Saturday, 21 November 2009
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Preparing Pets for Baby's Arrival
Recently a good friend of mine gave birth to two beautiful and healthy twin girls. After I found out she was pregnant I was so excited and curious about every step of the pregnancy. As weeks turned into months and my friend’s belly grew bigger the idea of having two living breathing baby girls with us became more and more of a reality. I began to wonder how their household pets, 2 cats and a large Golden Retriever would fare once the babies arrived. The pets had been the babies for so long and I was a little worried about how they would react when the two girls were brought home from the hospital for the first time.
Pets and babies can coexist happily if the parents just take a few precautionary steps before and after the birth of baby. Fortunately my friend’s pets are all lovely and well-behaved but if there are behavioral issues with any of the animals that will be around the new baby it is best to address them before the child comes home. Go over basic discipline commands with your dog(s) prior to the birth of the baby to prevent any problems later on. It is better to take care of this stuff before you are too tired and busy to!
One of the first things my friend did when she got her bassinet was to spread out foil where the babies would lie. If the curious cats were to jump in the bassinet they would likely be frightened by the noise of the foil and would steer clear of it in the future. My cat seems to love foil so I am unsure this trick would work in my house but it seemed to work for them.
My friend also made sure that when she and her husband came home from the hospital that they introduced the animals to the girls very slowly. It is often best to keep the pets and babies separated for the first few days home. By doing this the animals will get a chance to hear and smell the babies and get use to new lives being in the home. It is also a good idea to take a blanket with baby’s scent on it and give it to the pets to smell. Again this will help the pets get use to and familiar with the smell of the new baby.
This last bit of advice may seem difficult especially when you are not getting much sleep and feel as if you do not even have time for you but it is very important to make sure that you have special time for your pets as well. Giving your pets enough of attention will let them know that you still love them and any behavioral problems that could stem out of jealousy will be nipped in the bud.
Always supervise animals and babies when they are together. Animals may have good intentions but do not realize that they may be hurting baby. The family I nanny for, for instance, has a tiny dog that loves the kids but sometimes he tries to sit on the 4-month-old! The dog has no intentions of hurting baby he just wants to be as close as possible. So again it is best to supervise any interactions between baby and pet.
How did you prepare your pet(s) for a new baby? Have you had any problems with pet(s) and baby?
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About the Author
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- From: michcoy@xanga
- Name: Michelle
- About Me: I am a full-time nanny who loves to write whenever I can. I also love being outdoors whenever possible. Camping, hiking and kayaking are a few of my favorite activities.
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Comments (8)
We have a dog (black lab) who has anxiety problems. Since my husband was deployed for most of my pregnancy, our dog Bella was my constant companion. (She even went to work with me!). I wondered how she would do when Andrew was born and she was no longer allowed in our bed (since we co-sleep with our son) and all the other changes.
When I went into labor, she stayed right by my side. She put her paw on my arm and just sat there. I think I knew then that she would be okay. When we brought Andrew home from the hospital, she was curious but kept her distance unless we asked her to come closer. He's five months old and they are best friends. She LOVES him and I'm really glad. She's perfect with him too....:)
I've actually wondered about this a lot. I'm halfway through my pregnancy right now and my husband and I live in a two bedroom apt. I'm not really sure where to put our cat once our spare bedroom is turned into the baby's room. I'd love to just get rid of the cat...but she's my husband's.
@LauraG0929@xanga - haha, never get between a man and his pet! Cats and babies can coexist fine, too. When my parents brought me home from the hospital, they plopped me down in my infant car seat and called the cat over. He came up, sniffed me from head to toe, and declared that he was hungry. (He always was a vocal cat)
The point is, a lot of animals pick up on the fact that these are just "kittens", and many will help "raise" them.
As for the two bedroom problem... It might be best to just close the door to the baby's room NOW, so the cat can get used to the fact that it is off-limits. Can you offer your room up instead? Cats can be trained fairly easily to stay at the foot of the bed, and not encroach on your "face space".
@the_hidden_angel@revelife - Well, the spare room is actually where we keep her litter box and her food. I normally lock her in there every night because I don't like her sleeping with us. (She's a looooong haired black cat, she sheds really badly, and she's very stubborn.) But you're definitely right about training her now, I guess we should move her stuff sooner than later. I know I don't want her litter box in our room now, because since I'm pregnant the doctor said that I need to stay away from it and that it's bad for the baby for me to even breathe the "fumes." We downsized when we moved here, in our last place we had a storage room where we kept her stuff. Now I just feel like she'll be in the way too much. Also, my husband is in the Army and he's deploying next year, so I'm planning on moving home to Canada for a year while he's gone...I'm not too keen on taking an animal across the boarder either.
Lol, after reading that I think I sound kind of like a mean little wife... O_o Maybe I need to try to see things from his point of view.
Do we really need a pet at home? I think it is not so early to have a pet while a baby is growing... many viruses are carried by pets that we could not judge by our visible eyes.
wow good tips!
Train your pets before you even think about having kids! The leading cause of death in cats and dogs right now is euthanasia - due to behavior issues!!! The vast majority of those cases are because the owners never bothered to train their pets properly, and when they had kids they couldn't handle both the kids and the ill-trained or untrained pets. That is seriously screwed up.
@XxFireXboltxX@xanga - Your dog sounds unbelievable! My mom had a black lab when I was a baby and though she has loved all of our pets I think that was her favorite. She said that my brother and I would pull his ears, touch his food and he would just sit there! Not that I recommend allowing children to do those things heh.
I am glad you had her while your husband was away, animals are so great at comforting the people they love.