child’s movements and they are stuck there till we do not get them out. This works well for us but is not the best thing for our baby’s development. 

Montessori Infant Mobile

One of the first recommended mobile’s for babies is the Munari Mobile which can be introduced to your baby when he is about two weeks old.

The Munari is a black and white mobile made from 2 dimensional geometrical shapes.  The newborn is unable to see colour so the Munari is black and white in order to give the child the greatest contrast in shades.  It encourages focus and uninterrupted viewing time builds concentration

One of the special key factors about the Montessori mobiles is that we offer them to the child when he or she is awake and alert.  The purpose is to help the child learn to focus, track, and develop his or her visual senseso he or she needs to be actively engaged and not in the process of falling asleep.

Black and White Images

As mentioned earlier, when babies are born, they are unable to see colour. Hence, in a Montessori baby environment, you would often find simple high contrast black and white. These images provide some visual stimulation for the newborn and provide and opportunity to concentrate and focus.

Wall Mirror

A mirror placed low on the ground; underneath the mirror a soft blanket/mat for the baby to lie on. This is generally a place where the baby spends most of their awake time. You can add the Black and White images here and also the mobile (you can rotate them too).

The wall mirror gives the baby an opportunity to observe themselves, their movements and learn how to control them. It also helps to provide a full view of the environment (room).

These are some of the basic essentials of a Montessori Infant Room. What we try to achieve from the room is:

·Provide the child with a sense of order;

·Give the child an environment to facilitate their movement;

·Things to provide support for the child’s development;

·A separate sleep and play area;

·Provide a room that the child enjoys being in.

I personally did not manage to do most of these from the time Siyana was born and do hope I can with my next baby. This area does not always remain this way. As your baby will grow, you can keep adding in things in the room that will assist with their growth and development.

** Images used are from the internet and only for representative purposes.**