Most baby books tell you what to do to your baby. How to get them to sleep. How to get them to eat. How to get them on a schedule. How to make them stop crying. The baby is a problem to be solved, a project to be managed, a blank slate waiting for your expert input.

Simone Davies sees it differently. In “The Montessori Baby: A Parent’s Guide to Nurturing Your Baby with Love, Respect, and Understanding,” co-authored with Junnifa Uzodike and beautifully illustrated by Sanny van Loon, Davies asks you to do something radical: slow down, observe your baby, and trust that the tiny person in your arms already knows quite a lot about what they need.

This is Montessori for the very beginning. Not the preschool with the beautiful wooden shelves and the child-sized furniture that you have seen on Instagram. Not the method that teaches three-year-olds to pour their own water and fold their own laundry. This is Montessori before all of that. This is Montessori from birth, and it will challenge nearly every assumption you have about what babies need and what parents are supposed to do.

Davies, an AMI (Association Montessori Internationale) trained teacher and the author of the bestselling “The Montessori Toddler,” brings the same warm, accessible, deeply respectful approach to the infant stage. The result is a book that feels less like a manual and more like a quiet conversation with a wise friend who sees your baby not as a bundle of needs to be managed but as a complete human being worthy of respect from their very first breath.

But does a philosophy designed for classrooms translate to the chaos of new parenthood? Can you really practice Montessori with a being who cannot yet hold up their own head? And is this book practical enough to help a sleep-deprived parent at four in the morning? Let us find out.

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The Philosophy: Respect From Day One

To understand this book, you must first understand the Montessori view of the infant. Maria Montessori, the Italian physician who developed the method over a century ago, described the infant as a “spiritual embryo.” By this she meant that while the baby’s body has been born, their psychological self is still forming. The first year of life is not a waiting period before the real development begins. It is the real development. The neural pathways being formed, the attachment patterns being established, the sensory experiences being absorbed—all of this is the foundation upon which everything else will be built.

Davies takes this seriously. Every chapter of the book is infused with a single, consistent message: your baby is a person. Not a future person. Not a potential person. A person right now, deserving of the same respect, consideration, and communication that you would offer any other human being.

This means talking to your baby about what is happening. “I’m going to pick you up now.” “I’m going to change your diaper. I’m going to lift your legs.” This means not interrupting a baby who is focused on something, even if that something is just staring at their own hand. This means allowing the baby to struggle with a challenge, like reaching for a toy, before swooping in to hand it to them.

For parents accustomed to the standard baby advice of stimulate, schedule, and sleep-train, this approach can feel almost unsettlingly quiet. Davies is not telling you to do more. She is telling you to do less, but to do it with extraordinary intention and presence.

The Prepared Environment: Setting Up for Independence

One of the hallmarks of Montessori at any age is the prepared environment, and Davies dedicates significant attention to creating one for an infant.

The Montessori baby environment looks different from the typical nursery. Instead of a crib, Davies describes the use of a floor bed, a simple mattress placed directly on the floor that allows the baby, once mobile, to get in and out of bed independently. Instead of a room stuffed with primary-colored plastic toys, she advocates for a few carefully chosen objects made from natural materials, rotated regularly, and displayed on low shelves where the baby can eventually access them.

The movement area is a key concept. This is a space with a firm mat on the floor, a mirror mounted horizontally at floor level, and a simple mobile hanging above. The baby is placed on their back in this space, free to move, observe, and interact with their environment without being confined to a bouncer, swing, or container.

Davies is gentle but clear about the modern habit of containerizing babies. Bouncers, swings, jumpers, and activity seats keep babies contained and entertained, but they also restrict movement and reduce the baby’s opportunity to develop their body on their own terms. A baby on the floor is a baby who can kick, roll, reach, stretch, and eventually crawl because they are motivated to get somewhere, not because an adult placed them in a standing position they cannot yet achieve on their own.

The prepared environment also extends to the feeding area, the diaper changing area, and the sleeping area. Each space is designed to support the baby’s growing independence while maintaining safety. The changing area, for example, might include a mirror so the baby can watch what is happening and objects the baby can hold during the change, transforming a routine task into a moment of connection and engagement.

This attention to environment is one of the book’s greatest strengths. It gives parents concrete, visual, actionable guidance on how to set up their home in a way that supports their baby’s development without requiring expensive Montessori-branded products. A floor mat, a mirror from a thrift store, and a few wooden objects are genuinely all you need.

Observation: The Montessori Superpower

If there is one skill that Davies wants every parent to develop, it is observation. Not supervision. Not monitoring. Observation.

The difference is significant. Supervision is watching your baby to make sure they are safe. Observation is watching your baby to understand who they are.

