Is this a myth?

I have heard several stories regarding the take on cats being dangerous to babies as they smother them in the cot.

Now I have not met one person who has found a cat in the cot with bub, or heard any real story about a cat smothering a child HOWEVER there would be cases as where else would the story have come from?

Someone claimed to me the cat does this as it is jealous.
Someone else told me the cat just likes somewhere warm to sleep.
Another person said the cat is attracted to the smell of the milk on the baby.

We have a beautiful malt coloured cat who we call Tank, and he doesn't like sleeping on beds with people full stop. He sleeps on our mat all the time,.... so I am doubting he will be a problem - but what do you think?
Should I worry about him?

[ChelleFish]

Don't know where the the stories began, can't help you there...

We had two cats when i found out I was pregnant. We had no problems. We put the crib up early so they could get used to it...our big thing was keeping them out of the crib as they loved to lay in it. So, we followed the advice of friends and lined it with aluminum foil under the sheet. As soon as they jumped on it, there was a terrible noise and they jumped out...except for my older cat, who, when she realized it only made noise when she moved figured out to jump in and lay still.

We also brought home a blanket with our son's scent from the hospital before we came home for good so they could sniff it and get used to it.

Long story short for us...they never bothered him. But we paid lots of attention to them, too. He slept in our room for many months and tehy never got in his crib or botherdd him when he was on the floor except to sniff at him.

Finally, if you are worreid, you can buy a tent to go over the crib so they won't jump in or, if the baby's room has a door, keep it closed so the cat won't get in...someone even said put a screen door up so the cat can see in and know what is there but can't get in.

[Madre]

It doesn't sound like letting a cat in the crib with an infant is a very good idea. The first link is how to introduce the baby to the cat. The second link is a forum where several people are discussing how cats shouldn't be in cribs with infants.


http://www.ehow.com/how_4580_introduce-new-baby.html

How to Introduce Your New Baby to Your Cat

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When you bring your new baby home, your cat may not be favorably impressed'but there's a lot you can do to help the two of them become good friends.


Steps:


1. If you need to change house rules, change them before the baby arrives. Otherwise, your cat may associate the baby's arrival with his sudden banishment from the foot of your bed.

2. Set up a crib or bassinet for your baby ahead of time and train your cat not to sleep in it. Cats and infants should not sleep together, because it poses a risk of suffocation or allergic reaction for the baby.

3. Have your cat thoroughly checked out by a veterinarian before your baby comes home. This will give you time to deal with parasites or other problems that could pose a family health risk.

4. Before bringing your baby home from the hospital, send home a blanket or gown that the baby has been wrapped in. This will get your cat used to the baby's scent.

5. Let Dad or someone else carry the baby inside at the first homecoming, so that Mom is free to greet the cat with open arms.

6. When introducing your baby to your cat, don't hold or restrain the cat; let him approach and explore the baby at his own pace.

7. Spend time with the cat while your baby is sleeping. Cuddle him, brush him and play with him as much as possible to reassure him that you still love him.


Tips:
As your baby grows and becomes mobile, teach her as early as possible how to pet your cat gently, and make sure she doesn't grab at your cat's tail or ears. This will help your child and your pet to become friends rather than adversaries.

Be sure to keep your cat's nails trimmed (see related eHow 'Trim Your Cat's Nails'). Don't declaw him, though'especially if he spends any time outdoors. Just train him to be gentle around your baby.


Warnings:
If your baby will be sleeping in a nursery, consider making it a cat-free zone. Your cat probably won't hurt your baby deliberately, but it is dangerous to leave them together unsupervised.

Tips from eHow Users:
Cover your crib
Nets are available to place over your child's crib. This prevents your cat from getting in the crib with the baby and snuggling, possibly suffocating the child.

http://parents.berkeley.edu/advice/pets/catinthecrib.html

[breezykc]

It's true....cats are attracted to the warm air at the mouth and nose and if they decide to snuggle up in the crib against the baby's airway, they can suffocate the baby....they have very cheap light weight nets that can go over the crib to prevent the cat from getting in, or we always just close the door and leave the monitor on so we can still hear but the cat can't get in the room at all!

