A MONTESSORI GUIDE TO PARENTING THE FIRST 18 MONTHS

Babies Build Toddlers

The parenting book you’ve been looking for is now available.

Babies Build Toddlers more like a coffee table book than it is a dry parenting paperback. It’s comprehensive, yet easy to read, informative and still engaging, and offers new insights into the child’s most critical years of development.

With its casual and accessible tone, this book gives readers clear developmental timelines, practical suggestions for how to support the child’s development, and the basics of Montessori Education from birth. It includes chapters on movement, language, eating, sleeping, hygiene/toileting, and bonding, in addition to a full section with references and citations.

Praise for Babies Build Toddlers

  • I love this book! It was given to me as a gift when my son was 8 months old but I wish I had it while pregnant. It's helped me make sense of his development up to now and it's like a North Star for the month ahead - guidance for practical steps I need to take tomorrow and also big picture inspiration for the long-road ahead.

    H.C.

  • I love the way the author organized all of the different important threads - movement, hygiene, language, etc - and then showed how they all fit together. Like a really great grad school thesis with annotations and everything. But! Still easy to read and understand. And the illustrations are beautiful. Add in all the inclusive language - it’s just a really thoughtful, well-done book with so much knowledge and goodness packed in.

    Lauren

  • Even better, I really appreciate that this is not a "stuff"-oriented approach to Montessori. Instead, it's about shaping the environment you already have to best support your baby.

    Andrea

  • I have read a couple other books on the Montessori approach and feel like Mariana’s contribution is fairly unique in that it is both so easy to access and also a guide that starts in early infancy. Highly recommended.

    Catherine

  • I absolutely love this book! I am very particular about the books I recommend to families and this one checks all of my boxes. This book is a great guide in helping families embrace the Montessori lifestyle from birth in an easy-to-read format.

    Gabby

  • It's written in such a warm and inviting way, it's like a good friend sitting next to you sharing wisdom, but it's also deeply researched and evidence based. And the illustrations are fun, engaging and inclusive!

    H.C.

  • This book is incredible! I am AMI Montessori trained for 0-6 and this is a perfect summation for parents of everything I've learned. Presented in such a lovely, easy to read way.

  • This book gives you the developmental context to understand what’s going on with your baby, how to observe your child so you can lean into the skills they are trying to develop, and how to set your baby up with the fundamental skills they need to be independent and resilient as a toddler and beyond.

    Sabrina

  • Because of this book, I was able to donate over 75% of the baby items I had collected during our infertility process. And felt really confident in the direction we chose to raise our daughter

    M.D.

  • A book I come back to again and again. Wow. This was so good.

    Lauren

  • So informative and well written. My husband and I have been reading this together so we can be on the same page. It’s been an excellent reference for us. The visuals and organization are so beautiful and easy to follow. I highly recommend this book to any current or expecting parent!

    C.S.

  • Perfect book if you’re starting to learn about Montessori. I have a newborn and keep referring back to this book. 10/10 recommend.

    Dani

  • The illustrations help make child development information accessible to someone with little previous knowledge. It is authentically Montessori and brilliant! I also appreciate the intention put into representing various skin tones, family structures, and cultures.

    Gabby

  • This book is amazing and well written! I'm new to the Montessori base parenting and it was so informative and easy to follow along.

    Christina

  • There aren’t a ton of Montessori books aimed at the 0-3 age range, and I think I’ve read most of them - both The Montessori Toddler and The Montessori Baby; Montessori From the Start; Aubrey Harris’s Baby’s First Year Milestones; How to Raise an Amazing Child the Montessori Way - and now this one. Even though I’d read so many others, somehow there was still lots of new information.

    Lauren

  • Beautiful, well-written, excellent. Would recommend fully to parents and educators alike.

    Deej

  • Work of art. Easy to read with beautiful illustrations

    Leonard

About

BEHIND BABIES BUILD TODDLERS

Babies Build Toddlers is a unique parenting book with an innovative illustrative approach that makes child development information both accessible and actionable for everyday readers. Mariana tells the powerful story of the child during their most essential stage of development: infancy.

The first 18 months of life lay a critical foundation for a child’s future emotional, cognitive, physical, and social well-being. But this early time is often the most difficult for parents! Many find themselves in “survival mode” until toddlerhood, something that overlooks the incredible potential of this early time. Moreover, toddlers are remarkably determined to be independent—a feat that is either emboldened or limited by their own abilities and skills that grow over time. The infant, therefore, is the one who builds their own capacity to be independent in toddlerhood. In short, babies build toddlers.

Babies Build Toddlers offers readers a window into this intersection of development, education and parenting through . . .

