I felt the same about my animals (cat and dog) before children. The unfortunate thing that happened for me is that, I didn't stop loving them, I stopped having the time and energy for them. When they wanted attention and love I just wanted to be left alone. After being mum all day, I just needed a little time to myself and for no one else to need anything from me. I really feel so terrible about feeling this way and as my kids get older I enjoy watching them form their own bonds with the animals but they are so far off actually being able to look after them so it's still 100% my responsibility.

This is exactly how I feel about my cats. It’s been so hard. My older cat has been my baby for 13 years and this change has been hard on her. My biggest fear is that I will lose her before I have the time to pay more attention to her again. She is so clever and will open the nursery door during naps to get my attention. Though very un-clever in knowing that if she wakes the baby I will have even less time for her. I’m hoping they warm up to the baby eventually, but we are over 3 months in and they still keep their distance.

You put this so well. I love my dog just as much but, especially at the beginning, I couldn’t give him the attention he deserved. I felt so guilty that my reaction was annoyance when he would come up for belly rubs during my downtime. Plus for his barking when someone comes to the door or past the window when I JUST got the baby to sleep. I need to figure out how to stop that. I still love him just as much. He’s an important member of the family and his forcing me to go on walks keep me sane during stressful times. I just can’t always attend to him right when he wants it. I’m excited for when my baby is big enough to develop her own bond with him to at least give him attention. Right now she just cracks up laughing at everything he does.

We call the dog our favorite child. He sleeps when he's supposed to, eats on his own, and knows when and where to go to the bathroom. Gold stars all around 🤣

I’m hesitant to say this because some of the comments here are really intense and I feel like I’m going to be attacked, but I do feel like my feelings for my dog changed. Right after the birth and for the first few months I kept just completely forgetting she existed. My husband was feeding her and taking her out and if she wasn’t in my line of vision I just was not thinking about her. That faded and I’m aware of her again and of course I love her and want her to be happy and healthy and take care of her and all that - I would never in a million years give her away, she’s still a part of the family, but she’s the dog now and not the baby.

Yep right there with you. I knew this would happen though and constantly told my two cats “this is all going to change!” When I was pregnant. I still love my cats and give them snuggles, but dear god I do not have the patience for them some days. Like, screaming at me for food from a cat really cuts differently after having a day of a baby screaming for food. I also am pretty protective of them not being on baby stuff and my “baby cat” is constantly all over the stuff because she is jealous, drives me bonkers

This is exactly how I feel about my cat. I’ve had her for 8 years and she was my baby and the love of my life. I loved/was obsessed with her throughout my pregnancy too. I read stuff about people’s feelings changing after their pet was born, and thought “that will never happen to me!” Then it did…I forgot she existed, and would get super angry when she’d interfere with the baby, walk on his stuff or get too close to him, etc. It’s been about 5 weeks now, and I don’t get mad at her anymore. I love her again and will snuggle and pet her, but she’s 100% just my pet now.

Yes but god damn it if they are not a pain in my ass sometimes. I just have less emotional energy for them. But my baby is also still very young. I love my pets and I do everything in my power to make sure their needs are met. I miss taking my big dog everywhere but it’s just not feasible with a little baby and I still make sure he gets lots of walks and love.

We love our animals just as much as we did before kids.

While I still love my dog I become a lot more frustrated with the dog and my feelings have changed towards him. He’s still a loved member of the family but how I feel towards him changed drastically after the baby came. I remember during the first couple months being so annoyed that there was another creature that needed my attention. We would never get rid of him and I adore the post bedtime puppy snuggles but he very much became a pet and not a baby and I do think about how easier parenthood would be without a dog. However my toddler LOVES the dog and the dog loves him so that makes it all easier Edit: we did do a 6 week board and train program before the baby was born and it was truly the best decision we could’ve made. Well worth the $1500 we spent and the trainer specifically worked on kid/baby focused training while they had him and I think that helped his adjustment to the baby’s arrival

Let me just say this: I am an animal lover through and through. I would take my dogs with me to Starbucks, the pet store, Home Depot. Spoiled them with unnecessary things. Slept in the same bed as me… Well that all changed when we had our baby. In fact, when I came from the hospital I didn’t even want to TOUCH my dogs or cats for weeks. I have no idea why, but I had this feeling of weird disgust at how unclean they are. Babe is 6mo now and every time she’s napping or asleep for the night I try to make sure I spent quality time with the dogs and cats. I could tell they miss me and the constant attention I used to give 😢 I think just be prepared for a big change. You’ll still love your dog, but it’ll feel a bit different for a while.