[justmeNmine]

I didn't do anything special with my cat- he's a big tiger kitty and he does sometimes lie next to the baby (though I have never let him be in her crib) one night, I woke up and it was my son, my dog, my baby and my cat all lined up with our heads on the pillows :lol: anyway, I imagine it IS possible, but my daughter could lift her head the day she was born and I guess I just didn't worry much about it... At 6 months, she now loves to see my cat (and dog) and reaches for and giggles at them. I have heard it also has something to do with the age of the cat, that very young cats will want to curl up or on the baby as it would its brothers/sisters...

I have to totally disagree with the theory of jealousy. I'm sorry ... cats are smart but not THAT smart.
I think they just like the warmth or it could very well be something to do with the milky smell of a baby.
We just kept the door shut to Abbys room so the cats could not get in there. We did have problems with Mischief sleeping in the bassinet before Abby was born. So I didn't want to risk it.
I don't think cats are dangerous to babies any more than an older child. An older child could chuck a soft toy or something in the cot and hurt or smother the baby. Sophie will be sleeping in the bassinet in our room until she is too big for it. Then if the cot won't fit in our room she will have to sleep in Abbys room. I will definitely have the baby monitor on all day and night. Hopefully by the time Sophie is in the cot Abby will be old enough to understand that she cannot throw anything into the cot.
If not... well, I'm not sure how we'll deal with it.
We are getting bunk beds this week and I was thinking I could put Sophie in the top bunk with a safety sleep and bumper pads on the rails. It has railing all around the top bunk so she wouldn't fall out. And Abby would not be able to climb up the ladder to get to her.
Is that a crazy idea or what? :oops: :?

[justmeNmine]

I don't know how old your oldest is, but she looks like she could climb a ladder, if not now soon :) Maybe you could try her on the top bunk, and the baby down below... they can usually climb up before they can climb down, and it won't be long before the baby can roll... ever since I set up my baby's crib, my then 2 1/2 year old has not been allowed on or around it- I have had no problem with their sleeping in the same room, except for the few times my son was waking the baby on purpose... just a thought :)

Further to.. does anyone think it would go on the cats personality also?
I really don't believe the jealousy theory either... we have 2 other kids in the house and the cat is NOT the centre of attention. In fact he doesn't particularly like children because they sometimes both pick him up and run around the house with him LOL.

Our cat will NEVER sleep in the bed with anyone, not me, not my kids. I have tried to get him to nap with me but he runs away. He also only desires extremely limited physical contact with us.... he makes really angry sounds if anyone tries to cuddle him against his will. He will usually only come to me at night for about 10 mins and then jump down and walk off. So I am even wondering - perhaps for people who are cat lovers and know cats well - given his personality - do you think he will be a problem?

He is a one cat person and is only favourable towards me (and this is limited).

I mean of course I plan on keeping him out of the nursery but he never goes into ANY of the children's bedrooms anyway.... so... would it go on personality?

He sleeps in funny spots that I wouldn't choose if I was a cat LOL (such as the mat in an open plan living area...)

I think the worry is he will SNEAK in - so that is basically where I am going with this -

BTW I think the idea with the tin foil is brilliant. We are planning on setting up the nursery soonish so I will certainly do that for JUST IN CASES.

We do have a door on the nursery but there is the off chance that one of the twins could open it KWIM?

[jamma]

We set up our cradle and etc really early too. What we did was get this stuff called "Shoo" It's a spray, and it deters the cat from going near the crib. (We did this MONTHS before the baby was born!) We just sprayed around the base of the cradle, then gave it a good wipe down with vinegar a few weeks before my due date. The cats were never even interested in the cradle or the crib.

[baby_J]

I'm a nurse in the ER and had a patient (a baby) come in that was attacked by the family cat while he was sleeping in his crib. He ended up being fine, although had lots and lots of scratches on his head. Personally, I wouldn't take the chance. Better to be safe!

