Pregnant with a dog in the bed??

Question

I am 14 weeks pregnant and we have a large dog, a poodle mix that is around 70 pounds. He has slept in the bed with us since he was a puppy, but he is starting to make me nervous. Several times during the night he stetches out and his leg kicks me in the stomach. Can this hurt the baby?? I know the baby is cushioned. in the amniotic fluid but just want to be safe. We are considering trying to make hime sleep in the floor, but this will be difficult because he is very stubborn.And I can't let him roam this house at night because we have a security system with motion detectors so we really have to keep him in the room. Could he really hurt the baby?

Answer 1

If he's just stretching out his legs and accidentally hits your stomach, there's no harm done (unless you are a high-risk pregnancy). However, if he were to lay on you, there is a very slight risk of hurting the baby, but typically, I'd say everything is OK. The only problem I see for the present time is the fact that you are getting uncomfortable. If you feel uncomfortable about it, maybe you should teach him to sleep on the floor or the foot of the bed. It's better for him to be down there than to have you nervous constantly. Maybe you can buy a doggie bed and put one of your blankets from your bed down there. That would help a bit b/c it'd have your smell on it and he may feel more comfortable.

A long-term problem could be if you decide to co-sleep. I know this is out in the modern society and most people swear they will not allow it, but you never know until you have a child. (I SWORE I would never, EVER, let my daughter sleep in my bed, but I ended up doing that occasionally because it was easier to breast feed.) I you decide to do that or think you might, it'd be best to start training him now on sleeping on the floor. Of course, if he accidentally kicks the baby when it's out of your stomach, it can do damage...by scratching, etc. Or he could roll over on the baby. In that case, try to start training him now.

As for that alarm, could you close your bedroom door until he gets used to it? Or maybe get a babygate for it so the heat can still circulate? That way, he couldn't leave the room.

I know pets are a big part of people's lives but you need to do what you feel comfortable with.

Best of luck!

Answer 2

We've got a black lab who is over 100 pounds. She's going to be 6 years old on Christmas and has lived here since the day she was old enough to be away from her mother. She slept on the bed most of that time.

My husband and I have been together for 2 1/2 years now. Before I got pregnant, I had no problems with her sleeping on the bed, besides the fact that she would stretch out and I would be pushed out of bed.

Once I started getting bigger, space on the bed started being precious. Eventually, she was told to stay on the floor when we went in to bed. There just wasn't enough room for the three of us! It took some persistance on our parts, but since she got the idea, she's rarely tried to get back into the bed while we're both in it.

If you're going to try to keep her off the bed, I would suggest you start doing it now. That way it can be a gradual learning.

I never believed that the baby was in danger from the pup, I just wasn't comfortable at all. I wouldn't discount the possibility that a well placed paw could do some damage, but I don't know for sure.

Another reason that I'm glad that we started our pup sleeping on the floor before the baby was born is that occasionally, the baby has slept in our bed with us. Not for the entire night, but for through the night feedings and diaper changes. As much as I believe that the dog would not hurt our daughter on purpose, when she sleeps there is the possibility that she could misplace a kick and get the baby. When our daughter has slept in our bed, it was nice to know that the pup wasn't going to be a problem.

Concerning your alarm system... we have an alarm system as well. When our alarm was installed, we had a "large pet" motion sensor installed, and she rarely tripped the motion sensor before she reached full size, now we have to "lock-out" the motion sensor when she is home alone. At night, we set the perimeter alarm only. That way the pup can have free reign of the house (and we don't set anything off when we need to get up for the baby or anything else). We are also able to set the motion sensors for the entire house when we leave so that the dog doesn't set them off, but a person would.

I would check to see if yours has those features. Your pup may be able to have the run of the house at night... but if he's anything like our pup, he'll still want to be with you in the bedroom.

Good luck and congratulations!

