At the moment, our cats are our babies. Cat tree and even litter box is in the bedroom (we live in a small townhouse).
Before baby arrives, we'll be redoing the entire bedroom and the cats will be "displaced" into the main part of the house. But I know my older 14 year old will get separation anxiety and will try to get into the bedroom.
How long did you keep your cats out of the baby room?
persimmon / 1483 posts
Forever. My cat is also 14 - he sheds a ridiculous amount and tries to sleep in/on all of the baby stuffs (crib, bouncy seat, swing, car seat, literally anything and everything baby) so he's been permanently evicted.
watermelon / 14467 posts
They never left. They have absolutely no interest in her or her things.
nectarine / 2115 posts
@oliviaoblivia: @avivoca: this.
Here's a pic of all of us sleeping around 48 hours post-birth!
pear / 1737 posts
Our cat never left. We had the crib set up for two weeks in our room (she came two weeks late) and covered it with a fitted sheet so he wouldn't go in it. Then when we brought baby home, the first night we were home, he jumped in the crib and I shooed him out. He has never jumped in again after a few months of her brig in there in our room. He is up on our bed quite a bit in the night and walks beside the crib up against the bed and he still ignores it. He also ignores the baby for the most part too. He has sniffed her a few times and that's about it.
He doesn't really care for any of the baby stuff, but if he did I would have been very firm with him. He would have pawed all night at a closed door so I'm glad we didn't have to do that.
watermelon / 14467 posts
@mrsrain: This is as close as Autumn got. Roo goes in her room but doesn't get close to the crib.
pomelo / 5573 posts
Our cats never left. They never had any interest in the baby stuff once the baby arrived - I think they got it out of their systems before he showed up.
pear / 1503 posts
We have two and never left. They slept at the foot of the bed during the months we co-slept. Whenever he cried one would come and investigate and make sure he was okay. Before he was born, they were really interested in all of the new furniture and things. But they never once jumped in the crib once he came home. Now, one will usually come sit by rocker when I'm nursing him. One stays out of his way conpletely (she's a little skittish, but has never hissed or smacked at him) and the other lets him crawl on her, but runs away if he gets too excited. They are 9 yrs old, but have never been around babies before. I was worried, but they have been wonderful!
I'd relocate the litterbox, and maybe the cat tree, but let them have free rein still.
blogger / wonderful cherry / 21628 posts
We don't let them in any bedrooms at night. We never have because they don't like to sleep, they like to play and keep us awake. They are allowed to go wherever they please during the day. They don't bother DD.
grapefruit / 4988 posts
Ours are still not allowed in. But that's mostly because the youngest one still likes to pounce on your feet in the middle of the night. 
pear / 1986 posts
We never separated our kitty from LO. She didn't really have any interest in the crib and so I didn't care if she was in her room otherwise.
nectarine / 2115 posts
@avivoca: I don't think Padma ever did more than sniff at stuff, and she was generally repelled from getting to close to the intruder! She is older though (12 this month), so I can see how it might be trickier with younger cats.
persimmon / 1183 posts
I think the problem is that we sleep with the bedroom door closed, but we can't keep the cats in during the night (no litter access), but we can't keep the out either (she'll try and claw at the door non-stop)...
Trying to think of a solution to this.
persimmon / 1114 posts
We've never separated our cat and our lo and have had no issues. In fact, our son loooooves our cat (and vice versa). Lily (our cat's name) was one of his first words.
eggplant / 11824 posts
We never separated the cat from the baby. I don't want to create jealousy and set up a pet to act out.
pear / 1503 posts
The first is a week before he was born. The second was nap time (for baby and kitty) at 3 weeks old. When he used to nap on me (I miss those days!), one would sometimes lie on or next to me. I never noticed any jeslousy, but I was careful to give them lots of rubs.
pear / 1503 posts
@stiletto_mom: Could you keep the door open slightly at night? Our cats would go crazy scratching if we tried to bar them out. We tried it a few times, and gave up.
kiwi / 706 posts
never segregated them either. I love how my DD grew up with her cat and dog "siblings." As to the shedding issue: I keep a lint roller in every room.
pomelo / 5257 posts
Love these pics! I've been worrying about the same thing. I can easily shut two of ours out, but the third will bang on the door all.night.long if I don't let him in! 
persimmon / 1183 posts
@Astro Bee: We live with extended family, everyone sleeps with doors closed (my family also has allergies, so we've mostly kept the cats in the master).
=( We figured, moving the cat tree and litter out, we'd have to be on top of vacumming and scooping, but doesn't solve the in and out privileges my kitties would like.
watermelon / 14467 posts
@stiletto_mom: Can you sleep with the door open or install a kitty door?
pomelo / 5607 posts
Never separated them, but may soon. She's started grabbing the cat, who has started trying to sleep up by our heads where she could reach her at night. I'm so afraid the baby will wake up and grab her belly while we're sleeping and not aware. The cat HATES having you touch her belly and I just have this horror that she'll claw the baby in the eyes.
pear / 1503 posts
@Stiletto_Mom: That is tricky. When we have family visiting we have to keep the door open several inches for the cats, but the guest room is at the end of the hallway. Where are you putting the litterbox and cat tree? I agree with @Avivoca, install a car door. It may mean installing a new door when you move (or buying a cheap one now to cut into), but it would preserve everyone's privacy.
clementine / 935 posts
We kept the cats out of the bedroom for the first 3-4 months at night, but then it was a free for all. They love LO and snuggle up to her while we nurse, but they have no interest in getting in the crib.
wonderful grape / 20453 posts
Never. We keep the doors open at night and the cats sleep wherever they want
pomegranate / 3113 posts
Our cat evicted himself, he HATED the baby for months and wouldn't go anywhere near where she was/had been. He had finally started to acknowledge her existence about the time she started crawling and that freaked him right out again. Anyway, we moved DD to her own room around 8 weeks and the cat came back into our room pretty soon after.
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