~Jill

[Iwantmycrown]

We have three cats. None have ever hissed or showed any aggression towards our daughter from day one. We have one that is skiddish anyways and seems to morph into the walls :lol: She hardly comes out for us....but, will only come out if we are on our bed and if hubby's beeper is going off or DD is crying. She sits on our chest and meows til we get up :lol: One just likes to sleep and stays usually in our den(which DD can not go into) and we have one cat that follows her around for the most part of the day. He loves just laying nearby as she plays and if she shows him a little attention he loves it...he also likes swatting at her toys. As for sleeping with her...when she use to nap in her playpen or on the couch..never a had a problem with them even sniffing her face or anything like that. They did enjoy sleeping in her crib(before she was born)...so we just keep her bedroom door shut. She has a playroom and we never use her room but to change diapers or sleep. We just shut the door for her at night as well. Which keeps down noise for her. We have a monitor set we leave on. So all and all our cats have no problem with DD. The only time DD has a problem with them is when she can't keep up with the other two that run from her and when she first started crawling the one that hangs out with her...got on her nerves. when she would crawl...he woud sprowl out in front of her....which she just took to swatting him out of her way.

The cat attacked the BABY? :cry: That is horrific!

[Jendalain]

http://www.snopes.com/critters/wild/catsuck.htm

Several people have suggested this website for searching myths and wisetales. The site is www.snopes.com.

[baby_J]

The cat attacked the BABY? :cry: That is horrific!


Yes, unfortunately. The sight of the baby when they first came in will always stick in my head, it was horrible. We had no idea the extent of the injuries until we cleaned him up and praise God that it was just superficial cuts to the scalp (everywhere) and he otherwise was okay.

Sorry for the bad mental images!!!!

[AmyB]

The cat attacked the BABY? :cry: That is horrific!


Yes, unfortunately. The sight of the baby when they first came in will always stick in my head, it was horrible. We had no idea the extent of the injuries until we cleaned him up and praise God that it was just superficial cuts to the scalp (everywhere) and he otherwise was okay.

Sorry for the bad mental images!!!!

That would be scary. But I wonder if the cat jumped in the crib, then realized it shouldn't be there and inadvertently scratched the baby's head up trying to get turned around and jump back out?

Just to play it safe, though, we always kept the doors closed while our kids were babies and used the baby monitor.

[baby_J]

The cat attacked the BABY? :cry: That is horrific!


Yes, unfortunately. The sight of the baby when they first came in will always stick in my head, it was horrible. We had no idea the extent of the injuries until we cleaned him up and praise God that it was just superficial cuts to the scalp (everywhere) and he otherwise was okay.

Sorry for the bad mental images!!!!

That would be scary. But I wonder if the cat jumped in the crib, then realized it shouldn't be there and inadvertently scratched the baby's head up trying to get turned around and jump back out?

Just to play it safe, though, we always kept the doors closed while our kids were babies and used the baby monitor.

I don't know the circumstances around it other than the parents were outside with a baby monitor on although they did leave the door open. Judging by the number of scratches, I think the baby was attacked. Hopefully this is just one of those really rare happenings.

Great idea to leave the doors closed while baby is sleeping!!

[Beth]

I have heard that they can smother by accident.

One couple at our pediatrician's office put a screen door on the baby's room and that way the cat couldn't get in the room.

everyone I know, except my sister, who had a cat would always install a screen door, just to be safe...i was too sick during pg to care for mine so they found good homes before the baby arrived...we always heard it was the smell of milk that would attract the cat to the baby's face

I don't know how old your oldest is, but she looks like she could climb a ladder, if not now soon :) Maybe you could try her on the top bunk, and the baby down below... they can usually climb up before they can climb down, and it won't be long before the baby can roll... ever since I set up my baby's crib, my then 2 1/2 year old has not been allowed on or around it- I have had no problem with their sleeping in the same room, except for the few times my son was waking the baby on purpose... just a thought :)

Yeah I thought about that but she might stand up and fall off. It says on the bunk bed box not to put a child under 6 years of age in the top bunk... so I guess I'll just leave her in the bottom bunk and baby in the crib in our room. Baby won't be out of the crib until Abby is 4 1/2 roughly... so I think by then she should be fine since the whole of the top bunk has railing. By then she'll be old enough to know how to climb up and down and at the same time she will understand not to stand up and fall off LOL I think 6 is OTT but 4.5 should be ok.

