Newborn and sleeping arrangements - working mothers/those with pets

I'm having my baby on Sunday and there's a topic that I've read and read about and of course gotten all the free advice in the world about it from friends who are fortunate enough to stay home with their young children - so much of their advice I don't feel really applies to me when 11 weeks from now I have to go back to work - sleep deprived or not and although I don't expect to be well rested, the better rested I am the better I'll be for both work and baby.

So I know this co-sleeping stuff has become popular. I'm not really digging it for several reasons - first b/c I want my children to sleep in their own beds and have good sleeping habits (I see all those Nanny 911 episodes of older kids still sleeping with mom and dad) and second b/c we have cats in our house - getting rid of them is not an option and it may be tough to kick them out of our bedroom at this point without them crying outside our door all night - that would be fun to try to sleep through. I'm concerned for DC's safety with the cats and thought that it may be best to put the baby in the crib from day one in his/her room with the door closed and our door open and of course the baby monitor on my night stand.

We thought about using the pack and play (I have Graco's Devon pnp) bassenet feature and setting it up in our bedroom, but 2 questions there - how do I keep the pets out and second, do they sell sheets and waterproof pads for the bassenet part? I have a waterproof pnp pad - but it's for the bottom part I think - not the bassinet.

I bought a crib tent from BBB and it stinks - I plan on returning it - it was impossible to set up and the netting goes under the mattress so somehow you have to squeeze the mattress into the netting???? It's so bizarre - I thought it was going to be so much easier. I know they sell a playard tent - I'm afraid it's going to be as flimsy and impractical as the crib tent.

Re: Newborn and sleeping arrangements - working mothers/those with pets

I would kick the cats out now and listen to them cry before the baby arrives. I don't believe in putting the baby in another room immediately. I mean you will be up alot and it will be so hard to go to the next room for the baby. Plus I have read that keeping the baby in close proximity may help reduce the incidence of sids. I may be wrong, but my baby had a very scary incident so I don't take chances. Of course this is just my opinion and you will probably find many that are different from mine. Good luck with whatever you decide.

Re: Newborn and sleeping arrangements - working mothers/those with pets

I have a cat and work. I put DD in the crib from day one and the cat never bothered her. Here's a suggestion someone gave me and it worked:

Before the baby is born don't put the mattress in the crib. When the cat jumps into the crib and lands on the metal it's not pleasant and the cat won't try it again. I did this with both DC's cribs and it worked. My cat (who sleeps in my bed and is allowed on all furniture but the tables/counters) NEVER jumped into my DD's crib and she's 17 months next week.

I do close her door at night and for naps, but more for noise than because of the cat. I've actually accidentally locked the cat in her room and she still never went in the crib.

Hope this helps. Not sure I answered your question.

Re: Newborn and sleeping arrangements - working mothers/those with pets

Personally I would also kick the cats out and deal with them crying for the next couple of weeks. We had two dogs that slept with us and they were booted downstairs as soon as I found out I was pg.

As for where the baby sleeps...that is a personal decision for you and your DH. We felt more comfortable having DD in a bassinet in our room for the first 3 months. She is now in her crib but I have a video monitor on her. Some people feel comfortable putting their DC in the crib right away. Like I said it is whatever works for you and your DH. Good Luck with the cats...

Also my best friend uses the crib tent and loves it! She got her's at BRU. Maybe it is a different one?

Re: Newborn and sleeping arrangements - working mothers/those with pets

There are lots of mothers on here who never used a bassinet, maybe thats an option for you, right into the crib.

We have a dog so I dont have to worry about the same things. But our DS slept in a bassinet in our room until 8 weeks and then slept in his crib across the hall. Next baby I would move into the crib earlier, I dont think there is much of a reason to have the baby in your room as even when I was nursing, DH had to go to work in the AM so I got DS and nursed in another room. And we were lucky DS was a good sleeper from day 1 but even when he was up, I was in the living room with him.

As for the PNP they do sell all the sleeping accessories, my BF used that as her bassinet for each of her 2 kids when they were small.

Re: Newborn and sleeping arrangements - working mothers/those with pets

I had Ella in the bassinet in our room for a few months and then moved her to her crib. I don't recall if we locked the cat out of our bedroom during that time. I do close E's door, so the cat doesn't go in there when she's sleeping but he's never had any interest in being in her crib or bassinet (he did love her swing though ). (I've also locked the cat in her room, rather than out)

She didn't co-sleep in our bed but it was much easier to have her nearby when she was waking up to nurse during the night.

I have the same plan for #2. I need some time to get E out of her crib and into her big girl bed anyway

Message edited 4/29/2008 10:27:44 PM.