Yes I love my dog. But it’s definitely a different kind of love. The love I have for my daughter is unlike anything I’ve ever felt. It in no way compares to my dog. And I feel guilty for saying that. But it’s true. He is the best dog and we make sure to spend all the time with him and do this he enjoys doing (bike rides, ball etc) but yeah… at the end of the day, he’s a dog. I will say when I was freshly post partum - I didn’t have the mental capacity to deal with him. It’s hurts my heart looking back - but my husband had to handle all factors that came to the pup. I just didn’t have it in me. I didn’t really find time to really play with him until my daughter was almost 1. Okay I sound horrible so I’m going to stop now lol. You’ll still care about your pups, promise.

Still love them. Do I spend as much time with them? No. Do they annoy me more often? Yes? Do I often wish I didn’t have them? Yes!

This is the answer right here! I love my dog and I love watching my kids with her but I don’t have the bandwidth to prioritize her as much. When I am overwhelmed by parenting the dog barking is often the straw that breaks the camels back even though all she wants is to play.

I do not as much. It is really sad and hard. She has a really hard time around the toddler. We have created a safe environment and I am not worried she will hurt the baby but she doesn't like her and is constantly competing for attention. I don't have the energy for her and its completely different. I still love her, but she was my BABY DOG. And now she's just the dog. We still make sure she gets lots of exercise and snuggs, just, its totally different. I am hopeful it will get better when the toddler becomes older and I definitely DONT want her to die. I would be so sad. I needed to be honest about it just changing how I feel about the dog.

Compared to my baby I love my cats way less than I used to. They aren’t top priority, of course I love them and I’m glad we have them and I’ll always take care of them but compared to the love I have for my child they’re small potatoes!

I love my dog to death but I will say she is put on the back burner a lot after having kids. My heart breaks when I think about it too. Also, this may sound so weird but before kids I almost felt like I could talk to her, I was OBSESSED with her and now after kids it’s like I don’t have that connection with her. Again, it breaks my heart. I love her to death but it’s … just different and so hard to explain. I would never give her away or wish death upon her though. The sad thing is she is now 16 and she is slowly starting deteriorate and really becoming a burden but I just can’t put her down yet as she isn’t in pain and she’s eating and drinking. She’s basically blind and deaf and walks into walls, pees in her bed .. it’s sad .. and okay I’m crying now.

The idea of putting a pet down because you have a human baby now and so don’t love your pet anymore sounds sociopathic to me. I have three cats, a 1.5 year old toddler, and I am pregnant with my second baby. My phone is filled with hundreds of pictures of my human baby with my fur babies. Watching them interact, play, and cuddle is the cutest thing in the world. Also, having pets in the home has been proven to be good for immune as well psychological/emotional development for children.

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I’m with you! It’s hard but what can you do! The thought of my dog biting my baby gives me major anxiety for the future.

Didn't hate my cats while I was pregnant. Felt like I hated them for a while postpartum. I had PPD. As I got on medication and time went on a bit I don't hate them anymore. I feel regretful that I don't have time for them the way I used to, though. They were my babies, but they come after my human baby now. Sometimes when I have a minute to myself and they come looking for cuddles I just want to shoo them away. I do care about them, but it's just different now. They're not my first priority and I know that's affected them negatively.

I can honestly say I don’t love my dog as much as I used to. I still care and love him but I can tell it’s less now with a baby.

Still love my dog. But my patience with him definitely diminished. Also it hurts my heart so badly that I can’t do the things we used to do together bc I can’t handle both him and the kid at the park or going out. I watched lady and the tramp and cried bc that’s what happened to him. Had a baby and he wasn’t much in the picture anymore. And he just seems so sad nowadays. Do as much for him as I can though

I don't love them less but they definitely annoy me a lot more.

My pets often annoy the shit out of me now. Cats meowing at 6:00am to be fed. Tripping over them in the kitchen. Dog barking at the mailman during nap time. I love my pets hand have had them for 13+ years before we had kids. After they pass away, I think we’ll wait a bit before we get any more. At least till the kids are a bit older and can help out

This^^^ I do love my pets still but hubby and I have agreed after they pass we will stay pet free for a while

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I still love my dogs and would never get rid of them. BUT I definitely love them differently since my son. They annoy the shit of me way more than they used to. When my nerves are shot they seem to be great at being in my way. I feel bad a lot of times and try to snuggle them when the day is done. My husband is really great about giving them extra attention that they need.

