Where do you put your newborn with a dog in the house???

[Crazyone84]

I am not due until for a few months but something has really been playing on my mind. This is my first so it may seem like a silly question to all the experienced Mum's out there.
Imagine the situation: newborn baby, dog running around, husband out at work during the day. You want to do something like prepare dinner/lunch or sort some washing in the house (I'm sure there are lots of different tasks you need to put the baby down for) Where do you put the baby that is going to be in eye sight/ear shot that is not too low the dog can sniff and sit on them?
I saw these highchairs with "from newborn" which could be stood in the kitchen or dining room so high enough the the dog wont reach but they seem very expensive compared to the standard high chair.
Am I over thinking this situation or is it as simple as put them in a sleeping crib/Moses basket?

I think you might reframe the question; where do you put the dog with a newborn in the house?

Exactly.

We brought home tiny DS and started interacting with our dog straight away. She was allowed to sniff him etc then we just popped him in his Moses basket in the corner of the room. We never had an issue, never needed to shut her away anything.
If you don't treat it like a big deal it doesn't become one.

What @Haretodaygonetomorrow said. I think a lot of people on here are not dog owners. If you shut the dog away it is out of routine and the dog will be upset and cause you more issues. Granted it would get used to it but you have a dog as part of your family not something to be sidelined as you have "levelled up" to a child. The dog could become resentful/jealous of the baby and with the best will in the world the dog will get out at some point and come barreling through. They are pack animals and want to sit where the pack are.

I plan to have a circular playpen thing and put the baby in that in a bouncy chair or moses basket or activity mat when I am doing things. Like people say on here initially it will be attached to your hip anyway though hopefully will sleep in a moses basket or the pram. I also have a swing chair which is substantial.

I will take the baby with me or the dog when I need to leave the room. As a dog owner you will already know this, but never leave pets and children unattended. My dog is the sweetest, most loving and tolerant tempered thing, but he is at the end of the day and animal and he has limits and my 10 year old struggles with personal space and that includes with the dog. He has to be reminded to keep out of the dogs face esp when sleeping. My dog is normally very tolerant but will give a wee warning growl that he is not happy and ds has learned that is the cue to back off. As a puppy the next move when the warning is ignored is a nip. It hasn't happened in years, but it is the naturally way a dog would say enough is enough if warnings are ignored. The dog will view the baby as a pup and below him/her in the house hierarchy for a long time. My ds I would say is now level or just above where the dog things the hirearchy is and we need to teach him he is in charge of the dog. Babies/toddlers obviously cannot do this so eagle eyes needed.

When I am there my dog I am sure he will sit beside us when feeding and changing nappies. He is a very calm unless back from his walk or my partner comes back and then he will be excitable and barrel through the house.

It is another thing to factor in which is tough going, but you have clearly thought about it and will plan.

My dog has met a few babies already and is interested and calm with them. Most likely he will go to his bed or crate or the couch and sleep most of the time anyway.

There wasn’t much leaving of a baby to do things tbh...lots of doing things while holding a baby or while a baby was in a bouncy chair being entertained by me at the same time, but not an awful lot of leaving.

But once they were bigger or the occasional time I did manage to leave them while I did things, I’d just call the dog to come with me.

Thank you all, some great ideas here and I'm glad I'm not the only one spending far to much time worrying about this.
All the comments about shutting the dog out in another room or garden, this is not going to happen I'm afraid, the dog is not just a dog to us, she is part of the family and she will be involved in raising this baby with us as a team. I feel children raised around animals are a lot more sympathetic to other lives and feelings. She is a gentle soul and is very calm around babies and young children when she has met ones before so I have no concerns but still as a responsible owner would not leave her unattended with a baby. She is also quite heavy dog so I wouldn't want her showing affection and squashing!
She does sleep in a crate and is very happy to go to her bed but also likes to be with you and see what you are doing so feel if I were to shut her out of rooms we are in, this may cause more stress and not sure how much it would achieve. She will bark and scratch to be with us.
The pram/carrycot is a good idea as I will be able to wheel around in the house and garden but high enough the dog wont be able to reach. The dog does not go upstairs so no worries there but lounge, dining room and kitchen is all very open to each other.

@BAfail

Moses basket stand should be fine if placed against a wall.

My four month old flipped himself out of a Moses basket on a stand by kicking. I'd never use a stand.

