DH Leaving Baby Alone with Cats

It would be if there was any sctual
proof it was the cat, which there isn't.

old wives tale.

And yet there was also a story from Russia a few years back where a cat curled around a baby who was abandoned in the freezing lobby of an apartment building and basically kept the baby alive all night, and iirc another from Poland another few years ago where a toddler wandered off in winter and a cat did the same - toddler and cat found the next day...

I think you overreacted.

Try to relax a bit.

This is your first baby, right?

You’re in for a stressful time, as are the cats. You might as well rehome them if you’re going to be like this.

I would never leave my baby unattended with any animal either, but that’s just me.

YANBU, there was a story where a 9 month old was killed by a cat.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/cat-kills-baby-girl-sleeps-21014606.amp

You're definitely being unreasonable. Give the poor guy a break

@NestOfWipers surely just one baby losing their life is enough. Do you really need a clinical paper?!

A decent pet 🤣

Nobody is suggesting that “much loved” Tiddles is plotting against the baby cause he’s a bit of a wrong un.

Dcats didn't like DC shattering their quiet existence and so would leave the room if I brought DC in their moses baskets. MiL asked if I would be rehoming the cats when the DC came along! 🤔

Only you know your cats temperament. You can get cat nets if you have concerns about them jumping up onto the crib. I never found a proven incidence of a cat smothering a child and always thought it was an old tale left over from history. However I imagine a toddler pulling at a cat might provoke a reaction

Absolutely. With this kind of thing we'd go with whoever is being more cautious, just out of basic respect for each other.

What do you mean "a decent pet"?! They're animals! I have two cats and a dog, they're all soft as butter but they're still animals at the end of the day and I would never leave a small defenceless baby with them unsupervised. I don't think anyone is suggesting a cat would intentionally suffocate a baby out of some kind of murderous rage, but if they got in the cot next to them, or sat on them because they're warm, they very well could kill them.

We had 3 cats when my dc were babies and it never occurred to me to separate them. I think you're being over anxious.

Why are people so defensive about their cats? It's ridiculous.

For Gods sake, a babies welfare comes first, even if there is a miniscule chance that the cat could harm the baby....you would not leave such a young baby unattended with the cat.
The links that have been provided all say the same thing.

But what are your cats like? If they are calm and docile then no problem. If they tend to be randomly violent then YANBU.

Personally I wouldn't see any danger in leaving a baby in a room with a much loved cat for few minutes.

Why on earth would a decent pet smother a baby? where do people get this from??

The issue is not whether it's dangerous, but that you have asked him to do something which will put your mind at rest and he's not willing to acquiesce. You're a new mum with all of those protective hormones racing through your system. It's a potentially very stressful time. He needs to listen to you even if the request seems unreasonable to him.

It doesn’t matter whether it’s an old wives tale or not (weird angry defence of cats there flaky 🤣).

The OP is uneasy with something that is a valid concern and so her husband should be supportive. She’s literally asking him to shoo the cat out of the room, how hard is that to do for this very short period of the baby being newborn and in a Moses basket?

Cats scratch and do so randomly, they also jump into things and knock them over. The baby being scratched or the basket being knocked would be enough for me.

Yes do they still do cat nets they used too for prams.
I remember the saying mind the cat with the baby.

It's almost an entirely unfounded concern. There have been 4 suspected incidents with a cat smothering a baby since 1980 – and those only suspected as cat was in the same room, with it also being probably the infant died from SIDS.

It's not something I would get distressed about if during daytime and the baby is only unattended for a few minutes – which is common sense with or without cats.

This did happen. I remember reading about it. CBA to find the link. But honestly, if there is even the slightest risk, is it worth it? Also, there is an issue about the DH not doing what the OP has requested.

Agree, the problem with cats is them sleeping with the new born in the Moses basket not that they will attack the baby (although I guess that is also possible!)

Because they are animals??🙄

You're being oddly militant and adamant that people should take life-threatening risks, even if very small, with their own babies just because you think it's fine. Also, even if the baby moved their head and started crying, the cat might spook and scratch them. Why risk that?

I most certainly did. You clearly, did not read any of them. HTH

When I was a child it was accepted that cats might lie on an unattended baby in its pram/cradle etc and smother it. I have just googled and found a paper was published in the British Medical Journal in 1982 that concerns a baby found fighting to breathe with a cat lying on its face. It didn't survive as it had severe brain damage.