How to Design a Montessori Room for Your Baby

All three of our kids have attended Montessori or Montessori-based preschools and we love the minimalistic and practical approach to toys (or works), furniture, and daily rhythms. When we were planning to transition our one-year-old into a room that was more for him than an afterthought/sometimes guest room, I knew I wanted to bring in some of the Montessori designs I had come to love. I fell in love with the simple Montessori furniture from Sprout and partnered with them on this post. You can use the code birthhour for 10% off at Sprout.

montessori room for baby

6 Things to Consider when Designing a Montessori Bedroom for Baby

There are a few key elements when designing a Montessori room for your baby or toddler.

Montessori Floor Bed for Baby

While you can definitely just put a mattress on the floor, we decided to go with a beautiful, yet simple, natural wood bed frame that can grow with our baby. This bed from Sprout keeps him from rolling over the back side and then as he gets older you can flip it over and have it a little higher off the ground. We have a few furniture items from Sprout and my favorite thing about their products is how easy everything is to put together. I can put it together by myself without any tools and very quickly! Floor beds are a staple in Montessori because they encourage independence, allowing baby to get in and out of bed as needed.

montessori floor bed for baby

Organic Mattress for Baby

Another important aspect of the bed, for us, was having a non-toxic mattress. Conventional mattresses are filled with all kind of nasty ingredients that no one should be spending half of their day laying on! We decided on a twin mattress from My Green Mattress that is GOTS Certified organic and comes in a bunk size that is the perfect thickness for our floor bed! We also got their Organic Cotton Waterproof Protector because, well, accidents happen, but at the same time I didn’t want to cover our organic mattress with a mattress protector that wasn’t toxin-free as well.

non-toxic mattress for baby

I personally love having a comfortable mattress to lay down on when I’m in our little one’s room too! We still nurse before naps and bedtime and it’s so nice to cozy up together on a mattress that’s big enough for me too!

Play and Movement Space for Baby

We have a simple infant shelf, also from Sprout, in our baby’s room that is great for pulling up on and choosing his own toys to play with. We rotate out toys periodically to keep it interesting and prevent the shelf from being overwhelming with too many items. We always have blocks, some sort of puzzle toy, a stacking toy, books, and musical instruments (current favorite is a very loud drum!)

montikids for baby

Finding high quality toys that will last a lifetime is important to us and we find that all three of our kids have enjoyed these items more than the flashing/noise-making toys that flood many store shelves. We are currently loving the quarterly subscription box of Montessori materials selected by age from Monti Kids. You can use the code BIRTHHOUR40 to save $40 + free shipping on your first Monti Kids order! Monti Kids provides Montessori subscription boxes and access to child development experts for children ages 0-3. Monti Kids subscription boxes come with toys and guidance in an easy to use program to give your baby the best education from birth.

montessori toys for baby

Mirror

Mirrors are a frequent component of Montessori spaces and a great addition to a bedroom. We have ours behind the play area so our baby can make silly faces and watch himself play. For a younger baby, many parents will put the mirror next to the bed or changing area so baby can see themself while laying down on the floor. An easy tip for getting a mirror (and what we did), is to use one of the giant mirrors that many home builders install in bathrooms. You can remove it and hang a mirror in the bathroom with a bit more character! Or check online for people giving away these old bathroom mirrors.

montessori mirror for baby

Dressing and Self Care Area

Allowing your child to choose their own clothes and dress themselves from an early age is one of my favorite Montessori ideas. Not only does it make life easier when you are avoiding battles over clothing but I love to watch the creative outfits that come together! Obviously with a one year old, their ability to dress themselves is limited but even at 14 months, our baby knows that hats go on his head, socks go on his feet, and pants go on his legs. He will pull clothing out of his child-size wardrobe and place them where he thinks they belong on his body and then we can help him actually get dressed.

montessori wardrobe baby

I love our Alba wardrobe from Sprout because it is customizable— we can add and remove shelves and doors based on the stage our little one is at. Right now we use all of the shelves and left the door off of the hanging clothes side so that our baby can see his jackets and sweaters and grab one when we ask him if he’s ready to go outside!

montessori dressing area for baby

Simple Decor

Babies and Toddlers don’t benefit from a character-themed bedroom (it’s more for the adults, right?) and Montessori rooms tend to include neutral colors and natural materials without a lot of excess clutter. If you do add wall decor, make it something that’s safe to hang at their eye level so they can enjoy it—it’s their room after all! We actually have a couple of canvases that our older kids made for the baby’s room before he was born that I still need to lower to his level since I doubt he even knows they are there currently! One of our baby’s favorite things in his room is the sheepskin rug. It’s so soft and he will often crawl over to it just to roll around for a bit!

