Forest Montessori

Montessori From Birth

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anika 3 months old

Teething at 3 Months- Beginner friendly teethers

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The day Anika turned 13 weeks, I observed the following very unsual (for her) symptoms in the evening:

  • She began drooling so much so that her clothes had to be changed.
  • She started chewing voraciously at her fist.
  • She had trouble going to sleep at night. It took us 2 hours (usually 10 minutes).
  • She was unusually upset.
  • She started sucking on her lower lip constantly.
  • She was pulling her ears and rubbing her chins and cheeks.

I couldn’t figure out what was happening! We just finished the evening gas woes not too long ago. I googled the symptoms and turns out babies can start teething as early as 3 months! When we visited our GP the next day for vaccinations, he said it could be teething or a developmental leap. Either ways, since then every evening (sometimes day as well) she desperately wants to gnaw at something constantly. Everyday her grasp is developing but it is still not refined enough to hold those small wooden or rubber teethers for over 2 minutes. First evening, hubby and I tried holding those teethers for her but she seemed frustrated. Giving her as much independence as possible, the Montessori way; here are her current teethers (or rather her chewing favorites) that she enjoys using:

Silk scarf- Our favorite open-ended material can be knotted and used as a teether, easiest to grasp for little fingers
  • Silk scarf- Its incredible how open ended the silk scarf really is. In 3 short months, we have already used it for grasping, playing peek-a-boo, as a mobile and now as a teether! Due to the large surface area, she can grasp it easily and loves chewing on it. I usually knot one end so its more chunky to chew on.
Skwish toy- the perfect Montessori rattle + teether
  • Skwish toy- I had my doubts if she would be able to hold this yet. But much to my surprise this has been a great rattle + teether for her. It is light, so even her little hands can lift it. It has a tall structure, so she can pick it up from her side. I love the design, so many places to grasp, thus works at even 3.5 months. It is eco-friendly and her gums love to chew on it.
Waldorf doll- Cuddly + teether
  • Waldorf doll- Gifted by Anika’s beautiful cousin sister Lea, this was originally suppose to be her cuddly/ grasping toy but she currently loves to gnaw on it. Essentially the large surface area makes it easy to hold this doll.
Sophie the Giraffe, the quintessential teether!
  • Sophie, the Giraffe- The quintessential teether as been great especially during tummy time. During back time, Anika still needs help holding it for more than 2 minutes.

I have made several wooden teethers for her, which she will hold and gnaw on in few weeks time. But for now, these have been incredible for us. Any more ideas? Anyone else has babies who started teething earlier than 6 months and what teethers did you use?

Montessori mobile sequence

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Introduce the Munari mobile at week. 3


Montessori mobiles are elegant in its simplicity and don’t have music or brightly colored cartoon images. The purpose of each is clear and developmentally appropriate to a child’s growing visual sense. I am a big fan of Montessori’s scientific approach from birth. Below is the suggested timeline we followed to introduce Montessori mobiles.

First few weeks- child lies on floor mat to observe the environment. While this continues over the next few months, we introduce mobiles as an aid to developing their concentration. Here is the sequence we followed:

Week 3– Anika seemed comfortable in the new environment, so we introduced the Munari mobile. She spent a lot of her wake time concentrating on it.

Week. 5 introduced the Octahedron mobile- introduction to primary colors in 3 dimensions

Week 5– Octahedron mobile replaced the Munari. Octahedron introduces the primary colours in 3 dimensions.

Week 6- set up the rainbow mobile, introduction to secondary colours

Week 6- We set up another mobile station near the kitchen in the living room. Anika wanted to be able to see me, esp in the evenings. We introduced the Rainbow mobile, which is the introduction of secondary colours. She thoroughly loved this mobile for many a weeks.

Week 7- We introduced the Gobbi mobile at week 7, which refines the visual sense through the gradation of colors from the lightest to the darkest.

Week 9– We introduced the Dancer’s mobile at week 11. This is the last in the series of visual mobiles and introduces realistic shapes and represents movement, flexibility, bodily expression and potency and human interactions.

Important notes:

  • We changed approximately every 2 weeks or she got bored.
  • After week 11 when she was bored of the dancers mobile and not yet ready for grasping mobiles, we rotated and went back to Munari mobile and started the sequence all over again. She loved them all once again. I also introduced a series of my own batting mobiles.
  • We didn’t want to drill and used the Fealkira Adhesive hooks as our ceiling hooks and they were perfect!
  • These mobiles are followed by batting and grasping mobiles.

Products that we have used

Munari mobile

Double sided mirror

Fealkira Adhesive