BTW I think the idea with the tin foil is brilliant. We are planning on setting up the nursery soonish so I will certainly do that for JUST IN CASES.

We do have a door on the nursery but there is the off chance that one of the twins could open it KWIM?

Oh yeah that could happen...
I can understand why you are worried. Just tell them all the time "do not open the door because the cat might jump into babies cot" and keep telling them. I think they are old enough to understand... although I have some cousins and the oldest is 10 and even they don't listen when I say keep the door shut. GRRR LOL It's either they don't listen or they forget... but either way it is terribly annoying LOL

I think you are right though about your cats personality. He isn't likely to jump into the crib.

Two out of three of our cats LOVED Abby when she was newborn (before she started chasing them around the house and pulling their fur LOL ... now they just run the other way!) and would lie next to her on the couch but neither tried jumping in her bassinet or cot. Mischief hated her and still does... LOL Mischief is the "baby" out of the 3 cats. The only time she ever jumped in the bassinet was before Abby was born. Once she was born I kept the door shut all the time so Mischief and the other cats couldn't get in there.

The cat attacked the BABY? :cry: That is horrific!


Yes, unfortunately. The sight of the baby when they first came in will always stick in my head, it was horrible. We had no idea the extent of the injuries until we cleaned him up and praise God that it was just superficial cuts to the scalp (everywhere) and he otherwise was okay.

Sorry for the bad mental images!!!!

That would be scary. But I wonder if the cat jumped in the crib, then realized it shouldn't be there and inadvertently scratched the baby's head up trying to get turned around and jump back out?

Just to play it safe, though, we always kept the doors closed while our kids were babies and used the baby monitor.

I don't know the circumstances around it other than the parents were outside with a baby monitor on although they did leave the door open. Judging by the number of scratches, I think the baby was attacked. Hopefully this is just one of those really rare happenings.

Great idea to leave the doors closed while baby is sleeping!!

You know this could happen... (cat attacking baby) but would probably be a very rare thing. I remember watching a TV documentary where they were talking about a lady with some kind of Siamese cat and a man broke into the house. Well the cat literally attacked the man. He scratched him really badly there was blood all over the place.
Another way it could have happened was that the cat jumped in and baby screamed it's head off and the cat freaked out and scratched baby while trying to escape. They have tons of claws and it doesn't take much to get scratched bad. Just recently Abby was teasing Kitty and he scratched her face. She has a scratch on one eyelid, her nose, four or five on her face etc... he did that in like one second. :shock: And babies have very soft skin so if it was a newborn baby it wouldn't have taken much and there would have been blood everywhere. :(

We have three cats. None have ever hissed or showed any aggression towards our daughter from day one.

Yup we have three cats too and none have ever hissed at Abby either. The only times she has been scratched or bitten is when she teases them and pulls their fur or tails. Before she was walking and doing that they never touched her.

Just like dogs will bite or growl if they are teased by a child so will cats! It totally depends on the personality of each dog/cat but they all have their limits. I think ANY dog would bite a child if it was hassled badly or for long enough.
I have heard of dogs attacking kids and the owners are like so shocked that their dog did that because "they would never hurt a fly". Well they just did! KWIM Some are way more placid and tolerant than others...
When it comes to our cats... Mischief is NOT tolerant LOL and Kitty is about 50 percent tolerant. Cleo is so tolerant Abby can lie all over her and squash her and she doesn't scratch her LOL
But I know that if Abby was hurting her that she would eventually snap.