Do you let Baby touch your pets? - Page 2

[Abraisme]

My 4mo DD has just started reaching for things. I let her touch both the cats and dogs. I'm one that thinks exposure to germs and dirt is fine. Also, I don't worry about allergies, it'll either happen or it won't.

[RockStarMom]

My daughter is 4 now, but she met the animals right away. Her first word ended up being one of the cats' names. It was only later that I had to separate them, when she started thinking it was fun to pull their tails and stuff(as a young toddler).

[Pogo0685]

I had 2 dogs and 2 cats when I got home from the hospital with my DS and the very first thing I did was let my dogs sniff the baby (I have a boxer/ shar pei mix and a pitbull, both are about 80ish pounds) and they bonded instantly I think they knew that he was that thing in my tummy, my cats took a lot longer to want to be around him but now they are friends and even when my DS pulls on them they just lay there and purr he actually tries to purr back at them it sooo cute . He actually learned to pull up to standing on my pitbull and he just sits there and lets him do whatever he wants to him. Then a month ago I rescued a little 8 week old pit / english bulldog mix and he loves my DS, sometimes he gets way to happy and licks DS to much so he will cry but I don't ever worry about him being around the animals, we are going to get chickens and bunnies and goats this summer and a horse as soon as I can afford it. I guess I just never thought it would be a problem to let him around the animals.

[agoldenlife]

Originally Posted by texaspeach

we have 3 cats and introduced ds to them immediately. he can't pet them on his own but we help him to. often when I'm nursing there is a cat on the arm of my chair

My 6 month old dd loves our cat. It is so cute to see her get super excited each time she notices him. I let her "pet" him as she gets such a kick out of this.
He was a bit standofish at first but now comes up and tries desperately to lay on my lap each time I nurse. This is usually fine until he starts to purr and she rips off my breast to get a look at him. Ouch.

[lifeguard]

We have 2 cats & 2 dogs. Immediately upon coming home from the hospital with ds for the first time the dogs gave him a good sniff-over. The cats paid no attention until he started to move on his own. Actually after the sniff-over we went upstairs & I laid him on the bed for a moment & the little dog (who couldn't have seen where the baby was) jumped up right on top of him. They are pretty inseparable now. We do monitor it pretty closely though 'cause at 13 months ds is a bit of a brute - sigh.

[Cherry Alive]

Originally Posted by GoldmanBaby09

We have a very friendly, gentle, 100% indoors cat. I'm a little torn on what I should do to introduce the animal to my baby. Part of me thinks he shouldn't touch the cat for allergy reasons. But that is pretty silly since our whole house is covered in pet hair. Another part of me wants him to get used to petting the kitty "nice" and kitty is so soft and I know babies like to feel different textures.

So what do you do about kids and pets?

There was a study done on kids who lived on farms (full of dirt dust, and animal dander) versus kids who lived in pristine homes. Would you believe the ones who lived and pristine homes and had rare contact with animals had a lot more issues with allergies?

There's also been studies that demonstrate that moms who have pet dander allergies, can have children who don't have them by being exposed to fur and dander while pregnant.

To answer your question, we let our pets and LO have contact right away. It's always been carefully supervised, but full of lots of gentle praise to both the pets and the baby.

We have 3 dogs and 2 cats. One of the cats and two of the dogs took to her right away. The second cat and our third dog were a little afraid, but we gave them time, attention, and encouragement. They have come around. In fact, our "scaredy cat" now *loves* to run up and rub all over our DD.

When I was pregnant, I had worked with the dogs with a realistic doll to condition them to having their fur and ears grabbed, and I played baby sounds around everyone.

They seemed to do well with it so I'm trying the same type of thing with my daughter... She's 9 months and wired to grab fur and tails so I'm seeing if I can condition her to be more gentle. I bought a realistic long-haired dog puppet. Every day or so, I gently run her hand through the fur (while keeping it flat) and give her praise while gently discouraging her from grabbing and pulling.

Of course, I'd never ever leave her alone with our pets until she's an older child and has demonstrated lots of restraint, but given how fast she (and they) move, I figure a little gentle "training" on both ends never ever hurts.

Kissy-kissy.

[DangerMom]

We have two dogs, and we let our 11-month-old play with them for sure. Just never unsupervised. One is a Boston terrier and a little high strung, and while I trust him, I just don't want to take the chance that Simon might grab him too hard and freak him out. Our other dog is big 50-pound mutt, and we call her Nanny Dog now because she is so patient and vigilant around our son. She lets him crawl all over him, tug her ears, anything.

I had to show my son how to stroke them ("Soft") instead of just smacking them, but it's fine.

I want him to grow up knowing the joy of loving and respecting animals, so it was important to me that they interact as early on as was feasible.

As far as dirt, microbes and germs, hell that's all over our house from the dogs anyway, so I'm not concerned.

[laurelg]

Originally Posted by DangerMom

We have two dogs, and we let our 11-month-old play with them for sure. Just never unsupervised. One is a Boston terrier and a little high strung, and while I trust him, I just don't want to take the chance that Simon might grab him too hard and freak him out. Our other dog is big 50-pound mutt, and we call her Nanny Dog now because she is so patient and vigilant around our son. She lets him crawl all over him, tug her ears, anything.

I had to show my son how to stroke them ("Soft") instead of just smacking them, but it's fine.

I want him to grow up knowing the joy of loving and respecting animals, so it was important to me that they interact as early on as was feasible.

As far as dirt, microbes and germs, hell that's all over our house from the dogs anyway, so I'm not concerned.

I could have written this post - DD is 11 months, and we have a male Chihuahua and a female Lab. The Chi normally leaves if DD starts annoying him, and we call the Lab "Nurse Artemis" because she's pretty sure DD is her puppy.

We also have a cat, and I let DD touch him with supervision. He's actually remarkably patient, but she gets rough. She did find him and sit on him when I wasn't looking the other day; I turned around to see him pushing her away with his claws EVER so slightly extended. He was seriously practicing restraint, it was kind of funny - DD promptly burst into tears as if she were offended about the whole thing. Anyway, he's the one we really practice "gentle touches" on.

[Ldavis24]

DD was introduced to Kitty from day 1 and it was kitty who decided that she wouldn't be touching him for a while. Never showed any agression just was a scaredy cat and the minute she cried to he took off under the bed. Now almost 7 months later he still isn't a huge fan of the baby because she crawls after him every chance she gets, when she does actually touch him we do the "gentle pets" routine. We have never worried about the allergy issue or the hair, she's going to get it in her mouth anyway

[Carlin]

DD is almost 6 months old and loves, loves, loves or cats and dogs. She is allowed to pet them when supervised, as I don't think it's fair for them to have to put up with her grabby little hands if we aren't there to protect them. The dogs are not allowed to approach her if we aren't right there (one of them gets this the other is a little too enamoured with her still but it's coming.) I read a couple very good article about dogs and kids (here's one) that make a lot of sense to me, so no matter how good my dogs are with kids, I feel it is my responsibility to make sure that everyone is safe.


The cats of course do whatever they want, but we do try to make sure DD is gentle with them too.