Introduction of Animals - Infant Care (up to 18 months old) Message Board

babygirl224 · 07-20-2005, 09:07 AM

I was wondering how all you new moms with animals have gone about introducing your little ones to your animals and how the animals are taking the new addiditon.

I have 10 weeks to go and i have a cat. Every new object i bring home for the baby my cat is being very inquisitve about. He doesn't try to get in the crib or anything but i need to make sure it stays this way once baby arrives. So how did you new moms do it?

2fst · 07-20-2005, 11:33 AM

I left all my cats home when I got married, (which was 9 months before DS was born), but they are living by my mom, who will be watching him when I go back to work. I have let the cats see him and sniff a little, I was worried they would scratch him. They did try going in his crib at my mom's house but she gave them a spanking and they seem to understand not to go in it anymore. I was looking at a magazine the other day, I think it was OneStepAhead and they have a monitor specially for pets. It goes by the babies crib and looks and works like a regular baby monitor, except it just monitors for pets and the other end you put by you and it will let you know the cat is by the baby. This way you don't have to worry about the cat being in the babies bed. The only other thing you will have to watch is if a cat gets jealous enough it will start peeing all over the house or just on the babies things. We had one cat get jealous over a new cat and started doing this. There is nothing we could do about except get rid of the new cat. So if your cat gets jealous, depends on its personality, you may have to chose between the cat or the baby.

Nothing cures this peeing thing they do.

2fst · 07-20-2005, 11:35 AM

One more thing, a baby smells like milk so this will attract the cat to the babies face. He may try to lick the baby or even join him in the crib.

babygirl224 · 07-20-2005, 12:00 PM

Thanks for the heads up. For some reason i must have the only cat in the world that doesn't like milk

worried_mommy · 07-20-2005, 12:22 PM

I have 3 cats and have never had a problem with our DD. My youngest cat was VERY attached to me. I got him when I was pregnant and was on bed rest for a few months shorty after, so we spent a lot of time together and he was/is always next to me. I was afraid he would be jelous of the baby. But he and my now 18mo DD are the best of friends. He follows her around everywhere and lets her tug on him. Even outside he will follow us to the park and always sticks close to DD.

When we first brought DD home, he wanted to be in everything of hers, chairs, crib etc. What we did was allow them to "share" one chair. DD bouncy chair. We would let the cat sleep in it when she wasn't there. That way he didn't feel like he was always being pushed out of the way for her I think.

And the cat being attracted to the milk on a baby's breath is an old wives tale. You cat would probably ,at most, sniff the baby's mouth.