We bought the Hauck sit ‘n’ relax 3 in 1 chair. Absolutely brilliant! The baby chair is right up off the floor away from the dog. It just took the stress right out of the situation and meant the dog didn’t have any stressful changes too.

Exactly this. It’s so irresponsible to banish your pets because a child comes along. It’s why rescues are full of dogs.

The key is to consider the dog. If you do that at this early stage, your dog and child will have a great relationship. I had a full partition across my kitchen, so the dogs could still lay on their sofas, and as my daughter grew, it meant they always had their safe space. Many of my friends said how great it was, having that to keep the baby ‘safe’, and I always corrected that it was in fact to keep the dogs safe. The dogs are only ever irritated my the kids when they bother them. While they’re eating, or sleeping, or they pull them about. Giving your dog a safe place to be, will keep the peace. But if you lock the dog where it can’t be with or see you, and it’s used to being with and seeing you, it will cause behaviour problems. And when the baby is small, and you can keep the carry cot up on the counter etc, make sure you keep the dog involved. If it’s anything like my dogs, it will worry when the baby cries, and they pretty quickly pick up on the new normal. Good luck x

@MellowMelly this is the sort of chair i have seen but seem pricey, would you say it's worth the money?

I have 2 large dogs and a now 8 month old

I have a stair gate which I can put dogs behind. I also have a playpen which the baby can go in. When she was tiny I put her Moses basket/rocker IN the playpen.

Sometimes the dogs go behind the stair gate (tbh that doesn't bother them too much as their "room" is upstairs in the study so they mosy off to lay in their beds or on our bed 🤣 but baby also goes in playpen, especially if I'm just popping into the kitchen quickly. Depends what's she's doing, depends what dogs are doing.... it's often quicker to move the baby than wake and move the dogs 🤣

We have a 3 week old baby and a bouncey boxer dog. We are using a combination of the following methods when there's just one adult in the house....

• Carry cot (from pram) on a stand in the living room for day time naps. Baby goes in there if I'm in the living room or (adjoining) kitchen.
• Cot bed upstairs in baby's room (baby sleeps in crib in our room), so cot bed is currently sort of like a play pen with mobile, baby mirror etc.

We have a downstairs toilet, if baby is asleep in the carry cot and there is no one else home then I leave the door open when I go to the loo.

If I'm going for a shower then I either take baby in his bouncey chair into the bathroom, or if baby is asleep then I take the dog into the bathroom with me.

Dog is pretty good at following me around the house anyway so that helps to not leave the two of them alone together.

We also have a big outside pen for the dog. It cost a small fortune but it's worth it to have somewhere to put the dog when needed. He has a kennel for shelter and plenty of space in his pen. It's not his favourite place, as he'd rather be snoozing on the sofa, but he is safe and comfortable out there if I need him away from baby for a while.

I had worried about this during pregnancy but actually it's not as difficult as I had expected, and you get used to just always having either the baby or the dog next to you pretty quick.

I personally didn't leave the Moses basket unattended with the baby, the dogs weigh nearly 30kgs each, even against a wall they could knock it. Safer IN the playpen and it has got baby used to it too from the start

@Crazyone84
Yes it has been worth the money. It’s so adaptable and is still used as a high chair 2.5 years later.

It also allowed our dog to just carry on being a massive part of the family, no stressful changes for her and peace of mind for us.

@Crazyone84 We are due in September with baby number 3 but the first with our current dogs who are small but very jumpy. Our house is a bit different in that our bedroom and living room are on the same floor and our kitchen is on the ground floor. We have gone with the tutti bambini cozee air for sleeping but it has wheels to move into our living room and then for the kitchen we have invested in a stokke trip trap high chair with newborn add on. The stokke is pricey but we spend a lot of time in our kitchen and will feel safer knowing our dogs can't jump up at the baby. It is also an investment as my dad has used one since my sister was born, she is now 9 and the chair has only just stopped being used. Hope this helps a bit 😃

We had to buy a high chair with a newborn attachment when my back packed in after our daughter was born. There was no way I could get her in and out of a floor bouncer, I just about could move her in and out of her Moses basket and Snuzpod. It was honestly our best baby purchase. It didn’t just save my back, I also discovered she was happy to sit there and watch me while I cooked, ate, did laundry etc. Not all babies are the same, but ours was happy as long as she was high enough and able to see things. It was the difference between being able to eat breakfast and lunch and not.
But they are pricey, there’s no doubt. Would you consider buying one second hand? There are quite a few being bought and sold on Facebook groups etc.