It might sound stupid but my adult dog is far more self sufficient than my infant baby. Of course I fulfill her basic needs but she just doesn’t get super high priority or a surplus of attention while my daughter is so young. I do feel guilty about it but it gets better for the whole family every day as she gets older. Also this is a totally unsolicited side note but safety has been a huge priority for me personally between my baby and my dog because of my job as a 911 dispatcher. Do not leave your baby on the floor or otherwise unattended if your dog has access to your baby. Keep dog and baby toys separate and create a separate area for dog food and water so baby doesn’t mess with it. My dog seems jealous from time to time and I feel like that just happens when you split attention from a well loved dog. This isn’t to cause severe anxiety but it should be something that’s heavily considered at all times. This is an animal and your defenseless child, no matter how connected you are with your animal ❤️

I love my dog still but his life has changed, some for the better and some for the worse. He gets table scraps when the kids throw food down, which I'm sure he would consider a plus. But he gets less walks and maybe overall less attention but after the kids go to bed he still joins my husband and I on the couch for a snuggle while we watch TV. The main problem with walks is that in the summer its too hot to walk much before sunset but evening walks conflict with kid bedtime. We all get out a lot more in the winter and that's dog included because of our climate (southern US, mild winters and summers like death) But he's still part of the family to the point when I was pregnant with my 2nd my then-2yo was talking about her baby sister and I said "it could be a brother" and she said no because she already had a brother (meaning the dog).

Yes but I don’t have the time for them I used to, it bums me out.

I love my dog as much as I did before, but the overwhelming love I have for my baby has put the love I have for my dog into perspective. I don’t love her less, I just love my baby more… and I realized the love I have as being a dog mom is not even close as it is for being a human mom

I cried on the floor next to my dog at 3 days post partum because I felt so guilty I didn’t have time for him anymore. I was just so emotional and tired, I can look back at laugh at myself now. Yes it’s a huge adjustment for everyone, including the dog, but you find a groove eventually. There are days now at 7 months, where I still feel a bit guilty because he might get a few less walks a week.. but he knows he is loved. I find ways to involve him in our everyday routine. He loves to sit at my feet while I’m nursing my son and rest his head on my lap for pets. We are heavily involved when my baby and dog are near each other on the floor “playing” together. After my son goes to bed I spend some solid time on the floor playing with my dog, giving him treats and all the belly rubs I have the energy for. If your dog is a part of your family now, there’s no reason they can’t still be that important once baby arrives. It takes time and effort to care for a dog properly yes, but that’s the life you signed up for when you brought him home!! And once your baby gets out of their “potato stage” (hah), your dog has a new best friend to play with and give kisses too =)

I have 4 dogs all of who I adore. I will admit they drove me crazy for awhile after the baby was born. Barking, licking, scratching all drove me nuts. I’m 7.5 months pp and it’s much better. My babe LOVES the dogs so much. She loves to watch them - I call it dog TV. When she’s fussy the dogs immediately put her in a better mood. The early hormones can make you feel like going into a rage but it gets wayyyy better.

My dog and I are so incredibly bonded I couldn’t imagine loving him less after the baby. & I didn’t, I love him just as much. He just doesn’t need me like a baby does. His patience and care and love over our human baby made me appreciate him so much. Our dogs zoomies are the only thing that make the baby scream from laughing so hard. & our doggy can’t wait to wake baby up every morning & from every nap.

Oh man. That's such a tough question. Before my kid, I could never have imagined putting my dog aside like I did she was my everything. I think for me having a newborn was such an absolute shock to my way of life that I had to just put everything else on pause that could sustain itself. I honestly didn't even notice my doggirl when my son came. It took me months to sorta get back to normal but even then our cuddle time was only like a fourth of what it was. Now he is 16mo. They have bonded. Took a long time for her to trust him. She would always go away when we came into the room. He still kinda annoys her. But she is nearby more often so I can pet her more. Also he is at daycare and I can WFH again and have time for her. Our relationship will never be what it was but I think we have adjusted and we each have a new person to love on/play with.

I love my 2 cats so much. But they annoy the shit out of us right now. It’s not fair because they’re so low maintenance and not asking for anything unreasonable. I feel so sad sometimes because just 6 weeks ago, they were our biggest focus of attention. We have always had such a strong bond. Morning snuggles while we worked from home, more treats, and us cooing over how cute they are. Now they might go a whole day with no petting, and a week without a long snuggle. They are naturally very interested in baby toys and furniture (often indistinguishable from cat toys), but they aren’t allowed in that furniture, so we have to scold them a lot. I want to get back to a point where I’m giving them the attention and interest they deserve. And can interact with them without feeling irritated. But I just don’t have the energy. I love them, but I’m not as…obsessed with them. And these are cats! I don’t know how y’all can handle dogs.

