newborn baby and cat?

Question

My wife and I are expecting our first child sometime around Christmas, and I have a question regarding a baby and a cat. We have a long-haired cat about 2-3 years old.

We're concerned about the cat jumping in the crib and craddle - whether the baby is in their or not. What can be done to prevent this?

We'd like to avoid having cat hair in the crib and keep the cat out of the crib. Any advice? I've heard there's a baby net/canopy that can be hung above. Anyone use this? Is it recommended? What other idea's have you used?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Man...everyone is getting thumbs down!
I guess no one can agree!
lol.

I was really worried about my parents cats when we went there to visit, but they actually got scared when the baby started to cry, and they ran away...now everytime we come over, they automatically hide.

I would be more careful throughout the pregnancy when scooping the litter. you can get Toxoplasmosis

Answer 2

We had 3 cats with our first two and we have 2 now, as number 3 baby is almost here. We never had a problem with this, although I do remember worrying about it. I would keep an eye on the cat the first month you have the baby home and I think you will have a good idea about what the cat will do. I only found our female cat curled up in the corner of the crib one or two times. She never even got near the baby. We always closed the door at nap/bed time too. Usually you are pretty close to your first baby the first few weeks, so you should have a good idea if you need to resort to a cat net. Good luck!!

Answer 3

We have two cats, and a baby girl. Yes, they did jump in the crib a few times before she was born. It was more a getting used to all the new stuff kind of thing, which I read is good to familiarize your animals with some of the "gear" beforehand. They got bored of it, like cats do, and moved on to the next spot. I have heard that some people put tinfoil in the crib to scare the cats and then they don't get back in. Otherwise, keep doors closed if you can.

Honestly, they won't go near it now, even more so if she's in it. She loves them, loves to pat them, touch and pull their fur, so consequently they don't really like to be around her. They didn't like any crying, squealing, etc.. and they tend to steer clear for the most part.

They've really never been a problem. They are quite good cats though, and don't bite or hiss when they get their tails or hair pulled. I've found that they also seem to know that they can't "play" with her, and are surprisingly gentle when she catches them in a playful mood. It's just a familiarization thing, and the cat will get used to the child and they will co-exist just fine.

Best of luck!

Answer 4

Cats are not going to smother a healthy baby. If it can't breathe it will squirm cat will move. that is an old wives tale. Keeping things clean and not allowing the cats around (on) a tiny baby is just common sense. Your cats will be fine but maybe a little miffed if you pay a lot of attention to them now and don't give them that attention when baby comes just like another child would be.

Answer 5

I think that your protective awareness is better than anything you can buy like a net. You willl simply have to keep the cat separate from the baby when you are not right there. Its a job but thats the only way. I just learned of a friend who had the baby with a sitter ( thats when it happens of course) and she heard the baby screaming during naptime and the cat had been left in the baby's room even though they told her not to and scratched the baby drawing blood. I guess you could say a net would have helped but when the child is a little older it might be a problem entangling. Congratulations!

Answer 6

We also have a kitty and brought our 6 week old son home two weeks ago. (He was preterm). Our cat loves to be around him and lay with him, but we only allow this when we are around. Its good to let them bond and show kitty that the baby is nothing to be afraid of, but you also need to keep baby safe. We have our son in a bassinet since he is so little and he sleeps next to our bed. At night, we close the bedroom door so that kitty can't come in and climb in with baby when we are sleeping. She also likes to jump into the bassinet when he is not in it during the day, but we immediately take her out and tell her NO. She has gotten better and doesn't try to get in there as much. Cats tend to just be so inquisitive. They want to know what everything is, so don't forbid him/her from trying to see what this new baby is all about. As for the netting, we do plan on getting that when he moves to a crib and sleeps in his sister's room in a few months. Being that you have a long hair kitty, keep a close eye on the kitty when it is around baby since the hair could pose a threat to baby's breathing. Good luck and congrats on the upcoming arrival!

Answer 7

My wife is having a c-section tomorrow and we have 4 cats, 2 are long haired cats. What we have been doing is to restrict the cats access to the crib and before that we would squirt them with a water bottle. We already have our Christmas tree up and use the water bottle for that as well. It has worked OK for crib but for the tree not so much.

Answer 8

when my kids were little we had an American long hair that ruled the roost (don't they all) we never had to do anything about keeping the cat out of the crib or even away from the baby after the first day. The cat will be curious and you need to introduce the two but the cat will get accustomed to the baby and will even wake you up if you don't hear the baby cry.
Is your cat a sociable animal? that helps a lot

Answer 9

I had a cat who was 10 years old and weighed about 20 pounds of muscle when we had our first. He was very active, but we never had a problem with him getting in the crib. Even if he did, no problem. Unless he's huge, he can't hurt the kid accidentally.

I have heard of cats who had behavior problems when kids came along. We didn't have any problem.

Once when my daughter was a year old, I came home and my wife announced that the cat had clawed her and he had to go. I stated that first off, I had that cat longer than I had both of the them put together, and second that he had half inch claws that were razor sharp and he knew how to use them. If he had tried to hurt her, she would be bleeding arterially. The red line across her skin didn't even break the skin. It was probably a warning shot, and she probably had it coming.

Throughout his life our cat was surprisingly tolerant of the children, and gentle but firm when they needed discipline, cat-style. I remember one time when my daughter was messing with him and he pinned her hand. She was stuck. He wasn't hurting her, but if she tried to move her hand, he would give her some claw. He was just sitting there ignoring her otherwise.

Keep your cat well brushed and you won't have to worry about hair.

Keep your cat! Having pets is extremely important for a child. Early exposure to cats will lessen the possibility of an allergy later in life, as the immune system hasn't figured out that it should overreact when the baby is small. The child will grow up with the understanding that other beings have feelings and demand respect and care. your child will be more empathic.

That old wive's tale about the cat taking the baby's breath away is hogwash. No cat wants the sour milk in somebody's mouth!

Answer 10

We have two cats and my son is now almost 6 months old. Initally the baby slept in our room, we would just close the door at night when we were all sleeping - cat adjusted to this fine. One night, before we closed the door, I woke up to fin one of our cats at the end of his cradle - hmmm. I don't think the cat would do anything, but still - for hair and just in case, we started to close the door. Now that he is in his own room we just keep his room closed all the time. A monitor allows us to hear and he doesn't seem to mind it. At some point we might leave it open, but he'll be a bit bigger than and I won't be as worried - cat hair is pretty tough to beat :)
Another suggestion is to put one of those cottage screen doors on the nursery, my friend did that and it seemed to work well (keep cat out, but still have open door feel to the room).
Good luck!

Answer 11

Pick up your cat.

Place him (her?) in the cradle.

Press down a bit as soon as he gets up to leave.

Repeat a few times. You don't need to be too aggressive with forcing him to stay in there; even the suggestion that you want him to do as he's told will be enough to offend his cat nature.

Repeat with crib (and bouncy chair, and...).

They will become the awful places where Somebody Told Me What to Do!! for your kitty, who will almost certainly avoid them from then on.

For what it's worth, though, our cats do not have any interest in 'curling up to' our baby or anything like that.

A cat and baby in the same house means some picking of cat hair off the baby -- there is no way around that -- but it's not as much of a bother as you might think.