Children and Pets: friends or foes?

The most common pointers are "don't leave baby alone with the pet", "don't stick baby in the pet's face", and "don't let the baby pull on the pet". Pets may be very jealous at first. They may not be interested so much in the baby, but more so in how they are going to get the baby off your lap so they can get on it.

Long before you will be bringing your baby home, start your pets (dogs and cats alike) in getting used to you not holding them all the time. Try not letting them into your lap as much while watching TV. You might even try wrapping a doll baby up in a receiving blanket and carry it around. This will help them get used to you carrying something around in a blanket, and will train them early not to grab at the blanket to play.

Set up all of the baby gear well ahead of time, so the pets have time to explore and get used to it. Once they are familiar with the new furniture, they may be less likely to bother with it later when the baby arrives.

When baby is born and still in the hospital (providing you didn't have a home birth), take one of the baby's soiled diapers home before baby makes the trip and let it sit out so the scent of the baby is introduced to the house before the baby. You might even want to bring other things ahead of baby like used receiving blankets or a used sleeper.

Baby swings: recent news stories have reported that rocking your baby to sleep in a mechanical swing may trigger a deadly attack on the child by the family dog. Deaths and injury to children around the country have been reported including the death of an 18-day-old girl in Tampa, FL in 2000 after her mother left the room to warm a bottle for her.

To prevent an attack, pets should be conditioned to ignore baby swings before a baby is put into one. Put the swing up, leave it on without a baby in it until the dog or cat totally ignores it.

There are also positive aspects of having a pet in the home. As your child begins to learn to watch things and is gaining eye control, a pet can be very helpful in aiding in quicker development. As pets are walking around, they may catch the baby's attention enough for him to follow with his eyes and strengthen his neck.

Petting introduces new textures to his senses. He can also slowly learn what 'pet the kitty nice' means (you can also use this with 'pet mommy nice' when he wants to pull hair). Your pet can act as a liaison for you in teaching gentle play.

The pets are motivation for children to learn crawling after them. In time, the children and pets will learn the barriers and learn to coexist.

A good pet can be beneficial, but a good rule to live by is do not leave even the most trusted pet alone with a baby.

Source: www.essortment.com and seattlepi.nwsource.com