The Montessori Baby Quotes

“Baby’s First Year Milestones: Promote and Celebrate Your Baby’s Development with Monthly Games and Activities, Aubrey Hargis, Rockridge Press, 2018 Dear Parent: Caring for Infants with Respect (2nd Edition), Magda Gerber, Resources for Infant Educarers (RIE), 2003 Your Self-Confident Baby: How to Encourage Your Child’s Natural Abilities—From the Very Start, Magda Gerber and Allison Johnson, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2012 Elevating Child Care: A Guide to Respectful Parenting, Janet Lansbury, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2014 60 activités Montessori pour mon bébé (365 activités), Marie-Hélène Place, Nathan, 2016”
― Simone Davies, The Montessori Baby: A Parent's Guide to Nurturing Your Baby with Love, Respect, and Understanding

“Observation leads to an even deeper understanding and love for the baby”
― Simone Davies, The Montessori Baby: A Parent's Guide to Nurturing Your Baby with Love, Respect, and Understanding

“One important thing to note is that it takes an enormous amount of neurological effort to walk or to talk. So what we often see is that one of these—either the movement or language acquisition—plateaus as the other takes off.”
― Simone Davies, The Montessori Baby: A Parent's Guide to Nurturing Your Baby with Love, Respect, and Understanding

“Kicking activities: We can provide activities that encourage the baby to observe their feet and work toward control of their leg movements. A simple way to do this is to hang a tactile mobile or a kicking ball above our baby’s feet. A patchwork ball also works well and can be used later for them to crawl after. Interesting objects like a bell, button, or ribbon can also be sewn to the baby’s socks. These will catch the baby’s attention, and they will work to bring them to their mouth, thus building their coordination.”
― Simone Davies, The Montessori Baby: A Parent's Guide to Nurturing Your Baby with Love, Respect, and Understanding

“In Montessori we have a phrase to describe this: “teach by teaching instead of correcting.” So instead of simply saying “no,” we observe them trying out something in the moment, then wait to show them what to do instead at another time. We also try to tell them what to do instead of what not to do. This does not mean that we never say “no” to them. We just use it sparingly so that they know its importance.”
― Simone Davies, The Montessori Baby: A Parent's Guide to Nurturing Your Baby with Love, Respect, and Understanding

“We can also choose simple books that have only pictures or minimal words and read by describing the pictures or illustrations. One fun idea is to make homemade books using familiar people or things. We can use a small album and put in photos of our family members or blank board books that we can fill with our own photos. We can look at the pictures together and tell the baby about each person. Many older children continue to enjoy looking through these books that they loved so much as babies.”
― Simone Davies, The Montessori Baby: A Parent's Guide to Nurturing Your Baby with Love, Respect, and Understanding

“As much as possible, we avoid placing toys in the baby’s hands or rattling them above their faces to get their attention or entertain them. We place an item within view and within reach, leaving it up to them to choose to reach for it. This is practice for them in making choices and requires persistence and patience. When we allow these choices, we are allowing the baby to follow their own initiative and laying the foundation of intentional and purposeful actions.”
― Simone Davies, The Montessori Baby: A Parent's Guide to Nurturing Your Baby with Love, Respect, and Understanding

“In the beginning, our baby’s age can be a guide for the number of activities we can make available. We could have one activity out for a 1-month-old, two for a 2-month-old, etc. Ideally, we do not want more than five or six things available at a time in one place even for an older baby. As the baby reaches about 7 months old, the activities might not all be in one place. We might have four on one shelf in their play area, a basket in the kitchen, and maybe two activities in their room.”
― Simone Davies, The Montessori Baby: A Parent's Guide to Nurturing Your Baby with Love, Respect, and Understanding

“Limit passive entertainment We don’t need to constantly entertain the baby. It becomes exhausting for the adult and can be detrimental for the baby. Babies learn through active experience and by doing instead of being entertained. So we provide an environment that encourages our baby to engage themselves. This can start at birth. Toys that entertain also affect concentration. These are the toys that sing, flash, beep, talk, and do all sorts of things at the press of a button. This kind of entertainment leads to passivity and takes away that sense of wonder and accomplishment that comes from direct discovery. Magda Gerber, founder of the RIE approach, described it well when she said that we want passive toys and active children, not active toys, which lead to passive children.”
― Simone Davies, The Montessori Baby: A Parent's Guide to Nurturing Your Baby with Love, Respect, and Understanding

“Teach them what to do, rather than tell them what we don’t want them to do: Remembering that babies are new here and just figuring out how things work, we can see ourselves as their guides, here to help them and show them how things work. With this in mind, when the baby goes beyond our boundaries or limits we can see this as an opportunity to teach them appropriate and acceptable behavior. This understanding can make a difference to how we respond. If we are teaching the baby what is acceptable, we might say. “The water stays in the cup. Put the cup down here,” instead of “Don’t pour the water,” or “Why do you keep pouring the water?” We might model like this: “I see you are done. Let me show you where the cup goes.” Modeling is so important in helping the baby figure out the boundaries.”
― Simone Davies, The Montessori Baby: A Parent's Guide to Nurturing Your Baby with Love, Respect, and Understanding