Answer 3

Based on your description, I don't believe the dog stretching and pushing on your belly will hurt your baby. One thing to consider is not making the dog "resent" the baby - if all of a sudden he's made to sleep on the floor, or not be as close to you as he's been since he was a puppy, he'll figure out why and then you could have real problems with resentment. I would suggest you consult with your vet regarding how to go about helping your dog to deal with a new baby BEFORE the baby is even born. Anything to make it a smooth and worry-free transition for not only yourselves, but the dog too.

Congrats and best of luck!

Answer 4

No your dog kicking you will not hurt the baby.

However, now is the time to consider where he will sleep AFTER the baby comes.

Are you breastfeeding? If you are I guarantee that you will have the baby in the room with you at least in the begining. You probably aren't going to want him in your room during the night. Now is the time to get him used to sleeping somewhere else so that he doesn't resent the baby.

Now I have a dog and I let him continue to sleep in our room BUT he rarely sleeps in the bed except by himself. And I have the baby in a co-sleeper so it isn't like he was in a bassinet on the floor, and the dog would have to climb over me to get the the baby. However if you are planning to use a bassinet/cradle he needs to be out of the room. If you are co-sleeping he probably needs to be off the bed, at least.

Even if you don't think you will want the baby in the room with you may want to consider moving the dog just in case. It will be easier to let him back in after the baby is a few weeks old and you know for sure, than to be trying to train him as soon as the baby arrives.

Answer 5

The real concern you should have is after the baby is born. Right now it is OK and really what you can do is by-pass the motion detectors in the house at the key pad location. Jealousy will be something you have to monitor after the baby is born and joins you in the bed. The dog can perceive the baby as being intruding on his territory in the bedroom and a 70 pound dog is big.

Answer 6

Vetbed (in case you could get it the position you're) is about the perfect yet you do ought to visual show unit in case she scrapes it up and smothers a newborn .... this is why i have continuously had a cardboard grocery-style container, with a warmth hotwater bottle in it, properly lined so's now to not scald the domestic dogs, interior the whelping container so i am going to whip the newborns faraway from mum for the duration of each and each and every delivery. this is because we've Bassets and they are low to the floor. My bitches whelped on newspaper (those who somewhat had their domestic dogs at residing house - maximum ended up having C.Sections because of uterine inertia) with slightly of Vetbed on properly. yet they make a remarkable mess earlier to whelping. I agree that sawdust isn't a good idea for a youthful muddle. later on, once the whelping is over, and the domestic dogs are cellular, I extra yet another 4 X 4 section to the unique 4 X 4 pig-railed section and that section replaced into all newspaper (lavatory section) with Vetbed interior the unique section --- domestic dogs do favor some thing to grant them traction which newspaper doesn't provide them.

Answer 7

if that would hurt the baby then my 40 pound son jumping on my gut would definetly hurt mine!the answer is no!it takes an impact as great as a major car accident to even possibly harm the baby.i would however get the dog used to sleeping somewere else because when the baby gets here youll probably have it in bed with you at least occasionally in the beginning and then the dog could hurt the baby.

Answer 8

Try switching sides. Its going to be so hard to get him out of your bed after he's been allowed to sleep on it so long. I guess if he kicks you hard enough thats not a good thing at all. I had a very heavy dog when pregnant and the doctor had told me not to allow him to jump on me at all.
If you can get him to learn to sleep some place else that would be best.
I hope he doesnt give you problems with your baby when it arrives. I felt like I was being very unfair to my dog when my daughter arrived because I had to confine him to certain areas cause he was very big and clumsy.

Answer 9

I do not believe he can harm the baby while you are pregnant.
I would consider trying to coach him onto the floor though. Eventually your baby will be born and you don't want to have him/her lay with you and accidently get kicked by the dog.

Answer 10

I doubt he kicks hard enough to do any damage, but that little one is probably thinking "Wait until I get out there! I'm gonna kick that dog's butt!!" :)

You could always try sleeping in a position that doesn't allow the dog to kick your tummy if it's not too uncomfortable for you.