In our household right now, it’s just us animals, but sometime, mommy and daddy are planning on bringing home a baby or two that doesn’t have fur. Riley is fairly hyper and needy, especially when it comes to being with mom, and Prestley can be a bit territorial over food and toys. I was the only one that they weren’t concerned about introducing a baby to, but now no one knows how I might react because I was acting jealous the first couple of weeks after we got Prestley.
With three dogs in the house, mom has done a lot of research to try and address any issues we might have before there’s likely to be a baby in our family, and she’s also learned some tricks that will help us get adjusted right before. Here’s what’s happening in our house to prepare to introduce us to a new baby.
1. Deal with any behavioural problems ahead of time – the main thing that’s been happening in our house is to stop Riley from acting so needy with mommy. His main trigger where he starts to act out is when she’s on the phone. This problem was fixed with training and now she’s encouraging all of us to be more independent when we’re out in the house. We spend more time outside or in different rooms and are rewarded for spending some time on our own so we’re used to it if mommy is busy with a baby.
2. Introduce baby things before baby comes home – we haven’t done this in our house yet, but mommy says she’ll start to play baby sounds around the house so we get used to the noise. It’s also a good idea to incorporate smells, like baby powder, baby lotion and baby oil while placed on baby blankets. We’re also going to be taught to leave baby things alone. All this should help us be less curious and know how to behave when a baby is with us.
3. Create boundaries – before baby is home and when baby is home mommy is going to teach us some new boundaries. We won’t be allowed into the baby’s room unless we’re told it’s okay. We’re also going to be taught to give space around the baby and only go and see him/her when we’re invited to while mommy and daddy can supervise us.
4. Don’t banish animals and children from interacting – mommy says we can never be left alone with a baby or little kid even if it is our brother or sister. But, we will be allowed to see the baby when we’re invited. Otherwise, we’ll become too excited and try to sneak around to visit, which would be bad! We’ll only get to see the baby when we’re calm and listening well so that mommy or daddy can verbally control how we’re interacting with him/her.
I know that it will be a big change for us when there’s a baby in our house, but we know mommy and daddy love us and will do everything they can to make it an easy transition for everyone and we hope these tips will work in your household, too!
The Humane Society has some additional tips on things that you can change within your house if you’re having trouble managing your pets and your baby http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/resources/tips/pets_babies.html
Bart
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Very nice blog and very cute picture up there. I was thinking about two years ago when me and my wife had a baby. For the first few weeks our pet dog Napster somehow got jealous, maybe because of the less time we spent together when the baby arrive at home. But after a few weeks Napster is back on track… His doing his usual before the baby arrives at home. Thanks for this info very useful to all those mommy and daddy out there! Cheers!
This happened to me about a year ago and actually I had to take my dog to my mother. As I was afraid for both baby and dog. First because I was not sure I can take care enough for my dog.