Cat in the bed?

tookie1978

My daughter will be 22 months next week. She's still in a crib. We have 2 cats and I have been keeping her bedroom door closed while sleeping since the day she came home from the hospital. My baby monitor crapped out last night and I thought about keeping her bedroom door cracked open so I could hear her if she wakes up but my husband is still afraid of the cats going into her room. I have seen one of our cats in her crib sleeping when she's not in it, but at 22 months is it still a big deal if the cat slept with her?

minervacullen

I think it's up to you. How are the cats with her other wise? If they tolerate her or are loving I think it would be your discretion, but if they get annoyed or frustrated maybe not.

SidraJedi

My kitten sleeps with my 9 month old all the time. We have a small apartment and I check on her constantly. We bedshare and our bed is on the floor. She is in the bed at night and for naps. The cat will sometimes wake her up but there has never been any indication of something dangerous.

The cat suffocating a baby story is an urban legend. I looked to see If I could find a news story anywhere and as far as I can tell someone made it up, like the story of the teenager who died because poisonous spiders nested in her beehive. Real or not, we've had two elderly cats (recently deceased) and one kitten since DD has been born and no problems sharing a sleeping space between us.

I did used to have a cat that liked to sleep on my head. I might behave differently if I still had that cat?

Because of this^ I was really worried about the cats and the baby. I looked in the Internet and at the library and found no evidence of danger, just superstition and worry.

Maybe you and your husband could do your own research and try to find what kind of potential problems exist between cats and babies? Doing the research together through avenues you trust will help you to decide how to proceed and give you peace of mind.

DawnLilly

Our cat and one dog both sleep together right next to the crib. The other dog sleeps right by the front door. When DS is moved into a bed I will not have an issue with any of them sleeping with him. Right now they are content outside the crib. I wouldn't have an issue with the cat jumping in there though. DS is a wild sleeper so I don't think she has any interest in sharing his space.

shannm

At that age, I wouldn't care.

tookie1978

Thanks. I think it's fine, I will talk to hubby

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Wipz

1 kid, 4 cats... We've all bed shared since he was 2 weeks old and one cat in particular  always slept across his legs .. he would kick the covers and cat off when he wanted to wriggle around. She's used to it since she used to sleep on my belly when I was pregnant and he always kicked her then too lol.  The other cats will sleep around him but move when he gets too wriggly..  

Personal preference.. but we've never had to lock our cats out of the room.  

Even when he is in his crib which we just converted .. no one bothers him while he is asleep.

FemShep

uconnhuskie007 said:

its not the cat I'd be worried about, BTW, It's the kid.  You can't trust a 22 month old not to torment a cat.  You just can't.   It's their nature to be curious..."hmmm - what happens when I poke this eye?  Pull this tail?"  etc.

Agreed. We don't allow DD to be unsupervised around the cat or dog, she just doesn't understand being gentle and reading the animal's signals. I wouldn't be comfortable with sharing the crib with the cat for this reason.