One spoiled cat and a baby on the way!

[Charlotte10]

I am 35 weeks pregnant and have a 9 year old cat who, until now, has been very spoiled and allowed to sleep on our bed (naughty as that may be!).

I am worried that the cat will climb in with the baby in the moses basket and suffocate her.

I dont want to shut the cat out, as she is fairly old now and set in her ways, but dont really know what to do for the best.

Any advice very much welcomed!

We were in a similar situation when we had DS1.
We bought nets for the moses basket etc, but in the cent the cat decided to try and completely ignore DS1 and never showed any interest! Perhaps we were just lucky, I don't think you can predict it.
8 years on, and another child the cat is still here and loves her strojkes from the kids.
I do make sure that they are always gentle with her though, I can't abide kids who just pull animals around.

We had similar thing. We stopped cat coming upstairs from early on in pregnancy to get her used to it. She was fine, and put up less protest that expected.
The cat barely "spoke" to us for years after and pretty much kept out of way of baby - she wasn't impressed by noisy thing!
Now my baby is almost 5 and they are the best of friends!
We bought a cat net for cot but never used it. Mothercare sell them if you want one x

Our cat slept on the bed & we were worried how he would react to the new baby. We bought cat nets but they were impractical. The cat barely showed an interest in DS apart from the odd "play whack" on the head which was swiftly discouraged.

Luckily he's a gentle cat who puts up with much tugging of tail & fur. He still sleeps on the bed & sometimes when we co-sleep with DS it gets a bit crowded...

I apologise in advance - this is going to sound mean.

We had a cat that was not at all affectionate and rarely sat on your lap. When my son was born, he was in his moses basket whilst I went to answer the door to the health visitor. I showed her into the room my son was in whilst I went to make coffee. I heard the HV scream, the cat was curled up on my sons face. My son was OK fortunately but I knew this couldn't happen again.

I called the RSPCA that afternoon, explained everything and drove the cat there immediately. I never told anyone. The cat used to go missing for a day at a time so my DH, who loved it, thought nothing of it. Luckily(!) a few days later a neighbours cat went missing, a local fox was blamed and I never came clean.

Phew, good to get that off my chest.

We have had Paddy our excruciatingly affectionate, sometimes over-affectionate, cat for a couple of years and until my baby boy was 3 mths old the Paddy slept on our bed. However, I just couldn't stand the fur and dust everywhere upstairs - it was really getting to me as the fur was getting everywhere, although neither Paddy or my other cat (a female) have shown any interest whatsoever in the baby. I have now decided to shut both cats downstairs purely because of the fur, not because I'm concerned about either or them trying to get into the cot or anyhing. Paddy in particular is only interested in trying to get as much attention from me as possible, and as soon as my baby is in bed (and sometimes when he's on my lap too, and in which case he is sent on his way!) he is straight up for a cuddle - the baby is non-existent to him. I think the story of the cat on the baby's face is the exception rather than the rule. Most cats are scared of small, loud, shouty things! You don't want to shut your cat out (understandably - I feel terrible making mine stay downstairs when they've both been used to the run of the house, but needs must...) but at your cat's age I don't know what you can do otherwise. Not sure if she will be too old to learn that she's not allowed here or there, etc.

I agree with emmx. My cat was about 8 years old when I had dd1. He used to sleep on the bed and be thoroughly spoiled before I had children.

However, as I have had 2 children my priorities have completely changed. I have noticed all the fur and extra bits of grime that cats bring into the house and just didn't want my babies to have to roll around in it. So...cats were relegated to downstairs when dd1 arrived. Now dd2 is here, I was breastfeeding her with a cushion underneath her and I noticed it was full of cat hair!!!!! Both cats used to sleep on the sofa and I just haven't got the time to keep hoovering all the time! So..now they have comfy beds made in the shed and are not allowed in the house. Before i get slated by animal lovers, I would like to say that i am one. But, your priorities do change and your children are too nice, clean and precious to be rolling around in old cat hair and dirty bits of grime....