Preparing your pet before the arrival of your baby
Tags: Kids, Mental Health, Baby, Pets, Parenting

BY THABITHA DAVID · PUBLISHED JULY 10, 2020 · UPDATED SEPTEMBER 9, 2020

Introduce your baby to pets: You are anxiously waiting for the arrival of your new family member.

You have started preparation of the of the baby room. You have set the crib, painted the room. Baby proofed your house.

As that day comes nearer, you decorate your house with lights, balloons, and flowers. And the inside is crammed with baby’s stuff.

If you have a pet, he is watching all this.

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Introduction

Your pet has been with you from the beginning. Your pet is watching and observing everything.

If you have a dog, he even takes it as his responsibility to guard and protect the house.

He senses the changes happening within your house and he does not know the reason for this change.

When the environment of a house changes dramatically, animals get stressed.

You love your baby and you love your pet too, but it does not mean they also love each other.

So, how to go about introducing your pet to your baby and help them love each other?

Preparing your pet before the arrival of your baby

Prevention is always better than cure. Adapting some simple changes beforehand can save you from stress, after the baby is born.

It is vital to show to your pet that nothing scary is happening or going to happen.

Never think to send your beloved pet to shelter, you can teach him whatever you want.

First, do all the decorations by keeping your pet in mind.

When you are working on baby’s room decor, make sure to have some space from where your pet can see inside. Otherwise, he will feel isolated and furious.

If your pet jumps and messes up, then install a security gate.

Leave space over that security gate so he can see and smell because escaping from a pet and shutting doors will make the situation worse.

Also, show him the space and the objects of the baby who is going to be born, from the cradle to the bathtub, from rompers to rattle.

Your pet will love the time you spend with him. But at the same time will get familiar with the new items in the house.

If you have a dog. He might sniff around a bit and then register it as part of the household items he might have to guard and protect.

I also played with my dog asking where the baby is. And trained him to the word baby room. He also got trained to come till the door and sit and watch and not enter inside.

By doing so the animal will not feel excluded.

Make changes in your pet’s feeding and walking and sleeping time. If he did not have one, make it into a schedule so it becomes easy or you and for your pet when the baby arrives.

Before the arrival of your baby, train your pet to spend more time alone so that he gets used to it and when the baby comes, your pet does not associate this less attention with the baby.

Communicate with your pet, even during your recovery. Make sure your other family members give proper time to your pet. My husband would show pictures of the baby to my dog.

If you have a dog:

If there is a dog within the house, you must act beforehand by gradually introducing the smell of your baby, before the first meeting.

My husband would let the dog smell the baby cloth bag when he brings it home for washing. When I was in the hospital.

It is important to familiarize your pet with the baby’s smell.

If you have a cat:

If there is a cat, however, this preliminary is not necessary. He is curious but independent, he likes to get things done.

The important thing is to ban him from jumping into the cradle because he could roll in the soft mattress laid out for your baby even when the baby is inside.

Best to train the cat not to enter the baby room. My cat’s egos were so high that she never entered even if I called her.

Even after the room was no more a baby room and became a guest bedroom she wouldn’t enter.