cats with babys?

[hollygiz1]

I have 3 cats and my baby is 8 month old, she recently has has a cough and has always been abit chesty and people are wanting to blame the cats?I am unsure of what to do as how do you know if they are the problem, i think some people want them to be as they dont like cats as many do, i was brought up with cats and im fine any suggestions ??or does anyone know signs if she may be illergic?

Did you BF? I had heard that as babies share the mother's immune system through breastmilk, this includes immunity to the mother's home environment, which I guess would include your cats? Not sure though...

i have 2 cats who are older than my 3 kids.my youngest dd developed a night-time cough very early on in life and was eventually diagnosed with Asthma.The clinic told me that as long as I keep bedding relatively clean...bed bugs etc.and DON'T let cats on her bed,she should be able to live alongside them quite healthily.Touch wood,she's now 8 and she isn't as affected by them anymore as I think she's built up an immunity.She absolutely adores the cats and is always with them.

My mom is a cat nut - we had a minimum of 4 when I was growing up and hit 9 at one point. I moved out of home to go to uni, then moved back 3 years later. At which time I found I have a mild allergy to cats, but it went away after living with them for 2/3 months. I now have 2 cats of my own with no "side effects". My GP advised, as cutekids has said, that if you keep them off your bedding and keep it clean you should be ok.
FWIW, I've also worried whether my DD (who is 13 months) has asthma as she's also very chesty and catches every cough/cold that comes past. My GP said babies are often chesty, and the coughs/colds are probably from nursery rather than cats, and I should only worry if she struggles to breathe, as opposed to just sounding like an engine. Perhaps chat it through with your GP (or HV if you have a reasonable one) for peace of mind?

my 13 mth old DD has had constant cough/rattly chest for months now - it comes and goes. We have a cat and she's been at nursery since she was 8 mths old... GP said it much more likely to be bugs from other kids at nursery rather than cat. And i think i agree.

My DD's have both been super healthy, never had chest or ear infections. They are 5 1/2 & 2 1/2.

We've had 3 cats (1 died, rescued 2 others, then 1 of these died) & next doors cat is always in. All cats have slept on DD1's bed (DD2 is in a cot) & they've slept on our bed.

I put their good health down to long term bf & organic food. I very very rarely use any thing anti bac & always use ecover to wash bedding/clean with. We all have air cleanin plants next to our beds too (peace lilys)

I think there are more links to constantly using anti bac stuff then there are having pets & in fact children that live on farms have less asthma problems.

Kids that live on farms get less allergies than kids that live in towns, theory is that if you are 'too clean' children are more likely to get ill, bit of dirt does them good and all that. Like others say as long as you are clean and don't let the cat sleep on her bed I'm sure the cat isn't contributing to the cold, could in fact be helping her health.

I can't live without a cat about the place. My DS was very allergic - as we discovered whenever we visited the cat rescue centre to find our new kitty! I got him immunised with a nasal spray and luckily for him he never had another problem after a 2 week course. Otherwise he'd obviously have been up for adoption.