Conference misery::feline

    If I were a baby, I'd love to snuggle up next to a kitty in my crib...
    

    I don't know if this will help, but a friend of mine had a similar
    problem, cat wanting to sleep in the crib.  One day the cat had jumped
    in the crib when the baby was in there, and curled up in the corner. 
    All of a sudden, the baby moved, scared the cat, who leaped out of the
    crib and never got in there again.
    
    Marilyn

    When I was pregnant all my cats (4) loved to be in Lindsey's crib.  We
    just gave up and put a sheet over the mattress.  This way when they got
    in the crib, they wouldn't leave cat hair on the sheet.
    
    One of my cats was very jealous when Lin was born and would curl up in
    my are when the other one was holding Lindsey. 
    
    As for the bedroom, we hung a screen door to her room.  We had forced
    hot water heat and for some reason when the door was closed, there was
    no heat in her room.  My husband hung a screen door, wood on the
    bottom, screen on the top.  Served two purposes, let in the heat, kept
    out the cats.  They could go in her room during the day but not when
    she was asleep.  They didn't seen to want to get in her crib once she
    was home from the hospital.
    
    Something the hospital told me to do was to take the shirt that Lindsey
    was wearing while she was in the hospital and bring it home for the
    cats to smell.  This way they could smell her before she actually came
    home.  Three of my cats could have cared less about it and the fourth
    tore it to shreds.  This way we knew which one to watch out for once
    Lin came home. 
    
    Good luck. 
    Lisa Cozzens  

    We also hung a screen door. My 4 cat's always want to get into the
    baby's room. When she was really you I didn't want them jumping on her.
    Now if she starts crying all of the kitties run except for my 10 month
    old kitten Tyr. He is intrigued by her. I couldn't keep cats out of her
    room without the screen door.  Good luck.
    
                           Alice

    Before my daughter was born, our cat Buddy also used to jump up in the
    crib.    We didn't make too much fuss about it and when we bought
    Jessica home, he never got in there again.   We didn't do anything in
    particular to keep him out.   He just seem to know that he shouldn't be
    in there.
    
    Sarah

    I've been in two completely different directions with cats.  When I was
    pregnant we put up the crib, the cat immediately took it over as her
    bed.  I gently and without any judgement simply took her out and put
    her on the floor.  She did this about twice, and never bothered it
    again.  When he came home from the hospital(he was ill at birth and
    stayed three days after I came home...I appreciatd the time to rest!)
    she sniffed him but never jumped into the crib.
    
    In our current home, about a year ago, I agreed to take my small infant
    nephew a few times over the summer and fall.   We set up the crib for
    him.  The cat I mentioned above has since gone to "kitty heaven", but
    here comes Barney, my huge Siamese who adopted us.  He declared it HIS!
    in no uncertain terms.  I suppose because the crib isn't occupied on a
    regular basis he just figures it's a nice soft place to sleep.  Only
    once did I have a problem getting him out of the crib for the baby. 
    Should have seen me trying to move a 14 pound Siamese with one hand and
    juggling a sleeping infant of similar weight with the other hand! and a
    questionable back on top of it all.  When the baby is awake and active
    all my cats stay as far away as possible from him.  The same as when my
    son was small.  They sniff, but at the first sign of movement color
    them GONE!! and looking quite intimidatd at that! Oh and when my nephew
    isn't visiting, I keep an old afghan over the sleeping (head) area to
    keep the dirt and cat hair to a minimum.  Gee, just last Sunday at a
    party I had to "find" the crib, remove the cover so he could nap.  It
    was just as clean as it should be.
    
    I think you don't have too much to worry about, probably the cat will
    know what its limits are without being told.  
    
    Lyn

Is it possible that cats can tell that the new infant is yours, perhaps from
smelling it, and then know better than to mess with your kid?

    Re:.7
    
    That's a very interesting theory and I wouldn't be surprised if 	
    it had some truth to it.
    
    Anyone else....?
    Susan

    Hi -
    
    I don't have any real experience here, because baby won't be here until
    September. I had very reasonable discussions about this with both my
    doctor and the vet. Neither was very concerned but agreed that you
    definitely have to keep kitty out of the crib. The risk of kitty
    unintentionally harming the baby is very small, but also very real. 
    The vet said that, given Poppy's personality, she will probably ignore
    baby as long as baby ignores her. (Poppy does not like to be handled).
    She is a cuddler, though, and if there's a heat source around, she'll
    be right on it. 
    
    I bought a contraption called a crib tent, which is a metal frame with
    netting that stretches over it. you put this on top of the crib. It
    keeps kitty out now and keeps baby in later (all of this in theory, of
    course). They're kind of expensive retail, around $100 I think. I got
    mine for around $35 at an auction. You can also get netting that just
    stretches over the top of the crib. 
    
    There's also a discussion of this in the Parenting notes file, which
    you might find helpful. Both my doctor and the vet were adamant that
    there is no reason to give up the kitty. Not that I would have
    considered that. I can understand your concern. The thought of bringing
    this little thing home from the hospital scares the heck out of me
    sometimes. But what helps me is to think everything through and come up
    with a plan for dealing with it. That will allow me to deal with all
    the unexpected things once the baby is here! 
    
    Best of luck to you. 
    
    Kate                                        
    

    
    My Siamese, Fleur, appears concerned when the baby cries.  If I am
    holding the baby when she is crying, Fleur will nip me or extend
    her paws as if to scratch or get my attention.  I was wondering what
    this cat behavior meant.  Is Fleur upset, protective of the baby, or
    jealous?  Fleur only reacts this way when the baby is crying.
    
    Eleanor

    
    Just guessing, but to my ears, a baby's cries and a cat's crying
    (especially in distress) are often very similar sounding.  I think
    Fleur may be concerned that you are hurting your baby?
    
    len.
    

    
    Len,
    
    	That is what I thought, too.  I thought that maybe Fleur was
    	hearing the baby cry, and reacting in a protective manner, as if it
    	were a kitten crying in distress.
    
    Eleanor

    
    Our Siameses thought the babies were kitties, it took them a
    while to figure out that the babies were little people. They
    were a little confused too since the babies didn't smell like
    kitties, yet they sounded like kitties (Siamese ones). My
    cats were a little jealous and very curious at the beginning, 
    but they never hissed at the babies, then they got the idea that 
    the babies could be potential space heaters and warmed up to them 
    after a while. When the babies had crying fits (from colic), the
    cats would ask to go out, I guess they couldn't handle it neither! 
    
    Maybe Fleur needs some reassurance.             
    
    
    Eva