“Be prepared to repeat ourselves: We have only a few limits because we will need to repeat ourselves many times until our baby’s will is developed enough to stop themselves, for example, from touching something they want to explore. Their prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for inhibiting themselves, is in the earliest stages of development and will be developing into their early twenties. So we need to be their prefrontal cortex.”
― Simone Davies, The Montessori Baby: A Parent's Guide to Nurturing Your Baby with Love, Respect, and Understanding

“Modify the environment or a process: If our baby often pours the water out of their cup while they’re not drinking, we can modify our process by keeping the cup by our side until it is time for the baby to drink, or pouring just enough for one drink and taking the cup back once the baby is done. If our baby keeps going back to an electrical outlet, we can make sure it is protected or maybe move a piece of furniture in front of it. In this way, we set limits using the environment.”
― Simone Davies, The Montessori Baby: A Parent's Guide to Nurturing Your Baby with Love, Respect, and Understanding

“Avoid interrupting Once we have recognized concentration, we do not interrupt. Not to help, not to congratulate, not to correct. We can simply smile to ourselves, enjoy their achievements and process, and watch from a distance. During their development, concentration is fragile. It is easily broken, and when the baby experiences this a few times, they can stop trying to concentrate. It is so beautiful to watch a baby completely absorbed and engaged in something.”
― Simone Davies, The Montessori Baby: A Parent's Guide to Nurturing Your Baby with Love, Respect, and Understanding

“Respond to the need or message being communicated: The baby’s behavior is usually their way of communicating something. It might be a need or a message. A baby who is throwing objects might be communicating a need for more gross-motor movement, and a baby who is throwing food might simply be communicating that they are full or not interested in the meal. Our response would be based on our observation and interpretation.”
― Simone Davies, The Montessori Baby: A Parent's Guide to Nurturing Your Baby with Love, Respect, and Understanding

“Respect the baby’s choices: When we respect the baby, we give true choices as often as possible and respect what the baby chooses. We do not impose our thoughts or emotions and instead listen to hear and understand them. This can start from as early as 3 months with our babies. We can offer two shirts and see which one they gesture or smile toward. We can offer two books and see which one they choose. We put two rattles within reach and let them choose which one and how to use it. For an older baby, they will select an object from a selection of 3–5 items in a basket. Offering a choice is a form of respect, and then we respect the baby’s choices.”
― Simone Davies, The Montessori Baby: A Parent's Guide to Nurturing Your Baby with Love, Respect, and Understanding

“ALTERNATIVES TO PRAISE Praising our babies can be a hard habit to break or avoid. Often when our children do something, we feel the need to acknowledge it in some way. Many times our instinct is to acknowledge by praising, but when we do this, we teach the baby to look to us for how to feel about their efforts. In Montessori we are wanting to build a child’s intrinsic sense of self rather than having them look for or get used to external praise and validation. Instead of praise, saying “Good job,” or clapping, we could try the following alternatives with our babies: 1. Don’t do anything. This allows the baby to enjoy the moment in their own way. 2. Sportscast—say what we saw the baby doing: “You put the ball in the hole.” 3. Describe what you observe about the baby’s feelings: “You look content/ excited!” 4. Acknowledge our baby’s effort: ”You worked on that for a long time” or “You did it.” 5. Give a gentle smile. 6. Offer encouragement: “I knew you could do it.” 7. You could talk about what comes next: “I see you are done. Shall we go get ready to nap?” 8. Or talk about how it feels: “I’m so excited for you. You did it.”
― Simone Davies, The Montessori Baby: A Parent's Guide to Nurturing Your Baby with Love, Respect, and Understanding

“There is a common experiment in elementary school where children place a plant or celery stalk in a cup of water with some food coloring in it. The children observe the leaves and petals as they change color. This is exactly how the absorbent mind of the child works—”
― Simone Davies, The Montessori Baby: A Parent's Guide to Nurturing Your Baby with Love, Respect, and Understanding

“So even though we don’t have to teach our babies everything, everything we do teaches them something, and this can feel like a huge responsibility. It is big work. The kind that we can be intentional about.”
― Simone Davies, The Montessori Baby: A Parent's Guide to Nurturing Your Baby with Love, Respect, and Understanding

“Montessori is a philosophy that looks to support the natural development of each child to their maximum potential. It views education as a tool to aid this process and believes such learning can start from birth. This means that it can be applied to babies, too.”
― Simone Davies, The Montessori Baby: A Parent's Guide to Nurturing Your Baby with Love, Respect, and Understanding

“Wake Windows And Number Of Sleeps A Day While every baby is different, it can be useful to know how long on average a baby stays awake between sleeps so that we can keep an eye out for tired signs. 0–12 weeks 1–1.5 hours (many naps) 3–5 months 1.25–2 hours (3–4 naps a day) 5–6 months 2–3 hours (3–4 naps a day) 7–14 months 3–4 hours (2–3 naps a day)”
― Simone Davies, The Montessori Baby: A Parent's Guide to Nurturing Your Baby with Love, Respect, and Understanding

