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?

400 under 5’s had to have surgery after a dog attack in 2018 in the UK. So I think people are right to suggest you take all the precautions possible.

@Viletta

What's the best way to introduce dog to the newborn? I read that distance means respect and it's a good idea to let dog sniff baby's blanket or clothes but don't allow her to approach for the first 2 weeks. Not sure if this makes sense or should I allow the dog to see and sniff the newborn right away?

Unless you’ve got specific concerns about your dog, I’d just do it straight away.

Both my DC were brought home to a different dog (4 years gap so old dog died and had a new one) they were both fairly normal, well socialised, trained adult dogs and they just sniffed the baby and sort of went, oh aye, tiny person... but where have you been? fuss me, lol

I wouldn’t isolate the dog from the baby routinely as I don’t think you’ll need to do that. I have plenty of friends where the two co-exist; baby is never left alone with dog but I think it’s more sustainable to teach the dog how to behave around the baby. Most dogs instinctively can tell when they are around a ‘little person’ who is more vulnerable and even the lively ones will show more moderate behaviour in a lot of cases.
We have a really lively poodle. She is a big dog but one day a toddler wandered over to her and our dog’s paws never left the ground (she is normally quite an excitable jumper!). Somehow she just seemed to understand that this little human wasn’t to be played with the same way as us adults.
I’m due next week. We plan to coach our dog on how to behave with the baby on the floor, changing mat, or in the bouncy chair etc. I don’t think the dog will sit on the baby - that’s more of a cat thing to do! When our baby is asleep we plan to have him in the pram crib on a stand so similar to a Moses basket set up. It’s very sturdy.
Once baby is on the move, they need to learn how to behave around the dog (not to pull tail, take toys off the dog etc). I think a bit of training on both sides will go a really long way and avoid jealousy on the part of the dog. So much will change for them anyway when the baby arrives but really aren’t we trying to create a unified family? I wouldn’t be shutting the dog away/separating the two routinely. There are times of course when you might need to briefly shut the dog in the kitchen eg when midwife comes for an appointment or you have a shower but other than that, I think you can take the dog with you if you go to the toilet. I obviously wouldn’t leave the dog with the baby alone but really I think it will be lovely to see the baby and dog bond and have a friendship. I think your dog might surprise you once baby arrives. Failing that a dog trainer could be helpful.

We have always had stair gates up before children even were a thought as we had/have dogs they have their designated spaces, they don't rule the house therefore they are shut out of certain areas. Failing that a crate for when you are doing something and giving baby 'tummy time' or time on the floor where a dog would normally be able to get to. Yes the dog may have been there long before baby BUT you have to consider the babies safety over the dogs wants to run around the house willy nilly. Boundaries are key!

We will need to get a few gates put up. I have a Newfoundland who follows me everywhere so I just know she would be all over baby trying to lick it. We are in the middle of getting her some more training so some house training will need to be added in now.

@tabulahrasa we just let him sniff her as much as he liked while we held her. He had the odd lick of the top of her head too. Then he just wanted us to fuss him. I put DD in the bouncer quite a bit and did used to sit beside her to stop him getting too close, but after a while he lost interest and just gave her the odd sniff or lick as he passed. He did like to sleep under the bassinet that we had downstairs but that was more because it was den-like I think, and he watched her in the bassinet if she cried (it had a mesh surround).

I say dont make a massive fuss over the baby and the dog. Let him investigate and then just return to normality just with another human in the house, and give him love too like you always did.

Our dog freaked out when we brought the LO home, he went totally crazy to the point we worried we'd have to re-home him...hysterical high pitched crying, howling any time baby made a noise, constant barking and wanting to charge at the baby (we had him on a lead). He'd never been around babies and children before. Now, 6 weeks later he's totally relaxed around the baby. We did the following:

-Took him to a relatives's house for the first few days and had him at ours for a little bit each day, increasing the time gradually. That gave us all space to adjust to the new situation.

