cats and babies

[northwoods]

I'm 30 weeks pregnant with our first. Over the last couple of weeks, people have been telling me to get some netting for the babies crib to keep out the cats (we have three). We are not planning on having a crib, and having the baby sleep in bed with us instead.

Do any of you have experience with cats and co-sleeping?

[Jaesun's Dad]

Do any of your cats sleep in your bed now? If so I can see that being a particular problem.

Some friends adopted my cat in preparation for our baby. My partner is allergic and my cat was a very jealous girl, I loved her and she was a good friend and loyal companion but I simply couldn't trust her in the same house as a newborn. She also slept with me and took definite issue when my partner showed up in my bed. Didn't want to see how she'd react to a baby too.

If the cats don't sleep with you and you can lock them out of the bedroom that might be ideal, but you'll of course have to be quite vigilant with three of them that they don't scratch or otherwise attack (even playfully) your baby. Cat scratches can create nasty health problems I'm sure you know.

[kristinas8]

We co-sleep and close the door.

[BarefootGirl]

We are expecting our first and we have several cats. The cats are currently not allowed in either our bedroom or the future baby room, so whether we end up co-sleeping or using the crib, the cats will not have access to the baby. Doors to these rooms stay shut.

Obviously some supervision will be necessary when we are out in the main house with the babe and I won't be able to just set the babe on the floor and leave the room, but I'm not really expecting any major problems.

Just keep the cats out of the bedroom - start working on this now if you think they'll have a hard time adjusting.

[~Adorkable~]

If your cats are indoors only, and if you don't already do this, start clipping the tips of their nails off. That way if anything were to ever happen, it would be a soft scratch not a cutting one. I have clipped my cat his whole life and am so thankful.

My cat would go insane if I locked him out of the bedroom, I really still have no idea how I am going to balance things. He is 16 and completely devoted to being around me, thankfully is also as calm and sweet as it gets.

I a truelly feel really bad to be disrupting his live this much at this old of an age, we are moving at 20w across country to a very different weather environment, then having twins, our first kids. Poor fuzzy little guy.

[Sharlla]

we have 4 cats. the only problem i have wuth them is trying to cuddle baby and waking her up. we do close the bedroom when we sleep
Posted via Mobile Device

[texaspeach]

we have three cats and cosleep. one sleeps at my feet, one sometimes sleeps beside dh, the other one sleeps in the hallway. we haven't had a problem with them bothering the baby, even in the early days. now they see the baby as a tail eating machine and want nothing to do with him.

they do like to sleep in the crib too, but we don't use it.

cat scratch fever is a concern, but only with kittens. I actually had this a few years ago. I got it from my youngest cat who was a feral foster. they are only contagious for a short period.

[geekgolightly]

We had two cats when DS was born and never even considered that this might be a problem. Our kitties stayed away from the baby when he was little. Sniffed his head when he was sleeping but as soon as he was awake, kitties would scatter!

As he has gotten older our kitty (one of our kitties passed away) has really warmed up to DS and they are good friends now, as DS treats him with respect and love.

[Tulpen88]

We coslept when DS was younger and we never had any problems with our cats. I can't remember if they slept on the bed any when he was tiny, but if they did, they stayed far away from him. As he got older, they gave him lots of space and would have never stayed on the bed while he was in bed with us. I'm sure it depends on the cat, but my cats were never interested in snuggling with DS. They still aren't!

[northwoods]

Yeah, one of my cats shares my pillow. He's a lover. I'm more worried about him snuggling (or smothering) the baby than I am any troubles with playing.

I just hear horror stories about cats suffocating babies, but always a friend of a friend's sister's cousin. I can't tell if it's something to really worry about or not!

[rhiOrion]

it depends so much on your cat.

our cat has occasionally tried to get in the side carred crib. the other day i let him walk in and he just stared at the aquarium toy thing and then walked back out. he has never tried to sit anywhere else she goes, like the bouncy chairs. i really figured he would. i do have to kick him out of the glider so i can sit sometimes. he pretty much ignores the baby's existance, except to occasionally use her foot or hand as something to rub her foot on. he sleeps at the foot of the bed and sometimes if she screams he'll just jump down and go elsewhere.

[texaspeach]

Originally Posted by northwoods

Yeah, one of my cats shares my pillow. He's a lover. I'm more worried about him snuggling (or smothering) the baby than I am any troubles with playing.

I just hear horror stories about cats suffocating babies, but always a friend of a friend's sister's cousin. I can't tell if it's something to really worry about or not!

one of my cats used to sleep on me, using my side as a hammock. when ds was born this cat moved to dh to sleep. we didn't have to do anything.

there is an old wives tale about cats smothering babies because they smell like milk and the cat tries to get the milk. it's just an old wives tale.

just play it by ear. see how your cat reacts.