Davies encourages parents to sit quietly and watch their baby without intervening, directing, or entertaining. What does the baby look at? What do they reach for? How do they respond to sound, light, and texture? When do they seem calm? When do they seem overstimulated? What are they working on right now?

This practice of observation serves multiple purposes. It builds your understanding of your specific baby as a unique individual rather than a generic infant following a developmental chart. It helps you identify the baby’s emerging interests and abilities so you can adjust the environment accordingly. And it cultivates a posture of respect and curiosity that transforms the parent-child relationship from the very beginning.

Davies tells parents that when you observe your baby deeply, you will often discover that they are working on something. The baby who keeps dropping a ball from their high chair is not being naughty. They are studying gravity. The baby who mouths every object they can reach is not misbehaving. They are gathering sensory information about their world. The baby who fusses when you take them away from the window is not being difficult. They are fascinated by the play of light on leaves.

When you see your baby through this lens, your response changes. Instead of redirecting, you support. Instead of interrupting, you wait. Instead of projecting your agenda onto your baby’s day, you follow their lead.

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Feeding, Sleeping, and Caregiving as Relationship

Davies reframes the daily routines of infant care not as chores to be completed but as opportunities for connection and respect.

Feeding, whether breast or bottle, is presented as a collaborative activity. Davies encourages parents to follow the baby’s hunger cues rather than imposing a rigid schedule. She describes the introduction of solid foods through the Montessori lens, which involves offering the baby real food at a small table and chair (or a weaning table) rather than spoon-feeding purees from a pouch. The baby is given the opportunity to touch, smell, taste, and explore food at their own pace, developing both fine motor skills and a healthy relationship with eating.

This approach to feeding aligns closely with baby-led weaning, though Davies does not use that specific term. The emphasis is on the baby’s autonomy and sensory experience rather than on caloric intake or making sure a certain number of ounces are consumed. For parents who are anxious about whether their baby is eating enough, this can feel both liberating and terrifying. Davies acknowledges the anxiety and gently encourages trust in the baby’s internal regulation.

Sleep is addressed with a similar philosophy. Davies describes the Montessori approach to sleep as one of respectful support rather than control. She does not advocate for rigid sleep training methods. Instead she encourages parents to create a consistent, calm sleep environment, to observe the baby’s sleep cues, and to develop a gentle routine that signals to the baby that sleep is coming.

The floor bed is central to the Montessori sleep philosophy. Davies argues that a baby who sleeps on a floor bed develops a relationship with sleep that is autonomous rather than dependent. When the baby wakes, they can look around their room, play quietly with a nearby object, and eventually go back to sleep on their own terms rather than crying for an adult to come and retrieve them from a crib.

This is one of the most controversial aspects of the book. Many parents and pediatricians have concerns about the safety of floor beds for young infants, and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends a firm, flat surface in a crib or bassinet for safe sleep during the first year. Davies does address safety considerations, but parents should research this topic thoroughly and consult their pediatrician before making decisions about sleep arrangements.

Diapering is perhaps the most surprising area where Davies applies the Montessori philosophy. She encourages parents to slow down the diaper change, to narrate what is happening, to ask the baby to lift their legs (and wait for them to participate as they become able), and to treat the change as a moment of cooperation rather than a task performed on a passive body.

This will sound excessive to some parents. Narrating a diaper change to a two-week-old who has no idea what you are saying can feel absurd. But Davies argues that the baby is absorbing your tone, your pace, and your respect long before they understand your words. You are not just changing a diaper. You are teaching your baby what it feels like to be treated with dignity.

Movement and Development: Trust the Process

The Montessori approach to motor development is one of the most distinctive and potentially challenging aspects of the book.

Davies, following the work of pediatrician Emmi Pikler, advocates for natural gross motor development. This means allowing the baby to reach each motor milestone on their own, in their own time, without adult assistance or acceleration.

In practical terms, this means not propping a baby in a sitting position before they can sit independently. Not holding a baby’s hands to help them walk before they can walk on their own. Not placing a baby in a standing toy or exersaucer that supports them in a position they cannot achieve themselves.

The reasoning is that each motor milestone develops in a natural sequence, and each stage builds the strength, balance, and coordination needed for the next. When you skip or accelerate a stage by propping or supporting, you may actually undermine the developmental process. A baby who is propped in sitting before they are ready misses the floor time that develops the core strength needed for stable, independent sitting.

This is a hard sell for many parents. Grandparents and well-meaning relatives will want to stand the baby up and walk them around the room. Other parents at playgroup will have their babies in jumpers and walkers. The pressure to accelerate milestones is enormous in a culture that treats early achievement as a sign of superior parenting.