  • Clear developmental timelines for the first 18 months of life, including movement, language, eating, sleeping, hygiene, and bonding

  • Practical suggestions on how to use child development information to come up with solutions to common parenting problems, as well as day-to-day, scientifically-grounded suggestions and recommendations

  • Illustrations from a team of illustrators who celebrate the fullness of each parent’s journey, and provide an authentically diverse representation of children and their development

Babies Build Toddlers is based on Mariana’s work with over 1200 families with infant through home visits, parenting groups, and workshops. After compiling years of notes about children at this critical stage of development from working with these families and from her two Montessori trainings, Mariana refashioned her notes into this text. She spent 3 years writing Babies Build Toddlers and launched a successful Kickstarter campaign to fund the illustrations. Babies Build Toddlers was published in December of 2020 and the Spanish edition is set to be published in 2024 under the title, La obra de la infancia.

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“Highly recommend! Mariana does a profound job illustrating many key takeaways around child development and accessibility which truly help navigate parenting from the newborn stage into toddlerhood. Hoping there will be more books released in the future!

—Nichol

Meet the Team

BEHIND BABIES BUILD TODDLERS

Mariana was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay area and grew up in a family with strong roots to her grandmother's home country of Venezuela. This provided a home environment with multiple perspectives, languages, cultures, and approaches. With this background, and in being a white author, it was important to Mariana that the children and their development were not illustrated by just one person.

Babies Build Toddlers, therefore, features a talented team of illustrators so that a variety of illustrative styles, backgrounds, and perspectives were visualizing this important development in infancy. Mariana’s hope is that readers will look at the same development through a new lens in each chapter to validate that there is not just one way to support the child's development. Check out this amazing team:

Mariana Bissonnette

AUTHOR

Mariana Bissonnette (she/her) is an AMI 0–6 Montessori educator and parent of two. The illustrations in Babies Build Toddlers serve several functions to bring this book to life. Not only do these illustrations help visualize child development for sleep-deprived readers, but they purposefully come from more than one perspective.

Alisha Nicole Brumfield

ILLUSTRATOR, CHAPTERS ON EATING & FULL CHARTS

Lisha Nicole (she/her) is a self-taught acrylic painter and digital illustrator currently based in Houston, TX. Falling in love with art at a young age, her art has always been inspired by bold and beautiful people and their vibrancy that glows from within. Lisha has participated in art exhibitions and events and her work currently represents life, love, culture, and diversity.

Brenda Citlali Brambila

ILLUSTRATOR, CHAPTERS ON HYGIENE & THE FULL CHARTS

Brenda Citlali Brambila Flores (she/her) is a self-taught illustrator and Mexico native who was raised in Chicago while being undocumented for 15 years. Her activism and work have kept the undocumented struggle at a center. She has always had an interest in arts and illustration, but due to being undocumented, she was unable to pursue it academically until she taught herself how to create art.

Esma Bošnjaković

ILLUSTRATOR, CHAPTERS ON LANGUAGE & THE PLANT

Esma is a self-described “free-time” illustrator, born and raised in beautiful Vienna, Austria. She started doing art as a hobby on the side only recently, and it has since changed her life in the best possible way! Esma loves creating illustrations which counter stereotypes and portray Muslim women as they really are - surprisingly ordinary.

Samatha Morales-Johnson

ILLUSTRATOR, CHAPTER ON MOVEMENT

Samantha Morales-Johnson (she/her) is a Southern California native and an active member of her tribe, the Gabreleno/Tongva Band of Mission Indians. Samantha is a science illustrator and strongly believes in the importance of illustrated books beyond childhood. She also enjoys teaching children (particularly swimming)!

Sophia Marie Pappas

ILLUSTRATOR, ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS, INTRODUCTION & THE GARDENER

Sophia (she/her) is a Pittsburgh-based illustrator creating work for magazines, children's publishing, and greeting cards. She has had the pleasure of working with Google's San Francisco offices, F&W Media, Attic Studio Publishing, NPR, and American Greetings. Her work is inspired by her love of printmaking and people watching.

Tracy Nishimura Bishop

ILLUSTRATOR, THE PLANT, SLEEPING & THE FULL CHARTS

Tracy Nishimura Bishop (she/her) is a San Francisco Bay area-based illustrator and has illustrated more than 20 picture and chapter books. She grew up in a U.S. Army base in Japan and discovered her love of drawing through manga and anime. She also loves collecting pens, reading, and going on walks with her very hairy dog named Harry.

Chie Ushio

GRAPHIC DESIGNER, COVER & TITLE PAGE

Chie Ushio (she/her) was born and raised in Tokyo, Japan. She graduated from the School of Visual Arts, New York in 2004 and worked as a designer at Penguin Random House for 11 years. She now works as a design consultant for various clients. She loves dogs, sewing, and good sushi.