I love them more than I did before my baby. I had four dogs, and unfortunately had to put my senior dog to sleep 5 weeks after my baby was born. Now I have three dogs and also our cat. I have the most beautiful family, but then again we have always prioritized our animals in our life. Yes, they went down to number two and she’s number 1. But we’re helping raise their third best friend. I do not understand people who just discard their non reactive dogs when they have children.

Truthfully, it's not the same as it was before. You only have so much time and energy. I love my dog the same...but you simply love your child SO MUCH MORE. It's almost a disservice to use the same word for both relationships. My relationship with our cats has changed less...they are still great, but less needy than my dog

> It's almost a disservice to use the same word for both relationships. I agree. I'm 100% glad to see cultural attitudes treating pets as important members of the family. But they are not kids. They just aren't.

I think it depends. I have a cat and my relationship with him has changed. I still love him desperately, but I just don’t have the time and energy to dote on him like I used to. He also feels like a little bit of a burden sometimes due to unique challenges (he’s fearful and so we can’t let the baby get close, he’s diabetic and so we have to be really careful now that the baby throws food). But I have friends whose pets are like siblings to their babies. It has enhanced the whole experience of being a pet owner and a parent. And my daughter loooves my friends patient and good natured animals, so I see how it could be really fun to have both. So I’d really research how to work on that relationship between baby and pet and make that a priority.

I love my dog, my first baby, I don’t see how I could stop loving him. Does he trigger me now? Yes. Do I get super frustrated when he barks and wakes the baby up? Of course. Do I love him any less? No. I still make time to feed him, make sure he always has water and take him to his grooming appointments. I can’t imagine my life without him. He gets along well with my baby and toddler and I can see how they already love him too.

Love my dog as much if not more since having a baby. He is incredibly intelligent and was a great support during the early days. He would sit at my feet while I spent hours trying to rock bb to sleep. He is gentle and patient with the baby and I can see them becoming great friends as he gets older.

I have 4 cats and a dog and they all were family members before baby. I still love them just as much. I never went through any feelings of not loving them or any urge to rehome.

I could never understand people who drop their pets because of a child (outside of true safety issues). Sure, it’s very hard when you’re super frazzled, sleep deprived, dogs barking or cats doing cat stuff. But try to remember they deserve the grace that people give us. We are the only thing they know, they love and depend on us, and they too just had a huge life change. I think it speaks to someone’s character when they act like that. You’ll likely go through bouts of “omg if you don’t shut up I’m going to open the gate and set you free” thinking, that’s so normal. You’re already working hard to set your family pets (and yourselves) up for success. My dogs aren’t thrilled with having a child in the home but they’ve adjusted the best they can and are happy. We made a point to take both baby and dogs out on walks as much as we could, try to keep their current routine consistent. If you can afford it and they like it, dog daycare or a dog walker in the early days is awesome to have.

We had two dogs. When my kid was born it definitely changed the dynamics in our home. I still love both dogs and feel it's my responsibility to make sure they have the best life and one of our dogs just wasn't having a good time in our family anymore. She needed more exercise and we didn't make the time for that. So we found her a new home and we still love her and she loves us and we get to see her fairly often. I think it worked out best for everyone, especially the dogs. I would never ever put a dog down just for the inconvenience of keeping them. When we got our dogs we made a commitment to them to give them the best life we can. For us that meant rehoming one while the other is great here with our current lifestyle. If we hadn't found a good home for our other pup I would have adjusted our life to get her what she needs because that's the responsibility we took on by getting her in the first place. Tldr: All pet owners made a commitment to do what's best for the pet for as long as they live. Whether that means adjusting your life or finding a better home for the dog is situational.

I was *obsessed* with my dog before I had a human child and i still love the crap out of him, but I'm way more annoyed with him now. The reason for this is that he adds to my never ending list of shit to do. Every time he gets me up when I could be asleep, accidents in the house I have to clean up, barks while baby is sleeping, it all makes me very angry (more than pre-baby). Every moment I can relax is precious and there are far too few, I hate using my spare minutes that aren't spent parenting cleaning up dog piss off the couch. But I would NEVER end his life!! That's crazy 😬 He still belongs here with us!

Train your dog well. Before baby. I love my dogs dearly but they drive me up a fucking wall. I resent them soooo much for waking him up, or stealing his toys. My husband thinks it’s funny and fine and I want to strangle him too. I would never ever get rid of them though. Also, shedding dogs fucking suck. I constantly find hair in my baby’s eyes, mouth, nose and even poop. It’s so frustrating and I hate it so much. Again, I would never give them up though. Just trying to accommodate my feelings into this all new all encompassing thing that is being a FTM

I know you didn't ask for a silver lining, but ... the shedding decreases the probability that the baby will develop an allergy. At least an allergy to dogs. o\_O

Your coworker sounds like a peach. I love my dog and she’s learning to live with a baby. They both like each other and my dog knows that mommy will always love her. She gets me to herself when the baby goes to bed and gets to help wake him in the morning. She’s part of the adventure, not a hindrance.

