DH Leaving Baby Alone with Cats

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I'm really struggling with a situation at home and could use some outside perspective. I have a three-week-old baby and we also have cats. Today, my husband left our baby in the living room with two of the cats while the baby was sleeping so he could wash dishes and quickly nip upstairs.

I completely flipped out when I discovered this. In my view, a newborn should never be left alone with pets, even for a few minutes. I've made this request clear before, but my husband is now saying he's not going to follow it if he's "just nipping out the room for a few minutes."

I'm absolutely devastated that he won't honor this simple request regarding our newborn's safety. The cats may be perfectly gentle, but they're still animals with unpredictable behavior.

Am I being unreasonable here? Or am I right to be upset that my husband won't follow this boundary when it comes to our baby?

More importantly, what can I do about this, what do others with cats do?

Yeah you need to chill out, if it was a dog, thats fair, but a cat?

Why can’t you trust your cats? I had my cats around my kids when they were newborns, never once did they try anything.
with all respect, chill out.

@Idunno8A cat could suffocate a newborn if it jumped in the moses basket. I'm with OP.

This really isn't something you need to worry about.

I have cats and would never have left them alone with a newborn. They could easily scratch / claw a
baby out of curiosity for example. He needs to pick the cats up and put them out of the room and close the door, or leave them outside or in another room with the door closed. It’s pretty easy to manage, I would see it as there is no reason to leave them in the same room really.

No, YANBU.

Second the above post. I think you’re not supposed to leave cats unattended with small babies because the Moses basket type cots are small and warm so perfect place for cats to snuggle up and accidentally cause harm to baby

I had several cats and a baby. They weren't allowed in her bedroom, but had full run of the rest of the house 24 hours a day.

Once upon a time mothers put their babies in prams for hours in the garden and put cat nets over the pram.

I think you're justified tbh. We had a cat that viciously attacked me and my husband a few years ago. We had to go to A&E. We were covered in cat bites. It was totally random

I’m with you op

I have a 6 month old and 4 cats (unfortunately one went missing, did have 5 when the baby was born) We found that eventually it became unsustainable never leaving him with the cats when we popped out, ie to the loo.

What do you think is going to happen? I know there are old wives tails about babies suffocating cats but we checked that out and couldn't find any recorded cases, just cats that were in the same room when babies had unfortunately passed of SIDS. I think it was around the time of the witch trials when cats were vilified that these stories first started and unfortunately people just believe what they read.

I do understand your feelings on the matter, and I was the same initially, but then I did relax about it. I obviously shut them out of our room at night time and to be honest I mostly take the baby room to room with me, but if I pop out to make a brew or do some dishes I do let the cats wander about. The cats are more likely wary of the new addition and they aren't malicious creatures x

A complete and utter over reaction on your part.

please link any cases where babies have been smothered by a cat.

YANBU. The accidental suffocation is scary in that scenario, even without the cat trying to harm the baby.

It used to be a common thing, many years ago for people to put " cat nets" over babies when they were sleeping in prams to prevent cats sitting on the babies face and suffocating it.

So OP you are right to be concerned.

For God's sake is he mental? This is so negligent. I've always had cats and DS was never left alone with them until he could sit up and even then I'd supervise.

Our neighbour’s cat jumped into her newborn baby’s Moses basket. His face and eye were very badly scratched and he was bitten on the arm.
She was absolutely devastated.

Well this is it. Cats can bite if they feel threatened and sepsis can occur very quickly. I love cats but this is just so negligent.

Our cats were fine with the baby. Didn't go near. However if the moses basket wax empty they sometimes tried to sneak in.
Honestly, I don't think as negligent as you think OP.

OP you are absolutely in the right. It’s one thing to pop out of the room v v quickly, but not to wash the dishes. Can’t he put the cats in another room? I totally agree with you.

YANBU. Could you get a cat net to put over the Moses basket / pram / cot? That solved the problem of trying to herd cats out of a room.

I am pretty relaxed about most things but I definitely wouldn’t leave a baby unattended with a cat on the loose. They are very agile and could harm the baby if it jumped into area where baby is.

This wasn't something that worried me personally, my cat never showed any interest in going near the baby.
Have your cats tried to get in with the baby or have they ever been aggressive?

I'm 99% sure a cat smothered a baby in either Footballers Wives or Bad Girls back in the day (based off an old wives tale) and it's made people paranoid.

OP, you know your cats. If they are highly strung and ready to attack, then you probably should re-home them.

Or maybe At Home with the Braithwaits?

Cats can smother babies.