-Initially when he was at ours for visits he was kept on a lead and allowed to sniff the baby and her things. If he got overexcited he was pulled back and given the "sit" and "down" commands. We gave treats and praise when he sniffed the baby calmly. This was repeated many times.

-Eventually he was allowed off the lead and came back to ours full time. Again, praised when calm around baby and reassured if she cried (which he initially found distressing).

-Baby and dog aren't separated, dog is included in family life (so if we're holding baby while watching TV dog is on the sofa too) but they're never left alone in the same room.

-If baby is put down during the day it's in the Moses basket or rocker. I'm normally sitting right beside, so not an issue if dog is there too but if I have to pop to the loo or something I just get dog to leave the room and close the door. If I need to do housework baby goes in sling.

-At night baby sleeps in next to me crib but it's not attached to the bed, we just use it as a stand-alone crib as I'm paranoid about the dog sneaking in there to sleep next to the baby and a accidentally suffocating her. We probably should've just bought a regular cot.

@Dobbyssoc and @tabulahrasa thank you for replying! It does make sense to me to let the dog sniff the little one and calm down.

@Overthinker1988 great to hear you managed the situation so well! I also have a next2me for and usually the doggo sleeps in our bedroom. I am wondering if I have to change the baby at night on the floor, she can come to sniff or possibly jump. How would this work?

“I am wondering if I have to change the baby at night on the floor, she can come to sniff or possibly jump. How would this work?”

It’ll depend a lot on your dog... is she particularly bouncy? Would she jump on you if you sat on the floor?

My dogs took not a huge amount of notice of babies till they were older tbh, I’m sure they probably did come over if I was sat on the floor to change or bath or whatever, but I don’t remember it being enough of an issue that I had to come up with anything in particular other than telling them to move.

If she’s a bit bouncy when you do things normally you might want to think about having her sleep elsewhere now, before the baby comes.

@tabulahrasa makes sense! I'm not sure how she'll react but she could jump I think. I'm more worried that I'll be exhausted from constantly having to have my eyes on both the dog and the baby when they are in proximity to one another.

The babies were exhausting, the dogs were fine,lol

Remember newborns don’t do anything, so it’s just the dog that’s mobile to start with. So no ball games near the baby no, but seriously if the dog isn’t particularly interested in the baby, because they’re not doing anything dog relevant and she’s fairly relaxed with the baby being there, there’s not a huge amount of supervision to do.

When they start eating real food they become a bit more interesting, but you’d be sat right there anyway because you’re feeding the baby.

When the baby starts crawling... that’s harder, there’s lots of redirecting the crawl so they can’t go poke the dog - but dogs tend to go, ooft it’s the pokey thing, I’ll just stay over here, which does make it easier.

Then the baby stops being a baby and it’s all fairly straightforward anyway.

Mostly it’s a case of just knowing where the dog is to start with and getting her to be a bit more elsewhere if it’s not where you want her and...unless your house is huge, you probably know where she is all the time anyway, so that’s most of it already.

I used a raised bouncer, there are a couple on the market but not many. Worked brilliantly for us. Allowed DD to be safe and out of reach of the nosey dogs. Also meant she could sit at eye level for meals which was nice.

Mosses basket, carrycot or pushchair and just wheel them into each room if you wish. X

We don't have a dog, but we do have one of the high chairs suitable from newborn!

We have the Joie Mimsy for baby number 4. I have worked myself through bouncy chairs, baby swings and Moses baskets with my first three children, and hands-down the high chair is the best solution. My baby naps (briefly!) in it, is sometimes happy to sit and watch me from it, and it is somewhere off the floor for dummies/muslins/toys to be so they are clean.