Davies handles this pressure with characteristic calm. She does not shame parents who use bouncers or walkers. She simply explains the developmental reasoning for allowing natural movement and trusts the parent to make their own decision. This respectful tone extends to the reader just as it does to the baby, and it is one of the reasons the book feels so trustworthy.

Communication and Language

Davies dedicates thoughtful attention to language development, and her approach is refreshingly simple.

Talk to your baby. Not in baby talk. Not in a high-pitched performance voice. In your normal voice, using real words, about real things. Narrate your day. Describe what you see. Name objects, actions, and feelings. Read books. Sing songs. And most importantly, pause. Leave space for the baby to respond, even if the response is a coo, a gurgle, or a meaningful look.

This emphasis on the pause is quintessentially Montessori. Most adults fill every silence with more talking. Davies encourages you to speak and then wait. The baby is processing. They are forming a response. If you talk over that processing time, you deny them the experience of being a participant in conversation rather than a passive audience.

She also discusses the value of limiting background noise. Televisions, music, and constant chatter create a wall of sound that makes it harder for the baby to distinguish meaningful language from ambient noise. A quieter environment, punctuated by intentional conversation and periods of silence, supports language development more effectively than a stimulation-rich but noisy one.

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What the Book Does Exceptionally Well

The beauty of this book is almost disarming. Sanny van Loon’s illustrations are warm, soft, and diverse. The families depicted represent a range of races, family structures, and settings. The visual design makes the book a pleasure to hold and read, which matters more than you might think when you are an exhausted new parent who cannot process dense text.

The tone is unfailingly gentle. Davies never lectures. She never shames. She never implies that you are doing it wrong. She offers information, shares the Montessori perspective, and consistently reminds you that you know your baby best. This humility is rare in parenting books and deeply welcome.

The integration of Montessori philosophy with modern infant care is seamless. Davies does not ask you to recreate an early twentieth-century Italian classroom in your nursery. She takes the principles, respect, observation, prepared environment, natural development, and translates them into the language and reality of contemporary parenthood.

The book is also refreshingly inclusive on the topic of feeding. Breast, bottle, combination, whatever works for your family is presented as valid. In a parenting culture that can be brutally judgmental about feeding choices, this neutrality is a relief.

The Honest Critique

The book is aspirational in places where it could be more practical. The idea of a calm, uncluttered nursery with a floor bed and a few wooden objects is beautiful in theory. In reality, many families live in small spaces, share rooms with their babies, and cannot dedicate a room to a thoughtfully curated Montessori environment. Davies could have done more to address how to apply these principles in imperfect spaces and circumstances.

The sleep section, while philosophically consistent, may not provide enough guidance for parents who are genuinely struggling with infant sleep. If your baby is waking every forty-five minutes and you are on the edge of collapse, the advice to observe, create a calm routine, and trust the process may feel insufficient. Parents in sleep crisis will likely need to supplement this book with a more detailed sleep resource.

The floor bed recommendation, as noted, is controversial from a safe sleep standpoint. Davies does discuss safety, but parents of very young infants should exercise caution and consult medical professionals before adopting this practice.

The book covers birth to age one, which means the developmental range is vast. Some sections will feel irrelevant depending on your baby’s current age. A parent of a newborn may find the chapters on solid food introduction and early walking premature. A parent of an eleven-month-old may wish the early chapters had been shorter.

Who Should Read This Book

Expecting parents who want to establish a respectful, intentional approach to parenting before the baby arrives will find this book an ideal starting point. Reading it during pregnancy allows you to set up the environment and the mindset before the sleepless nights begin.

New parents who feel overwhelmed by the noise and pressure of modern baby advice will find this book like a cool drink of water. It gives you permission to slow down, do less, and trust more.

Parents interested in Montessori who want to start from the very beginning rather than waiting for the toddler or preschool years will find this book fills a gap that most Montessori resources ignore.

Parents who loved “The Montessori Toddler” and want the prequel will find the same voice, the same values, and the same gentle wisdom applied to an earlier stage.

The Final Verdict

“The Montessori Baby” is not a book about how to produce a smarter, faster, better baby. It is a book about how to see your baby clearly, respect them deeply, and create an environment that supports who they already are.

In a culture that treats infancy as a race, Simone Davies has written a book that invites you to stand still. To watch. To listen. To trust that your baby is not a problem to be solved but a person to be known.

It will not give you a sleep schedule. It will not give you a feeding chart. It will not give you a milestone checklist to measure your baby against their peers. What it will give you is something harder to quantify and infinitely more valuable: a way of being with your baby that honors both of you.

If that sounds like something your family needs, this book is waiting for you.

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