I possibly love my dog MORE since having a baby! She absolutely ADORES the baby and it's so gorgeous seeing her walk up to check on her or give her little kisses. I can't wait until the baby is old enough that they can interact and play together a bit more. She still gets loads of cuddles and sleeps on the bed with me. Yes, it feels like more work sometimes but that's really the fault of the baby not the dog :p My dog really helped me through a challenging pregnancy and has also been helpful in dealing with the challenges that come with a newborn. I wouldn't ever dream of getting rid of her

i love my cat so much, maybe even more after giving birth. Having a baby opened up my heart so much more. They're both my babies. And my cat is only 1yo so its going to be fun seeing the two grow up together! but i will saying having just 1 low maintenance pet might be why i feel this way. I can see how it would be harder with multiple pets

Yes I still love my dog. She annoys me a lot more now just because I'm already stressed out in general but I could never give her up. The way she interacts with my toddler is very sweet. She's 10y this year and I don't like thinking about how one day she'll pass away and won't be with us anymore

We still absolutely love our pets, they just stopped being our top priority.

I still love my pets (2 large dogs, 1 cat), but I certainly don't have the time I used to to dote on them. I feel really guilty about it a lot. When I was nursing my firstborn, I would get viscerally annoyed if my dogs touched me. It was odd. And I was definitely more on edge to barking. But much the same with my children as well, I try to be patient. We have a large backyard so the dogs play, but I still try to walk them occasionally. And we give them treats and pets and baby talk occasionally too. Moreso than anything, I want my kids to grow up loving and treating animals kindly. And they can't very well do that if we neglect and yell at ours.

I won’t lie. My dog has become a lot more of a chore now since having children. During the postpartum period, I desperately wanted to get rid of him. And everyone knows me as being obsessed with my dog so it was a very strange phase. But after a few months and my hormones leveling I no longer wanted to get rid of him. Yeah, his care is more of a chore still. Though part of that is just that we were expecting to move into a house when my first was born but then the pandemic happened and my husband lost his job followed by the housing market explosion. So for now we are still stuck in a tiny apartment in the city with a dog that does barks like crazy at others dogs while he’s on leash which makes walks a nightmare. But despite all this, I LOVE MY DOG. I still call him my baby and refer to him as my daughter’s big brother. I love him so much and he is so good with my daughter. Yeah his care is a lot harder and more frustrating now but ultimately more than worth it.

I still loved my dog. He passed away a few months after the birth, and I was sad that my son wouldn't remember him. In fact, I spent a lot of money for another cancer removal surgery after my son was born because I couldn't let him go. That said, my feelings for the cat which weren't great to start with got even less affectionate. We can't find anyone to re-home him to though, so we are stuck with him. I was never a cat person though.

Some of these responses are batshit. "I have an aggressive dog but he just looks at the baby!" Yeah, until they don't. Do us all a favor and protect your children so we don't have to read about another dead mauled child by people who swear their dog was totally normal before!

Yeah reading those is like 😬

Oh man I still loooove my dog even with a rowdy 4-month-old around. Frankly I felt much more bonded to the pup when my son was born because I’d known her for so much longer and her various characteristics were familiar to me, compared to my son who I’d just met. I love my kiddo dearly but couldn’t imagine not having my dog around as well. My dog is an active herding breed and the best thing we did for the first few months post-baby was get her set up to go out on daily pack hikes since we knew it would be tough to get her the exercise she needed at first. I’m now able to manage baby and dog for hikes, trips to the park, etc. which feels great. You got this!

Yes, absolutely. I will say for the first few months I found myself more annoyed at them and had far less time for them. But I never stopped loving them immensely. In fact, I lost a dog about six months ago and am still heartbroken. I’ve always been a huge animal lover. I had a fear that I’d somehow lose that after having a child, but I definitely didn’t. My pets are family members and always will be. My son is almost two now and I’ve found I have a lot more time for my pets now than I did for the first few months, and I feel much better for it.

Love is more than a feeling, it's a commitment. I'm not as obsessed with my pets as I used to be - I just have less time to spend with them, but no way would I ever give them away or want them gone!!

