Cats and babies

LoveMyBugs, BSN, CNA, RN · Jun 6, 2006

I'm not an animal expert, but when my first son was born we were living in an apartment complex on the ground floor. There was a cat in the area that would watch our baby through the windows. Maybe we were paranoid, but we thought that the cat was stalking the baby. If we took the baby to the living room the cat would go to the living room window, if we took the baby to the bed room the cat would go look in the bedroom window, same for the kitchen. This went on for weeks, then one day when the door opened the cat ran in our apartment and hid under the baby bassinet.

Long Term Care Columnist / Guide · Jun 6, 2006

Hi, I am a long time member here, but rarely post. I am 11 weeks pregnant and not sure if I am posting in the right department, but here goes:
My husband is afraid our two cats (one is a fraidy cat and one is a super social cat) will try and sit or smother the baby after it is born. Both cats sleep with us.
Has anyone ever heard if cats harm babies? I am of the impression they tend to leave babies alone.
Thanks

This is an old wives' tale that has its roots in fact; cats do seek out warm places to sleep, and they have been known to lick milk off an infant's face, hence the myth that they somehow 'steal' its breath.

I have had both children and cats for many years, and I've found that the most they're apt to do is to pee in the infant seat to show you exactly what they think of that new attention-grabber you just brought home! :lol2: Of course, we kept the cats out of our kids' rooms when they were little so we didn't have to worry about our 20-lb cat sitting on the 10-lb baby, and we discouraged the cats from using the baby and/or his personal items as playthings. But it was our orange tabby, Squash E., who literally taught our now-23-year-old daughter to walk before she was nine months old by offering his tail for her to hang onto as he meandered around the house. (I leave you to imagine the to-do that resulted the time she inadvertently went for his passing gear.......)

Common sense, obviously, is the rule when it comes to pets and kids. Good luck to you, your baby-to-be, and your fur-babies as well.

Natkat, BSN, MSN, RN · Jun 6, 2006

The only danger I know of is to the baby before it's born. Have someone else clean the litter box. There is a risk that you could get toxoplasmosis from cat feces. This would be harmful to the baby.

But yeah, a cat is no danger to a newborn baby.

babynurselsa, RN · Jun 6, 2006

The cats typically are in more danger from teh little ones than vice-versa.

I have had cats woth all of my kids. We do have one that has slept in the crib.

She is the same one that had a suck fetish when she came to live with us. Weaned too soon or something. When my 3rd dd was small she fell asleep in her diaper only on a blanket in teh living room one day. I entered the room and glanced down and had to do a double take. It appeared that she was breaking out in some God awful rash all over. On closer inspection I discovered she was actually covered in little kitty hickeys.

Fuzzy · Jun 6, 2006

Hi Paprikat,

Congratulations!

Working in a veterinary hospital, we get this question all the time. We recommend that the kitties not be allowed unsupervised in the baby's room. It is safe to let the cat see the baby, to sniff it, and touch it. This will let the cat accept the new family member. Before the baby is born try to find some tapes of crying babies so the cat gets used to the noise. Try to pay attention to the cats once the baby is born also. I know that you will be busy. You might want to look into using rescue remedy or feliway, both which are calming to cats in stressful situations. If possible have childern come over and visit the kitties. This way they will have an opportunity to get used to them before the baby is born. Talk to your veterinarian about keeping the kitties clean, healthy, and parasite free. As the child becomes larger and more mobile make sure that the child learns respect for the kitty. Children can learn at a young age to "pet nice", "play nice" and "be nice" to the household pets. Children should be supervised during interactions with pets.

As far as Toxoplasmosis being a problem is usually isn't a problem if proper hygiene is followed. The litter box should be scooped at least once daily and the waste properly disposed of in a plastic bag. The pan should be washed weekly in a dilute (10%) bleach solution. Gloves should be worn if you are doing the deed. Better yet, have someone else in the household take care of the box. Make sure that you are eating your meat cooked to proper temperature. People have more of a chance contacting Toxoplasmosis from under cooked meat than they so from their kitty's litter box.

Fuzzy

Faeriewand, ASN, RN · Jun 6, 2006

My cat once scratched a baby across the head and made him cry. I think it's just good sense to not let a baby alone with any animal. A friend's story: She walked into the bedroom where her baby was sleeping on the bed to find the cat perched atop the babys chest with its head in the baby's mouth. I guess to smell the milk? I've never had a problem with cats and my babies but I would use common sense and never leave mine unattended with any animal. :)

dawngloves, BSN, RN · Jun 6, 2006

A friend's story: She walked into the bedroom where her baby was sleeping on the bed to find the cat perched atop the babys chest with its head in the baby's mouth. I guess to smell the milk? :)

No!! It was sucking it's breath out!!! :lol2:

I've raised two kids in a three cat household and the only danger was to the cats by having their tails pulled.

