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With all the excitement a new baby brings and the vast amount of research that goes into selecting the best gear, we tend to forget about one little thing. We tend to forget how our first “baby” is going to react to it’s new little human counterpart. Here are a few tips on how to make the transition of bringing a new baby home easy with your pets.

1. Set up large baby items well in advance of bringing your baby home. Chances are they will be very curious of the new items and this will give your pets time to get accustom to them. They will probably sniff, stare and even lick the new items, trying to figure out what they are and why they are there.

2. Spend time in the nursery, sit in your rocking chair or glider and read a book or sip a cup of tea. By enjoying some quiet time in the room, this will show the animals this a calm place and get them in the mind frame of being calm when they are in that room.

3. Get them used to extra noise. Take the time to turn on your swing with the sound on, or turn on your white noise machine for a while. If they are accustomed to the noises, there will be less chances of them barking and waking up the baby later on.

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4. If you have a dog, set up your stroller in your living room for a few hours. This will give them a chance to get up close and personal with it with out being overwhelmed. I highly recommend taking them out for one or two practice walks with the stroller to get them accustomed to walking beside it.

5. If you have a cat fill your crib and bassinet with balloons. Cats are known to love warm spots to curl up and what better place than a cozy new crib or bassinet. The only thing wrong with this is once your baby arrives they may be tempted to do this and could accidentally smother your precious little bundle. If you place balloons in the crib and your cat jumps in, chances are they will be in for a little surprise. No harm is done to the cat, aside from a little scare that will stop them from being tempted to jump in again.

6.  If you can, while you are still in the hospital send home one of your swaddle blankets with the person who is watching your pets. This will introduce the scent of the new baby to your pets without overwhelming them. Once you arrive home from the hospital, and go to introduce your baby to your pet, they will already be familiar with their scent.

Do you have any tips to make the introductions smoother?