Dog and new born baby?worried first time mom

[carang]

my kids were always around dogs. i don't understand the "wait until they are vaccinated" as there are VERY FEW diseases that can pass from dog to child.

[bekyboo44]

I have to agree with Cara....and the vaccinations a child recieves by 6 mnths are all for diseases spread by people not animals or dogs.

However our son paid very attention to our dogs until he was mobile, i.e. crawling, and they paid very little attention to him! They kept themselves seperated!

[fennho]

cara
i'm not talking about diseases but rather the general hygiene, that may cause general illness like diarrhoea..since for the 1st 6 months, we need to sterilize bottles and things for the baby, and my dog are always down for walks...

[carang]

fennho... i can understand your concern, but just to let you know...we board dogs for a living. we often have over 12 dogs at a time. it would have been impossible to keep the dogs and the children separated. neither of my children have become sick from the dogs, in any way.

i find that many, including doctors and nurses, in hk have no clue what having a dog is actually like. i had nurses and doctors both ask me what i was going to do with my dogs once the first baby arrived.

if your dog is always out for a walk and you are concerned, then clean its feet when it comes home. it only takes a minute and you'll feel 'safer'.

[carang]

some photos of my kids with the dogs.

[carang]

i couldn't attach all i wanted....as i realised they were not the right format. they are short videos of my first and a cocker spaniel, when my first was about 4 months(just learning to roll over.)

but of course, every one should do what they are comfortable with. if you are not comfortable with your little one and your dog interacting, then that's the way it should be in your house. it's just that it doesn't have to be that way if you don't want it to be.

[Sage]

I grew up with three huge dogs. My mom used to tell people that they were my babysitters. She'd put me on the grass when I was still a lap baby while hanging up the laundry. The dogs would roll around with me.

I love dogs and would always stop to say hello to one when taking my bub for walks. Sometimes, my husband goes berserk when they try to sniff her (none has tried to lick her so far!) I tried telling him that it's their way of saying hello but to him, it's a mental thing. He said that he's afraid that they would suddenly snap at her or something. He still doesn't trust my neighbours' dogs!