Ladies who have cats..when the baby comes..

I am planning on keeping my 2 cats out of the babies room by any means possible. I don't want to keep the door closed 24/7 but I don't see any other way...if I put a gate up they will jump...

Any suggestions?

Re: Ladies who have cats..when the baby comes..

I have a cat... right now she's still weired out by the changes in the house. When I'm in the nursery, she still will not come in, even though the baby is not yet sleeping in the room. Right now, I am keeping the door closed at all times and I intend to keep it that way indefinately. It's really just what I feel comfortable with as I have a very skiddish and unpredictible cat.

Re: Ladies who have cats..when the baby comes..

Jen, I am having the same issue and I already have dh saying that he will have to go..

Re: Ladies who have cats..when the baby comes..

You should look into this...



... For when you put the baby down and aren't there to watch what the cats are doing.

My cat doesn't jump up on anything (we're very lucky with that) except our bed so we may get this if we have the baby in our room for the first few months.

Re: Ladies who have cats..when the baby comes..

My parents had a cat when I was a baby and they had no issues with her getting into the crib. Also, my BIL and SIL have a cat and she has not once gone in the crib.

Re: Ladies who have cats..when the baby comes..

My cat had no interest in the cribs or pak n plays. I would wait to see how he reacts before you get something.

Re: Ladies who have cats..when the baby comes..

My cat is driving me crazy!!!! We have all of the baby stuff set up and he wants to be in everything! We keep the door to the nursery closed at all times, but if we are in there, he tries to sneak in. I am nervous for when the baby comes!

Re: Ladies who have cats..when the baby comes..

we just kept our door and the nursery door closed at all time- there really was no other way. We could put a gate andthey wouldn't jump- but our cats are fat and lazy....
you just have to close the door.

Re: Ladies who have cats..when the baby comes..

Re: Ladies who have cats..when the baby comes..

I think I will have to close the door...I don't even want them just walking in their, bc I know how they are and they will want to sit in the glider etc

Re: Ladies who have cats..when the baby comes..

my cat has never gone into DS's crib that i know of - but he does hide under it sometimes

Re: Ladies who have cats..when the baby comes..

My cat wont jump that high, he really is the typical male lazy cat. To play it extra safe though, we will be shutting doors and using gates,.

Re: Ladies who have cats..when the baby comes..

Where can I find this netting?


We have a kitty too who is a bit weird - I don't know how we are going to handle it - we might just keep him in our room over night like we do now. Thats if we dont keep baby in our room....

Re: Ladies who have cats..when the baby comes..

i was so worried about this as well. Basically i just kept the door shut whenever the baby was in there alone sleeping. I still do now at 19 months.

The cats really wanted little to do with the baby other than they were curious. But only from a distance. Now they're starting to form a "friendship" but I use that term very loosely.

They love to be "in" things but never tried to go in the crib.

I have the netting and never used it. They're fine. We've adjusted thankfully because I was really worried about them being jealous.

ETA - i think the key for us is that we didn't change much on them. We made the decision to have the baby sleep in the nursery from day 1 because the cats sleep in our room and I knew it would be traumatic for them to change that. And I'm sure they would have kept us up all night scratching at the door if we all of a sudden shut them out after 3 years. It worked for us!

Message edited 2/20/2009 12:29:46 PM.

Re: Ladies who have cats..when the baby comes..

Re: Ladies who have cats..when the baby comes..

A lot of replies to read through them all but I was going to suggest that netting if you were concerned.

We have a cat but she's outside most of the summer and quarantined to the basement in the winter as DH has alergies.

My sister had two cats with both of her boys and they were fine, never used the net thing. Just watched. When you become a mom, you know where your baby is, you know where the cats are at all times. It's motherly instinct. Even when I babysat, I was always aware of everyone's whereabouts.

You have to watch for your cat's behavior and play it by ear when the baby is born. Not all cats are snugglers.

My mom's cat however..... we were all watching as this happened.

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Re: Ladies who have cats..when the baby comes..

My DH didn't want our kitty sleeping with us from when we got her, so she is used to sleeping in the hall outside of our room in her cat bed Even if I leave the door open and try to coax her to lay on the bed with me, she won't!

She did jump in the crib once, but I think once a baby is in there, she will have the same reaction she has to us being in bed! She wants nothing to do with us!

However, she does think the Pack-n-Play is her new scratch post! She is definitely going to be waking DS up with her scratching!

Re: Ladies who have cats..when the baby comes..

Re: Ladies who have cats..when the baby comes..

Have you thought about a "dutch" door, you know the kind that can be opened all the way or just the top half? That's what I want if/when we have a baby...I HATE having doors closed but don't want cat hair everywhere!!!

Re: Ladies who have cats..when the baby comes..

We are in a one bedroom apartment so the baby will be sleeping in our room. We have been keeping the door closed now to kinda get her ready for baby. She crys at the door everynight!! I let her in the room this week and she was jumping all over the babys changing table and I found her sleeping in one of the little cubbies lol she's def not coming in when the baby is here. I can see her jumpin in the crib.

Re: Ladies who have cats..when the baby comes..

I have five cats two of them were abandoned by their owners and all of them find places to sleep in.

They are sneaky and I bet they will want to sleep in her bassinet or even crib. If they see her Bedroom door open they want to scope out the room. I am going to try and keep the door closed at all times.

I hope when DD is born they will be afraid to go near her and stay away from her room. We shall see.

Re: Ladies who have cats..when the baby comes..

Re: Ladies who have cats..when the baby comes..

I'm concerned about it.

I think it will be a major adjustment especially for my 10 year old cat.


I'll have to relocate all their stuff & plan on keeping the door closed.


Hopefully it will go okay

Re: Ladies who have cats..when the baby comes..

I have 3 cats.. we just keep the door to the nursery closed. I don't think they would ever jump in the crib with the babies there, but I don't want the fur in dander in their room. They do sleep in the pack n play we have downstairs, but its ok since the babies hate sleeping in there anyway. They sleep under the changing table part like its their little cave.

Re: Ladies who have cats..when the baby comes..

Right now when I am home, I do allow the cats to go into the nursery when I am there. I want them to get use to the crib, stroller, dresser, etc before our baby arrives. So far they have not jump into anything at all. My little cat does love to sleep under the snap n go and I don't mind that. I think it is important that you help your cats adjust to the new baby. You don't want them to feel outcast or they can take it out on the baby. If the baby is in the nursery for a nap then I will close the door, but if I'm in there with the baby then they are allowed.