RunnerRN, BSN, RN · Jun 6, 2006

My friend had a baby last year, and they have a very affectionate cat - this thing likes to sleep on your neck and chest every night. They were so worried about having their little boy, afraid the cat would sneak into the room and sit on the kid's chest. They found a netting "tent" at Babies R Us that is meant to be used once the kid is a little older (keep them from falling out of the crib). They used it only when the kid was in the crib and the door would be open, and it worked perfectly.

No baby breath stolen :) and no kitty on baby's chest. More than anything, it allowed them to relax and not be stalking the cat everywhere she went.

Ex130Load · Jun 6, 2006

Some other gee-wiz to consider, ran across the following article from MedPage. I did a cut and paste as the link wouldn't open for friend to whom I tried to forward the article.

MedPage Today Action Points

*Explain to interested patients that this study suggests that the presence of one or more cats in the home of an infant is associated with an increased risk for eczema among the children of mothers who do not themselves have the condition.

*Reassure concerned patients that eczema is not a serious disease, can be controlled with topical medications, and may be transient.

*These studies were published as abstracts and presented as a poster at a conference. These data and conclusions should be considered to be preliminary as they have not yet been reviewed and published in a peer-reviewed publication.

Review

Esmeralda Morales, M.D.

U. of Arizona, Tucson

SAN DIEGO, May 22-Children who are exposed to cats and their allergens soon after birth have a significantly elevated risk for developing eczema at one year, according to research reported here.

In a study of 486 children followed since birth, more than 25% of those with cats in the household had eczema by age one year, compared with less than 20% of children from feline-free households, reported Esmeralda Morales, M.D., a pediatric pulmonary fellow at the University of Arizona in Tucson.

Interestingly, having two or more dogs at home seemed to offer a slight but not statistically significant protective effect against atopy, Dr. Morales said at the American Thoracic Society meeting.

According to the so-called hygiene hypothesis, exposure in early life to endotoxins such as those associated with cats, dogs, and other animals may skew the immune system away from the allergic Th2 phenotype to a more tolerant Th1 phenotype.

"Some studies have shown that exposure to dogs and cats in infancy is associated with protection from allergic conditions, but others find no relations," Dr. Morales and colleagues noted.

The investigators looked at the relationship of pet exposure to eczema in kids who were part of the infant immune study, a prospective birth cohort of 488 unselected healthy infants. Data on the presence in the household of either cats or dogs was ascertained by questionnaire shortly after birth.

The investigators used a Pearson chi-square test to assess the relationship between doctor-diagnosed eczema and exposure to either cats or dogs for the group as a whole and for a subset of children whose mothers have eczema.

In all, 134 of the 486 children studied had cats in their households, and of these, 27.6% had eczema by age one, compared with 17.8% of those without cats. When the data were stratified by maternal asthma, they found that the effect of cat exposure was significant only for those children whose mothers did not have eczema, the authors found.

"We're not exactly sure why this came out in our data set," Dr. Morales said in an interview. "Is it something underlying in the population, or is there some sort of gene-environment interaction that's driving it? And that's one of the directions we have to go with our analysis with the genetic and blood data that we have, to try and see if there's any correlation there."

Whatever it is about cats that seems to increase risk for eczema, it's not a lot of endotoxins--at least not in midwestern homes, reported investigators from the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, in a separate poster presentation.

They conducted a study of homes with newborns children to assess whether the presence of cats or dogs would be associated with increased endotoxin levels in the child's or mother's bed, child's or mother's bedroom floors, and the living room or family room floor.

"Our hypothesis was that the presence of either cats or dogs in homes could increase the levels of endotoxin in all areas of the home, but would have a greater influence on floor endotoxin concentrations," wrote Dennis R. Ownby, M.D., and colleagues of the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit.

They found that endotoxin concentrations were lowest in the child's bed, and higher in the floors than in either the child's or the mother's bed.

But they also found that endotoxin concentrations did not vary, regardless of whether there were no dogs or cats in the house, or whether there were two or more.

"We conclude that the presence of cats and dogs in homes from urban and suburban area of the midwest are not associated with increased concentrations of endotoxin," they wrote.

indigo girl · Jun 6, 2006

I'm not an animal expert, but when my first son was born we were living in an apartment complex on the ground floor. There was a cat in the area that would watch our baby through the windows. Maybe we were paranoid, but we thought that the cat was stalking the baby. If we took the baby to the living room the cat would go to the living room window, if we took the baby to the bed room the cat would go look in the bedroom window, same for the kitchen. This went on for weeks, then one day when the door opened the cat ran in our apartment and hid under the baby bassinet.

Sounds like a typical case of baby watching. Clearly, kitty was fascinated by such a tiny human.