We have the trip trapp high chair. We didn't buy it when she was tiny and have newborn set. But they are great high chairs, a real investment. She sits in it now playing sometimes when I cook

@Crazyone84 if she is already pretty chilled, happy to go to her crate and good around children, then I think in general, you'll be fine and you'll be able to handle the situations as they arrive. Try have a think is there anything in terms of training you did to do now with her? Even just to refresh her training and making sure her sit, leave stay commands are refreshed in advance of new arrival.
Congratulations on your pregnancy! And thanks for not considering banishing the dog because you've leveled* up.

*such a good way to put it.

If the dog likes to be with you, then that solves the problem? You just need to not leave them together. You won’t be leaving the baby much anyway, probably.

We did nothing any different. My dog follows me round like a shadow. So if I needed the loo, put washing out etc he just followed me

I had a 9 month spaniel when I had my DD. He was mental, so I never left him alone in the same room as her. What I did was I had a sort of fenced off area in the sitting room to pop her in, maybe just on her back on a playmat, and I had a cot in the sitting room for her to sleep in so he couldn't get to her while I was sitting down. Then, if I had to go to the kitchen, i trained him to come with me. So i just called him to me and treated him when he came into the kitchen. After a while, he just sort of became my shadow and knew he had to follow me. I probably did this for about a month before she was born and til she was about 6 months. After that, he paid no interest in her at all. Now she is 20 months and she treats him like part of the furniture and he just potters around ignoring her. I still have to manage her maybe having a snack and he gets locked away, and he is closed into the kitchen to eat his dinner so she doesnt disturb him, but it's very calm and normal now.

It's very doable. Just have somewhere to pop baby when you are doing the hoovering etc that the dog cant get to him/her. But make sure the dog still gets a good sniff if you are holding baby. Let him get his curiosity out of the way under your supervision.

I had worried about the dog accidentally knocking over a Moses basket so downstairs our carry cot is between a bookshelf, wall and armchair (so surrounded on 3 sides) so there is nowhere for it to fall to. Upstairs we opted for a wooden crib in our room instead of a Moses basket, it feels more sturdy.

Dog had actually been much calmer since baby arrived, and had adapted to his 'big brother' role very well. We have given him lots of praise and attention but are still just as careful. Better safe than sorry.

Spending some time in his outside pen isn't a new thing for him, as he had always been put in there if we are all out of the house,

I am moving toward the hauck 3-in-1 highchair idea, just looked on marketplace and there is a few second hand which I am not against buying. This I think is the best solution all round, high enough that dog cannot reach, baby out of dogs way so she can still get around, sleep and chew her toys without being disturbed and also the baby will be more at eye level to see me and I would imagine be more settled than in a crib not being able to see me.
In all honestly I think once the initial excitement of meeting a new person is out the way my dog will be too busy snoring and following me to make a real fuss of the baby. The challenge will come when baby is old enough to eat their own food and that is when the dog will take a real interest for tip bits! less hoovering!

@crazyone84 we have a dog, I'm pregnant, we've talked a lot with our trainer about this. It's worth "desensitising" the dog to baby crying noises, so they dog doesn't get upset when the baby starts crying. There's lots of ways out there but I'm a fan of the kikopup vídeos on your tube. We also have been preparing our dog with a "safe area". When he's in the "safe area" no one, absolutely no one touches him. Treats may get thrown in, but no petting, no playing etc. This means our dog has somewhere to "go" when he feels stressed by the new smells and sounds of the house.

My dog is very stuck to me, goes for a shower with me etc, so I get not wanting to have the dog in a crate or another room, but it's worth reaching your dog some coping mechanisms ahead of the change. Like teaching them firework sounds are ok before NYE etc.

Just a tip for anyone who tries desensitising dogs to the sounds of a baby crying. I tried this before my baby was born. My dog HATED it. He howled and freaked. Then I freaked because he had such a bad reaction to the noise. I freaked so much I had my parents on standby to take the dog if he didnt like the baby.

When the baby came he barely noticed the baby crying. Sometimes he did lick the top of her head as he passed her if she was crying, but that was it. Dont panic if the dog doesnt respond to those desensitising techniques. In reality they act differently.

@Carpetdweller thanks for your concern but our island is pretty massive