Bringing home Baby ?

With the baby due in less than 3 months, and everybody giving me advice. I was wondering what to expect and how to prepare the kitten for the arrival of the baby. The kitten will be 9 months old when the baby arrives home. She is very playfull and very easily scared by new faces and noises. She is quite shy when she sees new faces. She loves to sleep on the bed with me, and loves stalking you when she thinks you are not looking.

People keep telling me it is dangerous to have a cat and a newborn.

I would really appreciate any advice on keeping them both happy and well.

From what I've read and heard, cats are far less dangerous to babies than humans. People can easily infect newborns with all sorts of diseases so it's best not to let too many people near the baby in the first weeks and definitely not to let anyone with a cold or any young children near the babies (turns out children carry lots and lots of germs).

The only thing I would worry about with cats is possibly ringworm. If your cat is indoors only and does not come in contact with other cats she is probably not very exposed to ringworm. You or other people around you could bring home ringworm spores and infect either kitty or baby. You may want to have the cat checked for ringworm by the vet a week or so before delivery. We plan to do that with our cats.

My mother-in-law is frantic about our cats attacking the baby or lying next to him and suffocating him. One of our cats is quite aggressive to people (it's always their fault ) and people who know her think she's a killer cat. Totally untrue of course. If you know how to behave around her she's the sweetest angel!

Anyway, it's best not to let the cat next the baby unsupervised. Our cats love to sleep with us too, but we're beginning to have them spend nights outside the bedroom. I've read it's best to start the new routine long before the baby arrives so that the cats don't associate the forced exile with the baby.

Another thing I've read about is to let hubby take home some garment that the baby was wearing before you and and the baby come back from the hospital. Then he can let the cat sniff it and get used to the new smell before she actually sees the baby. It's supposed to help the cat adjust to the new arrival one sense at a time.

Maybe some experienced moms can share their experience here. All I know is still in theory I'd love to hear some more as well.

Well, I had a close friend who brought home a newborn and had a dog and a cat. This is what they did to sort of "introduce" the two.
They brought home one of the babies blankets that had been used, and also a diaper that had been worn ( obviously just slightly wet and not "dirty" ) and let the animals smell and get used to it.
They also made sure the day the baby came home that the pets were greeted first and then slowly started letting them explore with the baby in the room. They had NO problems at all.
good luck to you!

I just had a baby September 9 and I have a one year old daughter. I have 4 cats. The ages of my cats are 3 years, 10 months, 9 months, and 5 months. I have not had any trouble with them. My youngest cat however is shy too. She just keeps to herself when I feed the baby or hold him. She comes to me when he is sleeping. I did not do anything special when I brought the baby home. The only thing I had trouble with was one of the cats kept taking the caps to the bottles. I have since moved them so she can not get them.

I think things will be fine. Good luck!

I also believe that you won't have any trouble. But for peace of mind you might want to keep your furbaby out of your newborns room - just in case. Since they do not like lemons/oranges you could use a citrus air freshner in the room - you know the plug in kind. Also, to get a headstart if you decide to do this you should start using it now.

Ohhh - I forgot - CONGRADULATIONS on the new arrival!!!

You have all put my mind at ease after all the stories people have been telling me.