As others have said though, there's more carrying around while trying to do things with one hand than there is putting down

We have a springer spaniel and since we got him, we've added 3 babies to the house over the years. What worked for us was training the dog out of sleeping in our room before baby 1 arrived, and also installing stairgates on key rooms (our room, nursery and kitchen) before baby arrived so that dog didn't associate the gates with the new arrival. We also did some intensive training for commands like "go to bed", which we used to indicate it was quiet time, and made sure there was an area of the house that the dog knew was "his". As the children became more mobile we made sure they understood the rules about never taking the dog's toys or food, or waking him up, pulling at him etc. Respect works both ways, after all.

Our dog is the softest, most placid animal and used to lie down beside the pram for a snooze when baby was napping, but we never EVER left the two unsupervised. We trained him to follow us out of the room. Even now the dog follows me out of the room every time I leave, and my youngest is 4!

Our children have a lovely relationship with our dog, they all adore him and he adores them. It's not unusual for the 4 year old to snuggle up on the floor with the dog when we're watching cartoons instead of sitting on the couch with me!

Good luck OP, I am sure you will find your rhythm as a family of 4.

I used lots of different things but it was a LOT of baby gear all over the house:

A sturdy crib in the living room, my dog would was knocked over a Moses basket.

A highchair with bouncer attachment for the kitchen which we also pulled around to the dining room for meal times. I also used to put it in front of the downstairs toilet so I could go to the loo hands free but still have my eye on baby I cannot stress how helpful this bit of kit was.

Stair gates on key rooms, essential. Stair gate at the top of the stairs so I could put baby down on the landing while I sorted washing etc. On the living room so your baby can have tummy time safely. You might not want to exclude your dog but really the sooner they get used to being outside the room for some of the time the better. Now our DS is mobile and plays with toys, it really is better that they have time apart.

Keep pram inside some of the time.

Sling.

Upstairs cot/crib.

Play mat so I can put that on the bathroom floor whilst I had a bath/shower.

I had a different experience to the previous poster as my bouncy dog absolutely did not temper their behaviour around the baby, they were just as bouncy as ever and as such I had to be vigilant.

@Viletta I suppose it depends on the dog...we change the baby on the floor and the dog comes for a sniff, which is fine. We trained him to keep a respectful distance though, so if he starts getting too touchy freely with baby we just say "no" and he backs off. It's hard to predict what to do before baby is actually here though, and all dogs are different.

Would be easier to use a stair gate to keep the dog in a certain place or room for times like that.

I find my dogs quite respectful of the baby and one stern word would have them backing right off. The older dog isn't as interested in the baby as the younger one is. He has just turned 1 year old and he likes to have a good sniff at the baby's face or a sneaky lick. You can tell he is very affectionate towards the baby. I've never had to specifically move the baby out of the way and I can have him sitting in his bouncer and the dogs wandering about near him. I'm always there keeping an eye on things.

I know some people are saying you need to crate the dog or lock him in a different room, you don't need to do this at all you don't want the dog to get jealous of the baby, you need to treat the dog the same as before so he doesn't feel any resentment towards the baby.
Put the baby in the carrycot in its pram , so the dog can't reach the baby and you can wheel the carrycot from room to room if need be. Also then the dog can be in the same room as the family as normal and no resentment to the change. X

Watching with interest as I have a small dog who will not be banished to other sections of the house when our baby arrives. I feel this will cause more problems in the long term

We are currently looking at the chicco 4 in 1 hug as it looks like it will last a while and I like that it's on wheels as I split my time between the lounge and kitchen/diner.

Also got a good dog behaviourist on hand that will run private sessions with us to help if we are worried that the dog is being to boisterous

@SunInTheSkyYouKnowHowIFeel

Its the dog you need you to be putting somewhere, not the baby. How about put the dog in the garden, or in the utility room or something?

Yeah please do not do this, who even thinks like this.

Baby will be fine in a pram/cot/bouncer but as many PPs said, you may have a "velcro" baby that you just cannot put down and you'll live with a sling on you 24/7.

Make the baby a positive experience for your doggy and you'll be fine :)