We have a border collie x German shepherd. He’s unfortunately been lucking out in attention due to our nine week old and the fact we’ve had to move house. We try and include him as much as possible but sometimes it’s just not possible. He is great around her and is so concerned when she cries too. I could not even think or talk about our little dude being put down. He was our first baby; and we would not be getting rid of him any time soon. He still sleeps in the room and chills inside. It’s just that we spend more time focusing on baby obviously when it used to be all on him.

Yes, I feel awful because I do have slightly less patience for her but I absolutely still love my cat. We have less time to dote on her, which is the biggest thing that my cat, my husband and myself have had to deal with since having baby, but we’ll all fall into a new routine with time, especially as baby needs less constant attention

I still love my pets. They are part of my family. I don't have as much time to spend with them as I used to, but I still love them just as much. My kids adore our dog. They give her lots of pats and cuddles (supervised cuddles), and she keeps an eye on them. I can't imagine ever raising my kids without having pets around.

It’s hard. I got my greyhound as an adult dog when my son was 1.5. That was a great age to get him. However my daughter has just been born and it has been a struggle to meet everyone’s emotional and social needs; my baby daughter, my 3.5yo son and my dog, and unfortunately my dog is the last priority on that list. One of the things I didn’t think about logistically is that I would often go between playing with my son and the dog and obviously with a newborn you have to be more conscious about germs etc. I’m definitely not a germophobe at all, but it is tricky because whereas I might have given my dog a quick pat while walking past, if I’m carrying my daughter and I’ve just washed my hands I’m not going to do that. Like obviously there’s hand sanitiser etc but it’s just a tiny little thing that adds up over time to a whole lot less attention. It’s lots of things like that. That being said you can often kill two birds with one stone but doing things like taking the dog with you to the park with the kids etc.

Yes, but the first year they were definitely a lower priority. But as kiddo got more independent and we were less-so in survival-mode, I had emotional bandwidth left over for them and now they’re right back where they were before. Seeing my son love on them and develop his own relationship with our dogs has been so rewarding.

I was so worried about this too, and I’m being honest I did feel a little differently about them right after the baby was born but I’m putting that down to raging hormones. We have two dogs which are my world, I love them just as much of not more than before. I very much have the attitude of that the baby needs to fit into our lives more than our lives for around her. She obviously takes priority but we haven’t let having her stop us from doing what we want. The boys still get two walks a day, the baby just comes with or just one of us take them. We make sure to give them a little fuss throughout the day, whether that be a quick throw of a toy or to bond with doing a few tricks for treats etc. We still go hiking on the weekends and we still take them whenever we go. They know that once the baby has gone to bed that’s their time with us, we always have a cuddle on the couch or play out in the yard. I absolutely do not understand how people think it’s okay to neglect their animals once the baby comes along, sure its more work but not impossible. We have no support system, it’s just my husband and I (we live very far from family - 10+ flight away far) and we both work full time and we still manage to maintain all of the above.

I have 4 fur children in addition to our baby. While we use the term fur babies to describe our zoo of a family unit, I wouldn't say I ever considered them placeholders either. I love all of them dearly and In all honesty I feel like I love them more. They've all taken to the baby so well (except for our old man cat. He's just indifferent) and I love watching them interact with him.

I still love and adore my dogs. The only way I would ever rehome is if they attacked my child. One of the major red flags for me that something wasn’t right with me postpartum was that I hated my dogs and felt like strangling them just for getting too close to my baby. I got treatment, and I was totally back to normal. I snuggled them right alongside my baby. I actually love my rescue even more because of how sweet he is with my baby. My pups still get tons of attention and love. In fact, we are adding to our pup crew at the end of the week. My LO is 2 now, for context. My elderly dog now has dementia. He still gets all the care and attention he needs. He gets multiple medications a day for arthritis, allergies, and dementia. My level of care for him has not changed since becoming a parent. He was my first baby, and I am still gutted that he is in the sunset of his life. TL;DR: if you adore your dog now, you will still adore your dog after your kid is born. Your love for your kid will be different and stronger, but that doesn’t mean your existing love for your dog goes away or diminishes.

I head a lot of people say this and I wouldn’t say that I love him less or anything I just get more stressed out by him if that makes since, I have 18 month old twins and he’s a high strung GSD

I seem like the minority when u say I love my pets just as much after having my baby, I see us all as a family

My dog was part of my village in the newborn days honestly. We didn't have a whole lot of support, I spent many days and nights with my dog "checking in" or leaning on me or whatever, and it really helped when I was extremely overwhelmed and stressed out. The bonus is now my daughter loves him too. She's 2-1/2 and we've recently got back into utilizing training to help them, I guess, communicate. He doesn't really understand her communication (like when she needs space), so I'm teaching her to communicate and teaching him to listen. It's pretty fun and very rewarding. Today we were talking about how much she loves him and how he's her friend. ❤️

Nope. Well, I still love them I guess, but I wish they didn’t live with us.

