Freakout number one was sleeping arrangements. I've always had the cats in my room and yet here I was reading about how cats and babies shouldn't sleep in the same room together. How was this going to work? I ordered a tent to go over the cosleeper... but that didn't last because I kept freaking out it was going to collapse (can we say new mommy nerves??) so instead the cats were kicked out of the bedroom. I spent 2 nights listening to them paw at the door before one night my husband put them in the basement. I cried and told him to let them out and we'd just see what happened. (new mommy hormones + no sleep caused this reaction!). Imagine my delight to find the cats... ignored Eirik! They didn't go anywhere near the cosleeper. No, they were quite content to sleep at the foot of the bed. They did however think the cosleeper was their new bed when Eirik wasn't in it. I got in the habbit of tossing a pillow in to prevent cats from sleeping there. In fact his sheets got changed more because of cat fluff then because he made them dirty.
In fact at first the cats stayed as far away from Eirik as possible. Slowly most of them came around (Sebastian is still not sure of him) and while they didn't want to be with him they simply watched him from afar and ignored him. This worked great at first but now Eirik has reached the more mobile stage... bring on fear number two. Claws.
Yes, all my cats have their claws. I have by no means encouraged biting or scratching but... they're cats! If they get wound up or upset then they are going to react. I've always been super careful about Eirik's interaction with the cats.. making sure that he doesn't tug on their fur or pull their tails. However I have to say I am very surprised about how gentle my cats are with him! Even on the few occasions where Eirik has gotten a fistful of fur they haven't scratched or bitten. In fact my one cat loves to come and rub up against Eirik while I nurse him at night.
I have to say I am very releaved that so far the cats have been accepting of him. My one cat Caligula has actually mellowed out a LOT since Eirik was born. He is no where near as nippy as he used to be and is much more cuddly and wanting to be held and hugged.
Cats and babies can get along!
Note: No cats or babies were harmed in the taking of the photos. One cat did end up with drool on it and Eirik ingested some cat fluff.
I think animals can sense that a baby doesn't know any better. My aunt's dog used to let my cousins pull his tail and even try to ride on him when they were really little, and when he'd had enough, he'd just walk away. He never barked or nipped at them. Granted, he was a really mellow dog in general, but still...he seemed to just understand somehow that they didn't know what they were doing. I bet it's the same with your cats and Eirik!
ReplyDeleteGood to know! We have five cats and are expecting our first baby (in two weeks, woohoo). I actually haven't been worried about the cats at ALL because they pretty much never scratch or bite us and are relegated to the foot of the bed anyway . . . but my DH is worried and wants to lock them out of the room at night. He is also worried about fleas and ticks, which is actually a real concern despite all our best efforts and much money spent on frontline, etc . . . Anyway, I'm going to tell him about your post and hopefully it will set his mind a bit at ease!
ReplyDeleteIt's so nice when things work out. Big sigh of relief. We had the same issue but with my mom's dog. He intensely dislikes kids and would go out of his way to bark at them. But when my first came along he was so different from before. Animals= cute and kids = super cute so the photos are INSANELY cute!!!
ReplyDeleteSo happy Eirik and the cats have a good working relationship =) I'm interested to see how our little Chihuahua's react when Kylie starts being mobile...
ReplyDelete