Introducing Your New Born Baby to Your Pets + How To Prepare by Nicole McCray
It can be overwhelming when you are expecting a baby, even if it is not your first child. If you have a pet or two in the house, this can add to the stress you are already feeling. In addition, your pet may be unaware of what is about to happen, since bringing a new baby into the home will be a huge adjustment for all members of the household, pets included.
Often, owners sometimes view their pets as their first “baby” of the family, which will shift once a new baby is brought into the mix. As a result, routines will shift, attention will go elsewhere, and this can leave your pet feeling isolated and confused.
While you have nine months (give or take) to prepare for the upcoming arrival of a new, tiny person, your pet will feel like this change happens for them overnight. While pets are in tune with their owners, even though they may sense that something is about to happen, they don’t have any preparation for it or completely understand what will occur.
Pets and babies can take to each other immediately, and many times pets feel an obligation to watch over the new addition. However, it will still be a transition, and some things can be done to help your pet prepare while you are preparing.
So, how can you ensure that your pet will take to your newborn well? Below are some helpful tips that you can do to help ease the baby’s arrival and set your pets up to develop a strong bond and happy relationships together.
Brush Up on Obedience and Basic Commands
There are some things that you should already be doing while pregnant to help your pets prepare. The first thing is that if your pet has not already been trained to take commands from you, it might be a great time to consider enrolling it within obedience training of some sort. If you already have a pet that knows basic commands, be sure to brush up on them during this time.
The focus needs to be on your leadership and making sure that your pet will follow your directions. The Bond Vet in Chelsea, Manhattan, states that if your pet has some concerning habits, it is within your best interest to work with a professional to ensure that your pet knows how to follow your commands. You will be appreciative of the work that you put in now before bringing your newborn into the environment so that you can be sure your pet is calm and well behaved.
Commands that are helpful for your pet to understand and adhere to include:
Sit
Stay
Lay Down
Leave It
Go (teaching the pet to go in a location you point to)
On/Off
Up/Down (this could be about stairs)
Drop
It is helpful to practice these cues in various situations to clear your pet of these commands before your new baby’s arrival.
Monitor Your Emotions
Being pregnant brings on many hormones, and with those, there are constant shifts in emotions and energy. In addition, your pregnancy will affect the entire household, which includes your pet. They often mirror your emotions, so be cautious when acting out, stressed, or overwhelmed. Instead, work to hone in your feelings with activities like meditation, exercise, or mindful yoga to help keep you calm.
Your feelings will come into play once the baby is born and brought into your pet’s life. Making positive associations and staying calm is extremely important for the initial interaction between your pet and baby. The more you can control your emotions and feelings, the better for your pet to feel the same.
Teach Respect and Establish Boundaries
Conditioning is another part of training so that your pet knows when it has permission to go into areas, such as a human’s personal space, or for instance, the baby’s nursery. Your pet should be familiar with providing space when necessary and be respectful of your area, as well as your baby’s.
It can help to begin with establishing boundaries to keep the nursery off-limits to your pets. For example, challenge your pet to only view the room while holding them (if possible). With this action, you are effectively communicating to your pet that the area is yours and that you will give permission to your pet so that it will adhere to your directions.
Change Your Routine and Introduce Baby’s Things Now
Pets are sensitive to changes within their structured routines, so as soon as you know what will change when it comes to your pet, start introducing that right away. Some pets may adjust quickly, which is fantastic, but for some, it may take a while.
Part of implementing new routines means spending less time with your pet because, let’s face it, once the baby arrives, that one-on-one quality time will be much less. So start busying yourself with other activities. Instead, work to ensure you aren’t spending any extra time with your pet. If you can do that before the newborn’s arrival, your pet will not associate it losing your attention with the baby.
Put baby equipment and necessities where they will be once the baby arrives so that your pet can get used to those changes now. You need to ensure there is adequate time for your pet to acclimate and be comfortable with foreign items. You might even consider taking some walks with your pet while carrying the baby stroller if you plan to do so - they can get used to having it there, and it will also give you some practice working with the leash and stroller together in preparation.
Control The Introduction
Now that you are prepared, it’s time for the baby to arrive. You can start by having your spouse or a family member bring home something that has the baby’s scent from the hospital before you arrive. It could be an item of clothing that it wears, a baby blanket, burp cloth, anything that might be holding its scent.
Brace yourself for your pet to have missed you and want immediate attention when you come home. If you have a spouse or other family member bringing you, have them hold the baby when you walk into the house so that you can greet your pet first and allow it to calm down. If it helps, you can have your pet go on a long walk before the introduction to drain some energy.
Allow your pet to get close enough to sniff the baby and keep at a distance, following your command. Do not bring the baby too close for the first meeting. Gradually allow the distance between the pet and baby to become shorter as long as your pet stays calm.
Pets can also sense that nursing is an intimate time, so when you go to feed your baby, you can have your spouse or family member or friend that may be around to give out a treat or two for your pet as long as they stay relaxed. If they understand that their actions get rewarded, they will continue to associate feeding time for the baby as treat time, which is positive.
Teach Your Baby
Remember that if at any point you are not 100% confident about the safety of your child with your pet, it may be beneficial to look into rehoming it. As sad as that sounds, some pets and children just do not get along well, and you want to get to the point where you can leave your child alone with your pet without worry.
Once your baby becomes old enough, you can teach them how to respect the pet, just as you had the pet respect them. Don’t allow your child to incite harm on your pet by pulling at its ears or tail, etc. Keep supervising every interaction until you feel entirely sure that your pet and baby have a good relationship, setting them up for success.
Nicole McCray is a music teacher. Before she discovered her passion for teaching students how to play their first instrument, Nicole was pinching pennies in her 20s while singing at dive bars across the country. Nowadays, she spends her days contributing to music blogs, parenting forums, and education websites when she’s not providing private music lessons. She finds joy in sharing her insight with musicians, fellow teachers, and parents of musicians-in-training!