Re: Newborn and sleeping arrangements - working mothers/those with pets

DH and i have a cat and we plan on having the baby in our room for the first month or so. he will be sleeping in the bassinet portion of the pack and play. i got netting to put over the PNP for when the baby is outside and i will use that for naps, and at night the cat will be shut out of the bedroom. if he cries, too bad for him - he is a spoiled brat anyway

Re: Newborn and sleeping arrangements - working mothers/those with pets

Posted by headoverheels

DH and i have a cat and we plan on having the baby in our room for the first month or so. he will be sleeping in the bassinet portion of the pack and play. i got netting to put over the PNP for when the baby is outside and i will use that for naps, and at night the cat will be shut out of the bedroom. if he cries, too bad for him - he is a spoiled brat anyway

Re: Newborn and sleeping arrangements - working mothers/those with pets

Whatever you decide, I would set it up now. I have 2 cats and 2 dogs. I set up the bassinet and PNP before DS was born so they would get used to it. One cat could care less. The other went in it once or twice and since it's really not interesting, he never went back. Neither of them tried to get in either while DS was sleeping. They were both afraid of him and his crying when he came home that they really kept their distance the first couple of weeks.

Re: Newborn and sleeping arrangements - working mothers/those with pets

We have 4 cats (3 of which go in our room). They do not sleep in our room at night though. From Day 1 of getting our cats, we always locked them out of our bedroom at night. They are now locked in the basement at night because they cry incessantly and scratch at our door if they have free roam of the house. You can try locking them out now at night and see how much noise they make before making the decision as to whether or not to put the baby in your room or their own.

We put our DD in the crib from Day 2 (she didn't want anything to do with the PNP bassinet) and we have a video monitor so I felt totally comfortable with having her in there.

ETA: The cats have never jumped in the crib with my DD (she's only 3 months). We generally close her door during naps, but keep it open at nights when the cats are downstairs, but I have accidentally locked the cats in there during the day and they still do not go in her crib.

Message edited 4/30/2008 12:18:51 PM.

Re: Newborn and sleeping arrangements - working mothers/those with pets

We didn't bother with the bassinet at all, DS didn't like it. He went straight into the crib from day 2.

I really like the above poster's suggestion about the crib, not putting the mattress in, genius!
As far as getting up and going into the nursery, that's exactly what you do, get up and go check, it's not that big of a deal.
We have the video monitor, so we just check with that.
Our dog sleeps on his bed in our room and he's jsut fine. He goes into DS's room at night to "check" the scene and all is totally fine, he has never done anything in his room.

ETA
I wouldn't let DS sleep in the PNP bassinet, I wouldn't trust it, but my dog is 90 lb, his tail alone would knock it over!

Message edited 4/30/2008 12:37:55 PM.

Re: Newborn and sleeping arrangements - working mothers/those with pets

I have two cats. I went back to work after 8 weeks and DH after 2 weeks.

Our story:

We got the Arm's Reach Mini-Co-sleeper (attaches to the side of the bed but is NOT in your bed. DD stayed in there for a few months. The cats were never locked out. From the very beginning we let them sniff DD and investigate for themselves. We made sure to give them plenty of attention when DD was sleeping and even some when she was awake so they didn't see her as a threat.

When the time came to move DD to her crib, we installed a retractable screen door on her bedroom door so that we leave her door open at night but have the screen closed and it keeps the cats out.

Now she is almost 15 months and running around and she is best buds with the cats, They let her pet them and thank God are really nice to her.

I will agree that the crib tent is crappy. We received it and it didn't fit properly and you can't use a monitor with it because there is no hole to stick the camera through unless you cut one. I wish I could return it, but I let the gift receipt expire

Message edited 4/30/2008 1:43:42 PM.

Re: Newborn and sleeping arrangements - working mothers/those with pets

I don't have any advice for the cats but what dh and I do is we take turns getting up. One of us will go to bed earlier and then get up and do the overnight, the otherone will do the 11 and the morning. This way we are getting better sleep.

Re: Newborn and sleeping arrangements - working mothers/those with pets

Funny enough - we tried not putting the mattress in - my Siamese checked it out but wouldn't jump in - she'd just walk around sticking her paw through the wooden bars, but didn't jump in(the other cats couldn't care less about the crib at all which is so wierd since the Siamese is the oldest - she's 9 and the 3 y.o. cat couldn't be bothered)... then we put the mattress in (still in it's plastic) and of course my curious Siamese cat jumped right in and made herself comfortable. It's like she knew without the mattress - it wouldn't be pretty. That's my girly ! Way too smart for her own good!

I guess we'll take it day by day and see what happens. I didnt get the video monitor - just the audio. I'm having DH take a shot and installing the tent... I gave up on it, but if he can't get it going I'll return it.