“ALTERNATIVES TO PRAISE Praising our babies can be a hard habit to break or avoid. Often when our children do something, we feel the need to acknowledge it in some way. Many times our instinct is to acknowledge by praising, but when we do this, we teach the baby to look to us for how to feel about their efforts. In Montessori we are wanting to build a child’s intrinsic sense of self rather than having them look for or get used to external praise and validation. Instead of praise, saying “Good job,” or clapping, we could try the following alternatives with our babies: 1. Don’t do anything. This allows the baby to enjoy the moment in their own way. 2. Sportscast—say what we saw the baby doing: “You put the ball in the hole.” 3. Describe what you observe about the baby’s feelings: “You look content/excited!” 4. Acknowledge our baby’s effort: ”You worked on that for a long time” or “You did it.” 5. Give a gentle smile. 6. Offer encouragement: “I knew you could do it.” 7. You could talk about what comes next: “I see you are done. Shall we go get ready to nap?” 8. Or talk about how it feels: “I’m so excited for you. You did it.”
― Simone Davies, The Montessori Baby: A Parent's Guide to Nurturing Your Baby with Love, Respect, and Understanding

“One of the secrets to the success of our intentionally created spaces is to limit the number of activities available for our baby to the ones they are working to master. We can display a limited number—about six of their favorites—on a low shelf in their movement area. It’s easier for our baby to choose from a smaller selection, the activities will be just the right challenge for them, and there will be less for us to tidy up. Then we observe. When we”
― Simone Davies, The Montessori Baby: A Parent's Guide to Nurturing Your Baby with Love, Respect, and Understanding

“We want to allow the baby (from birth) free movement and unobstructed vision. So we prefer not to use baby boxes, playpens, or cribs in our homes—these contain the baby’s movement, and the bars do not give a clear view of the whole space from the baby’s perspective. We even prefer not to use a high chair. Controversial, we know. These containers have been developed for our convenience, not the child’s.”
― Simone Davies, The Montessori Baby: A Parent's Guide to Nurturing Your Baby with Love, Respect, and Understanding

“what babies are really telling us Instead of thinking they don’t understand They want us to tell them what is going on and treat them with respect Instead of nonsense baby talk They want real connection and conversation where we take turns Instead of being picked up quickly from behind to have a diaper changed (or hearing that it stinks) They want to be able to see us, be asked if they are ready to be picked up, and have time to respond Instead of the latest gadgets They want a simple, beautiful, inviting space to explore Instead of distracting them when they are crying They want us to pause, observe, ask what they need, then respond Instead of allowing anyone to touch or kiss them They want us to ask them first Instead of being overstimulated They want to have one or two things to interact with Instead of interrupting them when they are playing They want us to wait until they are finished concentrating Instead of putting them into a sitting or standing position before they are ready They want us to follow their unique development and let them master this for themselves Instead of rushing through eating, bathing, and changing diapers They want to use these activities as moments for connection with us”
― Simone Davies, The Montessori Baby: A Parent's Guide to Nurturing Your Baby with Love, Respect, and Understanding

“Children tune out when they constantly hear “don’t” and “no” all the time. So we tell them what we want them to do: “Let’s keep your feet on the ground” rather than “Don’t climb on the table.”
― Simone Davies, The Montessori Baby: A Parent's Guide to Nurturing Your Baby with Love, Respect, and Understanding

“Teach them what to do, rather than tell them what we don’t want them to do:”
― Simone Davies, The Montessori Baby: A Parent's Guide to Nurturing Your Baby with Love, Respect, and Understanding

“If we know why our baby is crying, we might say, for example, “You bumped your head and it hurt.” When we say things like “You’re okay” or “Stop crying,” we can inadvertently negate, brush away, or ignore the baby’s feelings. Instead, allow the feelings and let the baby know that we hear them, we recognize their feelings, and we are there. In this way, we accept and respect their emotions.”
― Simone Davies, The Montessori Baby: A Parent's Guide to Nurturing Your Baby with Love, Respect, and Understanding

“When we have a strong reaction, whether positive or negative, we inadvertently teach them to look to us instead of themselves for how they feel.”
― Simone Davies, The Montessori Baby: A Parent's Guide to Nurturing Your Baby with Love, Respect, and Understanding

“Trust our body and our instincts. • Make care arrangements for our other children that allow us to truly relax and labor for as long as needed. • Find caregivers (midwives/doctors) who share our values and mutual trust. • Make sure our pillars of support are present. • Contrary to popular belief, sometimes the labor for a second or third child is much longer than the labor for the first or previous child. Knowing and accepting this can make a difference in our endurance. • Sometimes, a drive or a walk around the block can change things up for our labor and trigger transition.”
― Simone Davies, The Montessori Baby: A Parent's Guide to Nurturing Your Baby with Love, Respect, and Understanding

“Not every cry means that they are hungry. They may be cold or experiencing some other discomfort so we can see if there is something else they may want before offering them the breast or bottle.”
― Simone Davies, The Montessori Baby: A Parent's Guide to Nurturing Your Baby with Love, Respect, and Understanding