Conclusion

Creating a Montessori based room for your baby doesn’t have to be perfect! Have fun with the design elements but focus on keeping it simple! Less is more and it won’t always be a picture-perfect space (see below!) but the goal is for baby’s room to be a place that he (and you!) want to spend time and explore together!

montessori self care for baby

Sources:

  • Floor bed, wardrobe, and infant shelf – c/o Sprout code “thebirthhour”
  • Montessori Materials/Toys – c/o MontiKids code “BIRTHHOUR40”
  • Twin Bunk Mattress – c/o My Green Mattress
  • Wooden Bins – Target
  • Olive Wood Bowls – Trader Joes (seasonal)
  • Child Size hangers
  • Sheepskin Rug – Costco

Year in the Life Documentary Photography with Heather Gallagher

This past year I had the amazing privilege of getting to work with Heather Gallagher to document our family from the end of my pregnancy through baby’s first birthday. I love that Heather offers this “year in the life” photography package because it focuses more on how the whole family changes and grows over a year rather than the more typical baby milestone photo packages I’d seen before. We have two older children and this year was HUGE for them in terms of changes and I’m so grateful to have these priceless images to remember our whole family unit over the course of the year that we welcomed baby number three into the fold.

I highly recommend Heather Gallagher not only for this year-in-the-life package but for any of your photography needs (especially birth photography!). She is based in Vermont but also travels for photo sessions from time to time!

Heather is also a full spectrum doula which you can learn more about by reaching out to her at hello@heathergallagher.co or following her on Instagram @heather.gallagher

Maternity Photos

Our first photo session was a maternity photo shoot at the Austin Public Library which is one of our favorite places to explore together. The kids quickly became comfortable with Heather and were up to their typical silly antics.

Birth Photography

The next time we saw Heather was for the birth! She arrived just 40 minutes or so before baby was born and probably would’ve missed it if she hadn’t had the foresight to be hanging around the area ‘just in case’ which I’m forever grateful for! Birth photos are the most beautiful images in the world and I look back at mine often. It can be hard to remember the details when you’re in “laborland” and having all of the little moments captured is not only really special but has also helped me in the processing of my birth story.

Postpartum Photo Session

Heather came back a few days later for a Postpartum shoot which really captures our big kids and how they were changing as they stepped into their new roles.

One Year Old Birthday Photo Session

We finished our year together with Heather capturing baby’s 1st Birthday party! Of course I love all of the images but more than that, it was so nice to not have to worry about where my phone was so I could be taking pictures as well and I am in way more of the photos than I would’ve been as well. I think it helped keep everyone else off of their phones as well especially when it came time for the smash cake—I noticed that everyone didn’t do the typical thing of all trying to film this moment because they knew Heather had it covered.

It’s so surreal to have more than a year captured of our family and putting together this blog post was so much fun as I went back through all of the images. It was definitely hard to pick my favorites and I’m sure my favorites will change over time! I hope you enjoyed this glimpse into a year in the life of our little family! If you are in the Austin area, I highly recommend Heather Gallagher not only for this year-in-the-life package but for any of your photography needs (especially birth photography!). Heather is also a full spectrum doula which you can learn more about by reaching out to her at hello@heathergallagher.co or following her on Instagram @heather.gallagher. Thank you Heather!!!

Perifit Pelvic Floor Exerciser Review

I love that we are discussing pelvic floor health more and more especially with moms postpartum. In many countries it is standard practice to visit a pelvic floor therapist after having a baby and while that isn’t the case here in the United States, there are more and more therapists available. I’m always happy to get the message out that if you are experiencing symptoms related to your pelvic floor after having a baby, you do not need to just ‘deal with it’.

I recommend looking for a pelvic floor therapist and doing some of your own at-home therapy as well. I’m always recommending the MUTU system for an at home program and I myself have really loved it. Recently, I also had the opportunity to try the Perifit Pelvic Floor Trainer as the company sent me one to review.

From my own personal perspective, it’s also just fun to use since it is game-oriented! You insert the device into your vagina and then it connects with an app that you play games with your pelvic muscles to move your “player”. It’s kind of hard to explain but go here to watch how it works. I’m not even someone who typically likes video games but this was surprisingly really satisfying to advance to the next level on—maybe because I know that I’m actually doing something good for my body in the process.

perifit

Kegels aren’t all that great for you

Many of us have always heard to do kegels… the way I learned was to practice the feeling of stopping the stream of urine but it turns out that that isn’t all that good for strengthening your pelvic floor, plus it’s boring! So, the difference with the Perifit is that you also work on the action of relaxing your pelvic floor muscles and contracting them. Plus, the device can tell you the difference between the use of your deeper muscles versus the superficial ones.

