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Prepping your pets for baby!

nuggetmama369nuggetmama369 member
edited January 2019 in May 2019 Moms
Hi! I was just curious about how everyone is prepping their pets for the new baby? Any tips on helping them deal with the major life change about to happen?

I've got dogs btw! 
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Re: Prepping your pets for baby!

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    optbaby2017optbaby2017 member
    When I was pregnant with DD, we had two cats. We let them explore all of the new gear, pretty much only setting limits that they couldn't be in the crib. And a friend had a baby about 8wks ahead of us and brought him over to expose them to a real baby.  I think most pets are pretty aware of what's going on (or vet said "they know that you're going to have a 'kitten,' they just don't know why you're gestating so long"). Biggest thing is to keep their routine as consistent as possible. Feed them on time, walk them as you have been, let them sleep where they normally do... If you anticipate any of that changing start working on that now. With dogs, I have heard people recommend that you have someone bring home one of baby's hats/blankets for them to sniff before you actually bring baby home. Also, random, but if your dogs might be skitterish about the stroller or rocking chair, start practicing with those (my mom's dog struggled at first with my grandfather's wheelchair and is still scared of their LaZBoy). 
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    MaggieG183MaggieG183 member
    I’ll agree with everything said by @optbaby2017 but add that you should consider playing babies crying every once in a while. We did the whole familiarization thing with the toys, crib, room, etc. but what we didn’t do was that and it still impacts us to this day.

    Here’s what I suggest: play babies crying (YouTube it) and start in a room far away from your pets. One person should be “tending” to the baby and the other help your pets find a place, a safe place they can fee comfortable and help them calm down if they are nervous. Over the next month or so move the baby crying tracks closer to their location, room by room, so they can get used to it being right near them and still find their safe place. Change up who is helping them find their place and time when you play the baby crying too.

    Our dog is incredibly kind and very tolerant of our son now that he’s a toddler but he did not and does not do well with crying - baby or me. We didn’t anticipate this at all as I never really cried around him prior to the baby coming. He was so anxious though when baby came home and cried! It took us months to acclimate him to the crying and even now he has a very hard time with it when I am having a hard day or DS throws a fit. We have started the baby crying tracks with him this time around in the last few weeks and he’s already chilling out more than he did when we worked with him after DS showed up but it’s a total work in progress and likely will never be great as be we’re proactive enough from the get-go.
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    minnemiskaminnemiska member
    We took a special class with our dog before our first. A lot of it was a refresher on key obedience skills- no jumping, drop it/leave it (lots of baby toys might look like dog toys), go to your bed/down. As far as introducing dog to baby, we had the dog outside and baby went into the house first. We got situated on the couch and then brought the dog to meet him while on a lead. A big thing is giving your dog attention at the same time as baby, not just when baby is asleep so dog doesn’t associate baby with no fun. We also made sure our dog still got his daily walks. 

    In the beginning the dog was sleep deprived too, which was kind of hilarious, but eventually he just slept through the middle of the night feeds. 

    As our son son got older, we also worked with him on gentle pets, no climbing on the dog, etc. And as tolerant as our dog is, they have very little time together unsupervised—a dog is still an animal at heart. But overall, it’s great having a family dog with kids. Our son insists on giving the dog a hug-kiss every night before bed. 💜
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    nuggetmama369nuggetmama369 member
    Great advice all, thanks!!
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    MelanntorMelanntor member
    great topic. I have a rambunctious pitbull that we adopted at 7 months (he's 4 now). I am gonna have someone bring home baby clothes for him to smell, and let him explore the baby stuff in the few weeks before baby comes home. I tried playing the crying video, but honestly it drove me insane (motherly instincts kicking in already, I was like "omg someone go pick up and snuggle this baby"), and he just kind of looked at me like "Mom, what are you doing? are you for real right now?" He is not skittish about noise (thunder, fireworks, etc. don't phase him). So...I think we are going to take minor precautions and wing the rest.
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    tribemom5tribemom5 member
    I usually have my husband bring a hospital blanket home for our fur babies to sniff before we actually bring baby home. It helps them get used to the scent of their new family member. My aunt suggested this to us with our second Lo and it’s worked well. 
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