any advice on cats and babies

[shamshu]

Hi - We're expecting our first baby at the end of feb - we have an extremely fluffy cat who loves warm places to sleep and are a bit worried that he'll try to get into moses basket / cot while baby is sleeping - He usually sleeps upstairs on our bed so we'll have to get him used to sleeping in a seperate room to us. Does anyone have any advice on things we can do / use to stop the cat getting into baby's sleeping areas? Would really appreciate any advice. Thanks

Just keep an eye on them basically.

The cat may/or may not want to share the babies sleeping area so you need to be vigilant, make sure you check the cat is out of the room before you leave baby etc.

DS screamed, very loudly, in the presence of both our cats on his first day home...that worked! The cats wouldn't come into our bedroom while ds was sleeping in there!

Other than that...keep doors closed? Provide cat with nice comfy alternative sleeping places away from smelly/noisy baby.

We've had no problems with cats trying to sleep on ds.

same as jessa..... dd squalled when the cat was a foot away from her when she was barely a day old and he's been petrified of her since

he's fonder of ds and i have pictures of him stretched out next to him as a newborn but as he's not allowed upstairs (smelly tom cat) and ds is never asleep downstairs without someone there it's not a problem

my aunts cat climbed into my basket and curled up on my head when i was 8 weeks though so it is a very real danger and you do need to be extremely vigilant until the baby is old enough to protect itself (ie a toddler that can move away)

I have a big fat furry kitty who's favourite place is in my lap He does sleep upstairs in the bedroom with us at night but because we are trying for a baby, I suggested we start now discouraging him from sleeping in our room at night. I got him a soft fluffy cat bed and put it under the radiator in the kitchen and I lock him in the kitchen overnight (it's quite big and has his food, water and litter tray there). If I merely shut our bedroom door, he just paws and cries at the door wanting to come in (he does it when I'm in the shower!). Just a case of getting him use to it, or you - I find that I miss it most, miss having my furry foot warmer
My DH has a ds who lives with his mum, she has 2 cats (had them before she was pg) and they have never given her any bother with dss. As long as you keep a watch on where cat is when baby is sleeping won't be a problem.

we got a cot size cat net, so we could pull it tight around carrycot, etc, and use it on the cot too, as one of our cats does do starnge things and likes to sit on people's heads, shoulders, etc

We have 2 cats who used to sleep upstairs but i started shutting them downstairs at night (with comfy beanbag) when i was pregnant. Once DS born i always kept the doors shut to our bedroom (when he was in a basket) and the nursery.

Maybe start keeping all the upstairs doors shut or the hall door if you have one so that they get used to not going up there.

When he was born they have pretty much ignored him and were distinctly unimpressed by the noise he made. They are even less impressed now he is crawling mind!!

I think that as long as you are vigilant about making sure they are not shut in a room with him you'll be fine.

Thanks all for your advice - Might try and get a cat net also(although haven't seen any in the shops) - we'll just need to be extra vigilant - I know given the chance he'll def. try to get into baby's cot!! Will try to get him used to not sleeping in the bedroom with us now.