My favorite part is that you get real-time feedback so you know how you’re improving. It really helped me to better understand how to do pelvic floor exercises since you can try different things and then see in the app whether you’re improving or not rather than just listening to someone describe what to do.

Programs for your stage in life

They have a few different programs to choose from including: postpartum, stress/urge incontinence, intimate well-being and preventative. I’m working my way through the postpartum program right now and feel quite the sense of accomplishment when I move up to the next level! I only spend about 10-15 minutes a day doing the games and noticed an improvement within about 3 weeks (I may have missed some days in there but I TRY to do it every day). You can set the app to send you reminders to play the games too!

I definitely recommend the Perifit if you’re struggling with any pelvic floor issues and think it would benefit just about any mom postpartum. Of course it’s always a good idea to consult with your care provider if you have any questions.

You can use the coupon code TheBirthHour10 for 10% off your purchase. I was gifted the Perifit to review and was not compensated in any other way. I only recommend products to you that I truly love and all opinions expressed are my own.

Babymoon Maternity Photos in Kauai

I’m so glad I stepped out of my comfort zone and did a solo maternity session while we were on our family vacation “babymoon” in Kauai. I was only 27 weeks along but had a pretty big belly already with this being baby number three and I love seeing this stage of my pregnancy captured on our trip. We have a family photo session coming up this weekend and I’m now 37 weeks aka moving much slower and feeling much bigger so it will definitely be a different vibe!

My photographer in Kauai was Mallory Francks who is so talented! She really specializes in creating moody and sensual images. Looking back, I kind of wish I had had Richard come to the session too because we don’t really have many intimate style couple images and Mallory is SO great about making you feel comfortable and giving direction for those of us who are not natural models! If you’re in Kauai for a babymoon or just on a trip with your honey, I’d highly recommend booking a couples session with her. Follow her on Instagram to see what I’m talking about!

All images by Mallory Francks Photography 

9 Things I’m Loving During this Pregnancy

9 Things I’m Loving Right Now

Just for fun sharing some of the things that are getting me through this pregnancy. I can’t believe I’m already in the third trimester!

Coconut Chia Seed Pudding for a Sweet Treat

I’ve become obsessed with coconut chia pudding since trying it in Hawaii. I use 1 cup coconut milk (the kind from the carton in the fridge section) and 4 tablespoons chia seeds with 1 tsp vanilla extract. Put it in little jars and let it sit in the refrigerator over night then I top it with bee pollen, a tiny bit of sea salt and granola. It’s the BEST grab n go breakfast or sweet treat during the day!

Collagen Powder for Extra Protein

It’s so hard to get all the protein you need in pregnancy (at least for me!) so this tasteless powder is a great way to squeeze in some extra grams without even noticing. Just mix it in your tea and have a glass in the evening. There are actually a lot of studies about the benefits of collagen and how most of us aren’t getting nearly enough.

Young Living Frankincense Essential Oil for my Skin

My skin absolutely freaks out in pregnancy and while breastfeeding and this has been a game changer for me. I just put a drop in my moisturizer (morning and night) and also have a homemade roller that I made from my Young Living Starter Kit with Frankincense, Lavender and Copaiba that my Young Living team calls the Glowstick because so many people have gotten amazing skin support from this combo! Learn more about getting started with Oils in this post. 

Floradix for my Iron Levels

I have been singing the praises of this supplement since my first pregnancy 7 years ago when I found out I was anemic and was able to quickly bring up my iron levels with Floradix. Recently when I was sick and off of Floradix for a couple weeks, my iron levels dropped and I’m so glad I am back on it. Also helps my energy levels! You can also add in Chlorophyll which helps your body build red blood cells as well.

Kindred Bravely Simply Sublime Pregnancy/Nursing Tank

I’ve been a fan of the Simply Sublime bra in busty sizing for awhile and am so glad they came out with the tank for us bigger busted ladies recently! Comes in several great colors and it’s my go to top for around the house! I’m also obsessed with their maternity panties. Use code BIRTHHOUR20 for 20% off!

Young Living Lavender and Valor Essential Oil for all the Emotional Support

Read more about my journey with using Oils for Emotional Support on my wellness Instagram account @bumptobabyessentials, particularly this post. I’ve relied HEAVILY on YL oils throughout my pregnancy and am so so grateful for them. I’m always happy to answer any questions about getting started with oils, it’s a total passion project for me.

