Cat and Baby

[1Cor13]

We have a 6 yr old cat. When we had a bassinet for dd, a month before she came and it wasin the room, we would always find "Pooky" sleeping in it. We would take him out of it. When dd came, we shut our bedroom door for the first 4 -5 months, so the cat could not jump in the bassinet when she was sleepingat night. Ds was in our room too in a crib. (we were in a 1 bedroom apt)

Now its not a problem, cause the cat doe not bother them in their room, if he did, theywould probably dress him up, as they try to catch him around the house.

Problem....with the new baby coming, i am using the same bassinet in our room forthe first 4-5 months. Our bedroom door does not shut tight, its like a swinging door, so hte cat just pushes it open, we usually leave it open at night to hearthe kids if they wake up, or have a nightmare, or if they needto come in our room.
So I am worrid that thecatwill jump in the bassinet when the baby is in there and lay on her face or something ,and then she wont be able to breath, when we are sleepoing.. the cat is an outdoor cat, and I thought of puttinghim out at night, but that is not nice in the winter.

any advice???

Maybe if I put foil in it for the few wks its set up before the baby comes, and he jumps in it, he wont like that and wont do it again..

[MomFromCanada]

We had the same problem with our cat and setting up a crib ahead of time, we would find our cat sleeping in it too. So then we put lots of things in it to deter her from sleeping in it, e.g. books, uncomfortable objects, and this seemed to help a lot as it didn't seem so appealing anymore to sleep there.

[luvmy4sons]

I am a dog person, not a cat person, but my best friend is a cat lover and has four!! :? She has always told me that cats are smart and know when a baby is in there and either will not get in it when they are or move to a spot that is freed up, as they wouldn't be comfortable sleeping on the baby. She never worried about it and never had any problems. I can understand your concerns though. Can you put something up against the door so that the cat can't just push it open at will? Just a suggestion!

[stephwhiz]

My animals avoiding my babies like the plague for the first year! :lol: They really did! But I was concerned too and aluminum foil idea sounds good--cats hate the sound of that! Stephanie :D

[1Cor13]

Thanks . I am going to try the foil and books .... :D If i have to o Iwill put something in front of the door.

You could try a mosquito or cot net and see how that works?

Or just leave him out at night. I know it's not nice in Winter but cats were originally wild animals and they do find somewhere to sleep to keep dry overnight. We've made our cats sleep outside in Winter before due to them going into our rubbish to pull out meat bones etc... or just generally bugging us during the night by coming into the bedroom and crying to go outside when the window in the lounge is already open for them :roll: Then there is the jumping up on things and knocking things over... and fighting with each other... so there has been many a night where I've just told Paul to "put them all out" because I get sick of everything they get up to during the night LOL
They go and sleep under the house or on our deck which is covered with Tarpaulins. They find places trust me :wink:

[soulmom]

before our first baby came we set up the bassinet and put in a piece of cardboard covered with double stick tape. the cats can't stand the sticky sensation on their paws. we have two cats and i think they each jumped in once and never again. good luck to you :D

before our first baby came we set up the bassinet and put in a piece of cardboard covered with double stick tape. the cats can't stand the sticky sensation on their paws. we have two cats and i think they each jumped in once and never again. good luck to you :D

Great idea! That would definately work, they can not stand anything to stick to their paws!!

Yes this is my MIL new pet thing to go on about when she comes over "the cat is going to kill the baby, the cat is attracted to the smell of the milk" etc etc. It wouldn;t bother me if she said it ONCE, but seriously EVERYTIME she visits, the cat comes up.

My Nanna said the cat can be wanting just a warm spot to lay in and it has nothing to do with milk or anything else... to me my cat doesn't even get into the kids beds with them, NOR does he sleep on my bed, except on occasion in the morning he will come and see me for a cuddle when I am laying in bed.
Tank prefers to sleep on the mat or on the rattan chair. One day I did catch him sleeping in the pram so I shooed him out of it not wanting for him to think sleeping in the nursery was an option.

I think just in case my Nanna is right, I will just keep the nursery door shut, but to behonest - Tank is a close but not to close kind of cat so I hardley think he is going to just all of a sudden begin deciding to sleep in people's beds out of the blue.

I drink milk and it doesn't make him come up to me and being trying to sleep on me. IN fact most of the time he likes to sit close but not on laps and he catawauls loudly if anyone tries to pick him up (it's quite funny, I call him the grump)

The jury is a bit out because other people have a LOT of different opinions on this issue and methods to ensure the cat will not venture into cribs etc.

Aussie Mum I think I would have told the MIL to "butt out" if she mentioned the cat every time she visited ... :roll: :shock:
Honestly, I don't think it's going to be an issue. You can always just keep the door shut right? Our cat Mischief used to sleep in the bassinet before Abby was born (I would kick her out each time I found her in there) and when Abby arrived I just shut her door so the cats couldn't get in there. And we have a baby monitor as well.