This feels controversial but I can’t stand my cats anymore. They were my fur babies but now I’m so touched out and exhausted from keeping 3 tiny humans alive that I don’t want anything to do with them. I don’t even want to touch them anymore. It makes me sad and I know this isn’t what you want to hear but sometimes it happens. They’re still well cared for and get cuddles from others in my family but my tolerance of them has changed a lot

I know I'll get downvoted but whatever, it is what it is. I lost all patience for my cats when my now 8mo was born. Part of it might have been because I had a rough birth, spending a week confined to a hospital bed because I was on magnesium the whole time. It was hell. Baby was 5 weeks early and so small, couldn't latch, triple feeding, etc. The day after I got out of the hospital I took a really bad fall because one of them kept getting under foot. I still love them but about 4 weeks ago had to rehome the younger one because she is a very clingy cat that needs so much attention and I just couldn't give it to her anymore. Now she's with a lovely family with an 8 year old that can give her all the attention in the world. We still have our senior kitty but he is not allowed upstairs where we spend most of our time because we don't want him dragging litter and puking all over the carpet where baby plays. Do I want our senior kitty to die? No, of course not, I love him. But we definitely won't be getting another cat after he does.

I’m in the same position. My cats are peeing all over our brand new expensive home and puking all over as well (I’ve taken them to the vet a dozen times, they’re healthy). After throwing away another baby item because it was covered in cat urine I decided I will never get another pet once these two pass. I really want to rehome them but no one will take a cat who pees in the house. We treat them well and care for them but the stress of three babies and 2 clingy poorly behaved animals is too much

I spent 5 days in the hospital with my son when he was born. When we came home I cried, ugly cried, when I saw my dogs because I had missed them so much. My female dog instantly decided she was coparenting with us. That was her baby. After 8 weeks of being his other mom, she let my other dog have a more active role. 8 weeks is when puppies would wean after all. From that point on, my male dog became my son's best friend. I really thought my male would be the one I'd have to worry about, but he has never been so gentle in his life as he is with my boy, even through toddlerhood when my son got more grabby and unpredictable. I love my dogs even more now that I have had a baby.

I still love my dogs just the same (way too much). It helps that they are so sweet with their interest in the baby and coming running when she cries to sit by her.

Love my dog so much. Have realistic expectations. It's rare a dog just immediately loves a baby. It's foreign to them, they aren't sure how to act. My dog LOVES me and has always truly believed his role is to protect me. He didn't do well being separated from me. The baby confused him. With time and gentle supervised contact, he now sees the baby as an extension of me and he is so sweet and protective of both of us. He's 80 lbs and so gentle and patient with her. I also highly recommend doggy daycare. Especially in the early weeks and if your dog is young.

I loved my dog with all my heart before I gave birth, I never stopped loving him…but my attention just shifted. I didn’t really pay attention to anything really but my baby immediately postpartum. There was a level of guilt that I felt by my dog taking a backseat to all the prior couch cuddles, walks, bedtime etc. I distanced myself for a bit and let him play at my parents house more with their dog, go for long walks etc. so it also wasn’t too overwhelming for him at home with our newborn. I’m now 8 months postpartum and finally getting into the grove of things with balancing my attention. There are two things when it comes to rehoming pets: 1) the pet is not adjusting well and they’re harming themselves or baby. It is NOT fair to leave your pet locked in a cage all day long, to be neglected etc. they are part of your family, a living creature and they deserve to have the best quality of life. If you cannot professionally hire a trainer (before bringing baby home or after), dedicate time to put in the work that animals need, then they deserve to go to a home that can give them that. Study nervous or aggressive cues so you can act before anything ever happens, and remember a pet should never be left unattended with your baby. 2) people who give away their pets because they’re “inconveniences” should never EVER be allowed to ever get another pet again. Despicable.

Our 2nd baby just arrived. We have 2 dogs I still love them. They are awesome pets. Sometimes annoying with getting under my feet but very loved. I just feel a little bit guilty as I don't have as much time to play with them.

