Yup, you read that right. I had my baby! After an extremely long induction process my daughter Hannah was born right at midnight on August 4th. It’s been almost two months since then and I have no idea where the time has gone. My days are a blur of milk, diapers and baby snuggles. I have been taking it easy on social media since she was born just so that I can bond and get some rest of course! A few people messaged me asking how little Hannah was getting on with my cat Iskander and whether he was jealous, protective, etc. I put a lot of thought into introducing Hannah to Iskander so I figured I might as well write a blog post about the process for anyone interested or thinking about making the transition of bringing a baby home.
I wouldn’t say Iskander is too temperamental, so I wasn’t super worried about how he would react with Hannah. He is a pretty chill cat and if you don’t mess with him he pretty much just lays around near you and might come by for a pet every now and then. Nevertheless I did a few things to ease the transition for him.
Baby Items and Areas
The cat already wasn’t allowed in our bedroom at night so this was an easy transition. I made sure to keep anything that I didn’t want him on out of sight and if he got into anything I gently took him out so he understood he wasn’t allowed. It worked pretty easily. I do allow him to nap near her when she naps during the day because I can supervise.
Baby Cries
This sounds crazy, but a few weeks before Hannah was due I played some clips of babies crying on YouTube so he would get used to the sound.
Baby Blanket
After Hannah was born, we stayed in the hospital for two days. I sent my husband home on that first day to grab some stuff from the house and gave him a receiving blanket that she had been wrapped in. He sat it in front of Iskander and my husband tells me he spent quite a bit of time sniffing it. That way he knows her smell and wouldn’t be too shocked when she came home with us the next day.
Special Kitty Time
Things are pretty hectic being home with a newborn. It’s really easy to ignore Iskander in between all the things that need to be done. I tried hard to spend at least a few minutes calling out to him and petting him every day.
Sniff Sniff
When Iskander would come close to Hannah to sniff her, I would encourage him with my words and give him a pet. If my husband was nearby we would also give him a treat. This worked out really well and he loves to snuggle up to her when she is sleeping.
Supervision & Baby Toys
Not surprisingly, baby toys and cat toys are pretty darn similar. Hannah’s rattles are a cat magnet. I make sure to watch her around the cat and keep any toys off of the floor and put away when not in use, otherwise the cat will take off with them! Especially because toys always go to the mouth this is particularly important.
I’m happy to say that Iskander and Hannah are best friends now.
