Do I really need to worry about the cat smothering my new baby?

[catlover89]

Hello,

Heavily pregnant here and have bought all my bits and pieces for new baby. This is my first baby. I am noticing my cats are loving the new furniture. I have three cats. So far they have been in the cot, one of them has been sleeping in the Moses basket and I just found my eldest boy in the carry cot. These items of furniture are obviously empty and just look like comfy places to take a nap to them - I assumed this would stop once there was a screaming baby present!? Anyway I posted a photo on my FB as I am always posting photos of my cats and someone said I need to put a stop to it now as cats don't care what's underneath them and may smoother a baby? Is this something I legitimately need to be concerned about or are they overreacting? I can't imagine any of my cats doing that.

@Lordamighty have you ever met a cat? It's quite hard to supervise them 24/7. I'm sure when people say their cat sleeps/slept in things they didn't just go oh how cute and leave them to it, mine got a telling off and sent on their way. But they are sneaky and persistent buggers and I'm afraid I had to leave my pram up and available once it was purchased. It didn't have a cat net and I didn't want to leave the rain cover on as it smelled of new plastic.

We didn't let our cat sleep in the same room as DD just in case but like all things it's just common sense. She did occasionally sneak into the still warm pram in occasions (baby free). She did like to snuggle with us both when I was BFing.
The health visitor who visited when DD was few days old looked horrified when she saw our cat snoozing away in her own bed and declared "You've got a cat!" She the proceeded to go Bob how harmful they are. Turns out she said the same to someone else I got to know.
Had I not be so tired, I would have put in a complaint about her attitude. The midwives however loved her as she seemed concerned if DD cried and thought she seemed maternal (no idea).

For the first 6 months the baby cannot be unattended when sleeping anyway. By the time the baby has been around for 6 months, the cats will have learned not to be anywhere near him!

My cats took one sniff of my newborn when she arrived and kept well away for the first few months. I had a small flat so didn’t restrict access anywhere, but never had an issue with the cats going in her cradle and if she was in our bed they kept away.

Regarding the hygiene aspect, a little pet hair is good for developing immune systems and my cats were vaccinated and wormed so I didn’t worry unduly.

I think cat nets and the general fear of cats suffocating babies stems from the time when it was standard to leave babies unattended at the bottom of the garden, in the hope they would nap while you got on. Even then I suspect cats got falsey blamed a fair amount as SIDs wasn't really understood, and sometimes people need to feel there's a reason. Realistically you baby's unlikely to be out of your sight until they are old enough to wake up if a cat jumps near them, and either cry or squeal delightedly and grab at ears.

The only change we made was to not let the cat sleep in our room, as we couldn't supervise while sleeping. DCat mostly avoided the babies, though was amazingly patient with them as toddlers. She put up with far more then she would have from anyone else, and the odd time she did get annoyed she would run across the room to scratch DH (for not intervening) instead of going for the children.

The only 'evidence' provided on this thread for cats being baby murdering bastards is

1. A dubious report from the Sun several years ago about an alleged Russian story.
2. Someone's mum telling them about a gang of maurading ferrets 50 years ago. But apparently people still believe this superstitious nonsense. When we had DS1 several friends asked if we were getting rid of the cats!

I'm pleased to see that a number of people on this thread (like us) just thought to apply common sense.

We just kept the cats out of our bedroom as they'd all have liked to lie in an empty cot. None of the cats I had at the time of my dc being babies would have got close enough to smother them. I have 2 gingers now who probably would lie with a baby so again if I were to have another baby (not a chance!) They'd just be kept out of the bedroom!

Despite the supercilious response from @Grumpyoldpersonwithcats there is no reason it can't happen. I remember my baby siblings needing to be rescued thankfully intime, from our cat who would decide to sleep directly on top of them.
Years later with my own kids I've had toremove our cat from cots with babies in.
Why it's worth the risk I've no idea.

I was fairly sceptical about the ferret thing, to the point where I googled it and found this, the title of which alone is wildly alarming!

abc7news.com/baby-face-eaten-ferret-attack-mauling-delaware-county/490279/

Ferrets are, however, vicious buggers and if anyone has 10 minutes to be wholly disgusted I would recommend googling Reg Mellor, king if the ferret leggers.

We had 3 when DD was born, we never let them in alone with her but had no issues.

@smeerf

For the first 6 months the baby cannot be unattended when sleeping anyway. By the time the baby has been around for 6 months, the cats will have learned not to be anywhere near him!

Sorry, what?!

Are we not allowed to put our babies down for naps in their rooms now, we have to sit next to them 24/7???

My male cat was very keen to sleep in the moses basket, baby in there or not.
Had to really watch him. He'd also get in the pram. He'd happily sit on top of baby.

My female cat was never interested, she's more relaxed and stayed away from my babies, other than an occasional sniff.

So it depends on the cat but definitely be on the look out just in case.

My friend found her cat curled up on the face of her sleeping newborn.

Thankfully she was fine but that's purely luck. Why you'd leave any animal with a baby is beyond me

I’ve had babies alongside cats and found the cats gave them a pretty wide berth! They didn’t go in the cot etc once the baby arrived, they steered clear then. Put tin foil in your cot (and other baby related things you don’t want the cats to sit in) as they hate it and will jump straight out! Creates a negative association so they don’t want to go in.

Obviously with the tin foil I mean until the baby arrives, not expecting you to put your baby down to sleep on foil

I had 4 cats the time my baby was born, 3 now hes 10 months and they all run away from him. Never interested in sleeping near him but if you're worried get a cot net