Earth Mama Organics Perineal Balm for Hemorrhoids

This is a not-so-fun side effect of pregnancy that I’ve dealt with off and on ever since having my daughter almost 7 years ago. I now use this balm as preventive as well as treatment on the regular. Definitely a must have along with their spray for postpartum as well.

Water Cup

Staying hydrated during pregnancy (especially in the summer) is so important and once baby arrives, I tend to become a camel while breastfeeding. Give me all the water! My yeti cup is my best friend that I bring everywhere and always have by my side. I like to use the straw top because I find that I drink way more often that way.

Birth Hour Mamas Group

Last but not least, I’m LOVING our listener supporters group. I’ve been sharing pregnancy updates in the form of audio journal recordings and have also received so much love via our private FB group! Seriously the best group of all time, thanks ladies!!

 

Comfy Dresses for Pregnancy & Postpartum (Nursing-friendly too!)

Buying maternity clothes is so different than any other type of clothing you buy because you know you’re only going to wear them for a short time. Yet, many maternity clothes are actually MORE expensive than your regular clothes. This time around I knew I wanted to mostly focus on clothes that would be comfy for my pregnancy (all during hot Texas weather months) and still be useful for postpartum.

My Requirements for Maternity Dresses

  • Comfortable for pregnancy
  • Nursing-friendly
  • Flattering Postpartum
  • Unexpected Bonus (can hide bump in early pregnancy!)

These are the brands and dresses that I am loving the most! I’ve been so surprised by how many more options there are than there were 5 years ago when I was expecting my son. I’ve got some great coupon codes for you here too!

Loyal Hana

loyal-hana-nursing-friendly-dress

My favorite item from Loyal Hana is the Cybelle dress which I have in navy but it comes in a million colors. The flowy-ness of this dress is pure perfection—even at 21 weeks, I can still get away with looking like I’m not pregnant so if you are trying to keep pregnancy under wraps at work or elsewhere this is the perfect dress. It’s lightweight and breathable and has very discreet zippers for nursing (genius!). Oh, and did I mention, pockets! They also have lots of nursing-friendly tops that I have my eye on. They are actually offering 15% off your entire order with code TheBirthHour15 so hop on over and check out their options. Find them on instagram @loyal_hana.

Matron Saint

This small business is hitting on all of my requirements and they take the comfy one to the next level! I’m absolutely obsessed with this dress (the v-neck will be perfect for nursing). I have it in dusty rose but I want it in every color! I also love this tunic —looks so cute on my bump but will also be so flattering postpartum. Finally I know it’s not in the dress category but these leggings are the most comfortable I’ve ever worn and the only under-the-bump leggings I’ve ever found to be cute (aka no weird muffin top bulging). They are also offering a 15% off code BIRTHHOUR if you want to check out their entire collection. I have a feeling I’ll be getting a few more items before the end of my pregnancy. Find them on instagram @matronsaint.

Humble Hilo

Ok, this company is so cool! Humble Hilo not only sells beautiful handmade and unique Guatemalan textiles, they also have an amazing social mission. When you buy from them, YOU get to choose to support projects in child nutrition, education and literacy for women, and microfinance loans for women to start their own small business. They have adorable shoes for kids and adults, gorgeous bags and my new favorite item, the hilo dress (with pockets!!) I have the noche pattern and can’t wait to get the matching mini dress (launches this week!). I love the pattern options for hiding stains (and baby spit up). They are offering 10% off with code THEBIRTHHOUR and you will want to check out their entire site and instagram @humlehilo.

Storq

storq maternity dress

I love the basics bundle option from Storq and these are my more form fitting maternity clothes this pregnancy. They are solid, basic and comfy for every day wear but can also pass as dressy when needed. I also have a couple dresses outside of the bundle and the first time I put on this dress and this dress I literally said out lout “damn!” because I thought I looked so sexy! And that’s really saying something because this was during the beginning of my pregnancy when it’s not totally clear whether you are pregnant or just ate too much pizza for lunch. These two dresses are super stretchy but don’t have ruching so they aren’t obviously maternity wear and could be worn post pregnancy as well. I’ve worn the long sleeve one to a wedding and the tank on several date nights with my hubby. Also super happy to report that they just announced that all new products they make will come in sizes 0 through 2X/22 (going up to 3X/26 in the Fall). They created 15 codes for 15% off when you use THEBIRTHHOUR at checkout. Find them on instagram @storq.

Did I miss any of your favorites? Share in the comments!

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