Any tips for preparing for arrival of new baby

Hi everybody,

I've been off the board for a while, as have been busy moving house, and preparing for the arrival of our first baby!!! Our house move went really well and Ruby was settled in after 2 nights. He is the business

Now, …… the next challenge will be the arrival of our first baby .... I was wondering if any of you might have any tips or advice on what I could be doing to prepare Ruby for the baby’s arrival.

Any info would be welcomed.

Thanks,
Helen :mexwav:

Sorry Helen no tips but just wanted to say congrats on your new lil one on the way!! Im sure in time everyone will adjust so just relax and take care of yourself. Life is about to change in a big way for everyone!

I have lots of good links here:

http://www.cavaliertalk.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1101

At the bottom are links for getting ready for a baby and a dog.

Congrats!

good luck! congratulations !!

sorry i also have no advice as i only have one, but congrats to you as well and i wanted to compliment you on your avatar---it's gorgeous!

k

Congratulations on the baby.

All I can suggest is to get some sleep! :flwr: :flwr:

First I just have to say your avatar always makes me smile.

Congrats on the baby ... having no kids myself I can't offer any advice though. Lucky is my "baby" :flwr:

Thanks everybody for all your replies, its great to be back online again. I will read up on the links you have attached, and time will tell how we all get on!

My hubby reckons Ruby will be a happy camper, once we have some extra food around to keep him happy :jump:

Well, we have brought two babies into our home with our dogs...At that time though, we didn't have our Cavalier yet. We had two Yorkies. We just made the whole thing really positive, let the dogs sniff the baby and made sure they still got lots of attention. This was particularly hard in the beginning, when they were so newborn and you worry so much about germs and all. With my first, every time I pet the dogs, I had to go wash my hands. It gets easier though, as you begin to worry less. I would also try to give my dogs attention when the baby was sleeping, or have my husband play with the dogs if I couldn't. Our Yorkies were older though, so they didn't need as much playing interaction as a younger dog would.

After the initial adjustment, everything went along smoothly...until the baby starts crawling! Then EVERYTHING gets harder!! The most important thing, I think, is prevention. Don't put the baby or the dogs in a situation where something bad could happen. Supervise everything. We like to allow the kids to pet the dogs gently, but we are always right there. When they were really little, we would make sure to actually guide their hands in the beginning so they could understand "gentle".

Ah, I think I'm just rambling now...Good luck!!! I think things will be great. Just remember it is a big adjustment for everyone...you (of course), your husband, and the furbabies! :flwr:

I don't have any children myself, but a friend of mine prepared her mini Schnauzer by letting him smell the shampoo/powder/etc. that she would be using on the baby. She did this every day toward the end of the pregnancy. She also sent the first baby blanket (a clean one!) home to her dog before she and the baby got home. I don't think they've had any problems, and now they've got 2 kids. My sister has 2 dogs, and when she was pregnant, I think she pretty much did the same thing. Now they pretty much tolerate him, as he is an active 19 month old! Good luck with everything and congrats on the new baby!!