Cat and newborn

Hi when we picked out our babies coming home outfit we let our cat sniff and be around it for a little bit, then when we brang baby home his scent was already on her outfit and hat.
Everytime we brought something new for baby we let him around it to check it out.
He also use to sleep on the end of our bed but as our baby also sleeps in next to me crib he does get shut out of the room, did cry for the first few nights but he got very use to it, also gave him treats before bedtime.
When our baby goes into her own room soon he will then come back into our room, and we'll be comfortable if he went into her room too as she's older now.
Hope this helps😻

Commenting because I would also like to know, I have 2 cats both female and they love sleeping in my bedroom with me on a night and I’m not sure about shutting them out when little one arrives

Following for any tips too! We’ve started putting in boundaries for our cat (e.g. keeping her out of the bedroom where baby will be be) and have started playing baby crying sounds (and gradually increasing the volume) to get her used to it!

So I have three cats, all I did was get the big stuff out so they got used to all that. And then I just winged it. They were fine! Had a little sniff and that was it. They did also sleep on my bed but we shut them out. But I’m now due baby number 2 in June. And I don’t think I’m keeping them out this time as they were no bother at all x

Similar to the above re treats for leaving the bedroom and scent on baby's things etc, also we had a cot in the living room for daytime naps but to discourage him from jumping in there we'd put foil on the top when it wasn't being used. He's pretty good to be honest and we're happy for them to be together plenty just not when anyone's sleeping just in case x

I think it depends on your cat as I didn’t prepare mine at all. However, I’ve had her for 12 years and know her very well. She’s had kittens before and she’s very loving especially to baby’s / kittens and puppies. So she took to my baby very well. Tbf she also slept a lot lol. But if my daughter was crying she would come over to see if she was okay. Just to note I don’t let them get super close. If they’re around and they sniff her I’m always there. For now I keep the distance until she’s bigger.

We have two cats. When we got the crib and change table they assumed it was for them and were sleeping on them. They sleep on/in our bed a lot of the time and the crib was in the bedroom too.
We let them sniff the baby when he got home but otherwise they had absolutely no interest in being next to a loud squirming creature and they left him alone. It worked for us - our cats are Sphynx and are always looking for the next warm spot- they are quite cuddly and not shy so if they wanted to they are on top of someone.

I have two 3 year old male cats they got use to all the new things we got so the buggy,cot,clothes and they would sniff it when we came home with our little girl we lefr her in the car seat on the floor and allowed them to go to her instead of forcing her on them, our cats sleep sometimes on our bed, our little one was in a moses and now in a cot, we never shut the cats out as we didnt want them to feel like they wasnt loved as much, they do get on the bed and we notice they sleep on the side she is more, and when she has little naps through the day one will always sleep above her head and one at her feet like their little body guards she is 9 months old now and her and the cats relationship is strong they will play with her lay near her to let her stroke them, alot of people think it is hard but it really isnt key thing is do not force baby on them let them come in their own time so they dont see them as a threat

This isn't going to be much help, but every cat is different and you just don't know how it'll go until the baby is here! We also have a little girl cat who is our woooorld ❤️ adopted when she was 1, she's very attached to us and sleeps in our bed. I played some baby crying noise in pregnancy and also rubbed a blanket over her to pick up her scent and put it over baby on the way home from hosp so she recognised her scent - whether this did anything I don't know, but she wasn't scared of baby at any point (just leaves the room when it's noisy).

Adjustment was difficult and heart-breaking at first, but now at 6 weeks she's back in our room, not interested in going anywhere near Moses basket while baby is in it, and we're all 10 times happier. But we did have to shut her out at the beginning, it was horrendous!

I also think it's down to the individual cat. My kitty is very attached to us, we had her for 14 years before baby came but she doesn't really think too much of our baby who is now 7 months. Our kitty kept her distance for the first few months and then started sleeping on our bed with us again even though we co-sleep.

Let her explore the bedroom that the baby is going to be in. She shouldn't spend a lot of time sleeping in the crib for example, and thinking it's her space, but you want her familiar with it.
Resist the urge to give her too much extra attention before baby comes, but make sure to give her a sustainable amount of attention and keep up with it when baby arrives.
Keep some baby things around where she can smell them, and get used to the scents.
Make sure the house is set up so she has her own spaces that she "owns" - a room, a cat tower, posts, furniture, high shelves.

- another thing I read about was to take a pair of newborn socks, rub them on the cat to get the cat's scent, and then to put them on the newborn when they come home. The cat will know baby is "hers" because it smells like her. Idk if it worked for us but we never had an issue with our cat.

The introduction itself is probably more important tbh; you want to introduce them and let the cat smell and get close to baby, while supervised. She needs to know that baby is not a threat to her comfortable life, and she needs access to them so she doesn't feel left out, just always supervised.

Also - it's a good time to consider the cat's temperment. When she feels threatened, or doesn't like how she's being touched, does she lash out, or corner herself, or does she just move away? If she does the latter, then she is territorially secure, and unlikely to be as threatened by a newborn. It is still an adjustment, but moving away is the right instinct for a cat to have. You don't want a cat that will hide, corner herself, and lash out around a small baby.

Has anyone got a housecat and newborn?

My housecat is quite needy and often jumps into things and eats plastic etc. I'm worried how he will be with newborn

Thanks everyone! Some very useful tips! I'll deffo rub her scent all over the going home outfit and let her come to him when we get home and shes ready. She's very curious so i think she'll want to come and be nosey and see whats going on. Weve already let her sniff and see and get used to all the bits and bobs we've been bringing in so hopefully it wont be too much of an adjustment! I'll try the baby crying sounds as well to get her used to the noise as she can get a bit startled by the doorbell and sudden noises so will give that a go and see how she does!

We didn't prep, we just came home with the baby one day... I think the cat knew something was changing though because we hadn't been in the house for a month whilst baby was in NICU in a different city (my husband just came back to top up the food every few days). Our cat is also very curious as well and wants to rub herself on anything new in the house! But she quickly found out the cot was off limits. She stayed up in her cat tree for a few weeks kind of just watching and it took a while but she's now decided the baby isn't a threat and is back to her old playful self. We made a big effort to give the cat lots of attention and treats so she knew she wasn't being replaced! Now she just peers over the top of the next to me crib to check on the baby and then comes to cuddle up on the bed. She never tries to get in the crib thankfully as I was really worried about this too but she has been an absolute star. Even if baby is playing on the floor she will come and sniff at the baby's head and then be on her way.

We didn’t prep much (have 2 cats), but just made sure our cats had a quiet space they could get to if they felt overwhelmed. In our case that was our loft area. They didn’t actually use it all that much as in all our pictures of newborn days we can see the cats lounging on the sofa in the background!!

In terms of sleeping we had a next to me crib, and initially we did shut them out of our bedroom (like the first 2 or3 nights), but I quickly realised I woke up at the drop of a pin so I would be aware if they tried to sneak in with baby. In the end we did end up shutting them out of the bedroom (in the living room) because they used to wake us all up having a scrap on the bed and we had enough one night 😂😂 think they have happily adjusted and they come and sleep on our bed in the day so they know they are still loved ♥️

I have 2 cats and they honestly aren't interested in the baby the used to walk all over me prior to having her but they only bother with me now when im not holding her. Try just go with the flow ive had to buy nets for thr pram and mosses basket to stop the sleeping in them as I got sick of thr cat hair in there haha xx

I brought a net to go over the cot. As the cat kept wanting to lay in the babies next to me crib.