[ellairiesmom]

we cosleep & have 2 cats...my guy had always slept right up on me when it was just he & i all those years before kids, so having them was hard on him.
lately, he has been curling up in the middle of my back or at my head. he often tries to curl up next to dd2 but i stop him-not because i worry he would hurt her-only because of cat hair & possible allergies.

dh's female, younger cat had given up sleeping with us when dd1 was born & sleeps on top of the cable box & dresser "glaring" at us as we like to say.

once dd1 could walk-both cats have stayed clear of her-lol. she tries so hard to get them to like her & for a second, she'll be petting one & they will relax, but then she does something loud, moves quick or pulls a tail & they take off.

we were worried about the cats & babies but honestly...they just wanted to sniff them to check them out mostly. my male is a cuddler so if the baby would let him cuddle up, he would. but neither cat has ever showed any sign of aggression, scratching etc.

my mother's kitten on the other hand...oh boy. she got a kitten 6 mos ago & the kids were so excited. but before long, the kitten got to that "fiesty" stage & was scratching the heck out of all of them. but i really think that's more about the stage/age & that once they grow out of that, cats are very gentle with babies.

[cloudbutterfly]

We got a tall baby gate for our bedroom door. That way the cats can see in and smell/hear us. Oddly enough, it wasn't a problem when we first installed it, but a couple months later my husband took a nap with the cat who always slept on the bed pre-baby one evening and the cat kept me up all night that night, trying to get in. I guess consistency is good for both babies and cats!

[emnic77]

My big dumb cat sleeps at the foot of our bed like always (we cosleep). He is only slightly interested in the newborn, my biggest issue with him is keeping him out of the moses basket (he's not interested when the baby's IN the moses basket, but thinks it's an awesome place to sleep when it's empty).

[Knitting Mama]

My cats (I have 4) are interested in sniffing Cecilia, and that's about it. Oddly, they were never freaked out by her the way that people said they would be. They accepted her immediately, but also leave her alone. A head sniff is the closest they come. We co-sleep and the cats sleep all over, sometimes on the bed, sometimes not. We also don't close off any rooms. My logic is that I don't want to confine Cecilia and I to one place during the day, and so I'd have to keep the cats off everything to avoid cat hair. Not gonna happen. I just clean the cat hair off of her bouncy chair and Boppy before we use it. Rubber cleaning gloves work like a charm!

I also really think that the cat "stealing the baby's breath" or smothering the baby is much more of an old wives tale than anything else. Honestly, I'd be more worried about a dog than I am about the cats, since every dog I've ever met wants to be all over everything new. My in-laws' dog will never leave Cece alone when we go over there!

[Ninetales]

My male cat is a lovey. He's never shown anything but curiosity toward baby and sometimes rubs his head on her feet or snuzzles her head while she sleeps. My female is kind of b----y and got aggressive toward her on the first day home but since then stays far away from her.

They've always slept with us but after baby arrived they stayed out of bed. Over time my boy cat started coming back but he doesn't sleep near her. We have a king bed so there's room. I don't worry about them in bed.

[happysmileylady]

We have 3 cats, had 2 when DD2, now 19 months, was born. She slept in a cradle in our room at the end of the bed for the first several months. The cats normally slept in the bed with us (me) and one in particular had no notion of where a person's face was. She still often flops down right on my face. And I was concerned that she would jump in the cradle (she had been caught sleeping in the cradle more than once before the baby was born) and curl up right on the baby's face. And given that she was almost 10lbs, and DD2 was only 6lbs 5oz, even not on her face, the weight of the cat on such a small baby was a concern.

So, the cats were kicked out of the bedroom. They didn't like it, at all, and the first few nights, they threw a fit at the door. But they got over it and when we moved her to her own room, the cats were closed out of her room and allowed back in ours.

[jump mama jump!]

I was really worried about this at first as our kitty is pretty jealous but so far it's been ok. Even though we don't usually cosleep she wouldn't even come on the bed for a month or two after dd was born. She's just starting to again. I was really worried about it earlier today since i was cosleeping w dd while dh is at work (we have a queen size bed and don't usually let dd sleep in it with the two of us but I do when dh is at work if I'm too tired to wait for her to fall asleep deeply enough to put her in the crib - today I was falling asleep holding her so just put her down next to me) and the kitty came up and sniffed dd, then nested and went to sleep curled up at dd's feet, next to me. It was totally fine and super cute. I fell back asleep and she ran off as soon as I woke up and moved again.

she did sit on the bouncy seat when we got it and I was still pregnant. She also slept in the bassinet thingie that goes to the buggy my sis gave us for a few weeks there. We don't really use it anyway.

[jdg]

We have 5 cats and a dog. Two of the cats regularly sleep with us, cuddled up with DH or at my feet. The dog sleeps on the bedroom floor (or on DH's side of the bed if DH isn't in bed). One of the cats sometimes curls up in the sidecarred crib, but only when DD isn't in there. DD primarily sleeps on or right next to me and all the critters leave her alone.