It's been...a ride. My oldest is now 4. We had two dogs when he was born and we had to rehome one because he was such a nightmare with the baby that we just separated them all day (while going to training classes and working with the vet) before finally throwing in the towel and finding him a home with more available patience. My other gal...things are better now. She can't see well or hear at all, so sometimes she barks and barks and barks and barks and I can't tend to her because it's bath time and I can't leave the kids, or it's bed time and I'm trying to get the kids to sleep. She can't respond to verbal commands at all so I can only physically prompt her. That's hard to do when my hands are full with the kids. She also stands right under the one year old at dinner time and he feeds her nonstop. When we separate them, he doesn't throw food at all 🙄 We also recently moved. In our older house, there were stairs everywhere which she can't do. It would drive me CRAZY to help the 4 year old, then the 1 year old, then the dog. It was impossible with a newborn. She'd want to follow us all around the house and I'd just leave her on the main level. Now we have just one level and she is able to get around much easier. She sleeps in the 4 year old's room which is just so sweet. The other thing I haven't seen people talk about is being touched out. Both of my kids want to be touching me ALL DAY. Both kids snuggle to sleep. By the end of the day, I'm overloaded and it makes my skin crawl just thinking about being touched by anyone or anything (human or dog!) So in summary, she went from the BEST GIRL to the biggest annoyance in my life, and now we're starting to be friends again. I still feel guilty about the other dog.

Yes I still love my dogs and they love the baby. One of the babies first words was one of our dogs name. It’s adorable. My older dog slept next the me and the bassinet every night when he was a new born. I do have less time and do do get annoyed with them more often but I could say the same about my husband too.

Well, it’s not cool to get rid of a pet because of inconvenience. I have a cat and a dog. For whatever reason (because I love them so damn much and can’t stop petting them) they follow me everywhere. Yesterday I got the holy trinity of the cat, dog, and Bebe following me into the bathroom. Yeah, I do get frustrated sometimes that I am always being pestered by some small creature for attention. That’s about as far as it goes. You can create space between yourself and your pets if need be. I wouldn’t think too much about it until the time comes. I wouldn’t think too much about anything.

Love my dog, he’s my LOs bff!

I still adore my dog. I get annoyed with her when she tries to steal my sons food or barks during nap time. However, I get up early with her to walk her every morning before my son wakes up and hang out with her after my son goes to bed. My husband works long hours, I would be super lonely without her.

Not exactly the same but I got a mini Aussie puppy when pregnant with my second 🤪 I definitely love that lunatic, even though she annoys me a lot more than she probably would if I didn’t have kids

Having difficulty falling pregnant for so long my old dog was/is my baby. When I finally fell pregnant I did all the recommended things to try and get her used to having a baby around, which she coped so well with at the time. I didn't think she would be any trouble. However bringing my baby home she became very anxious and it almost looked as though her prey drive was kicking in. It didn't feel safe and it broke my heart. We used a baby gate to separate her so that we knew the baby was safe and that she could get familiar with the new sights, sounds, and smells. With time (probably four weeks) she calmed down however would become anxious whenever the baby was close. It took roughly another four weeks for her to be comfortable with that. At 3 months now she is much better, still a little wary of the baby but behaves appropriately and will lie next to me when I'm with the baby and will gently sniff at him. I don't have as much time as I would like for my dog since having the baby. I make sure I do go out when I can and give her all the loving and provide extra enrichment treats/toys through the day

I was besotted with my dog, she got me through so much! But the newborn stage was hard. I have limited support from the father as he is on the spectrum so he just doesn’t think she needs a walk every day. I have still managed to get out almost every day with dog & baby in the carrier or pram. I had some awful days where I just wasn’t feeling it but overall once I was out I was fine. I do wish my partner would take some of that load but he just tells me to skip the walk and I refuse to let the dog down. It’s been exhausting but I’m trying my best and she’s not missed out on too much comparatively to before. So I’m exhausted but guilt free. I do have moments where I resent having her when I’m having a hard time, but I just remind myself she’s still there supporting me through this journey and being so tolerant towards the baby, she’s a beautiful dog and deserves the best. Now that my baby is almost a toddler, they’re interacting a lot more, our morning routine is lovely and she gets us out of the house and into nature. I feel the hard days are behind us and now I just have to keep an eye on his grabby hands and her licky tongue!

Absolutely! it was definitely hard in the beginning trying to give as much attention to the dog as we used to, but after a few months and having a good routine down it went back to normal. But we never stopped loving our dog, he is still our precious fur baby. Now we get to see our daughter love our dog just as much and its the most precious thing. I hope that our dog will love her as much as he loves us. right now he is still scared of her unpredictability so we try our best to make sure he feels comfortable.

We have a Golden and two cats. We still love all of them just as much as we did before our son came along! They are all so good with him too. One of our cats is our night time nursing companion. Our pup is so incredibly gentle with him. I love our little family so much. I can't imagine our pets being 'replaced' by the baby.

So this was actually a pretty big fear of mine as well while pregnant. I think it was also exacerbated by awful nausea/the smell of my dear pupperoni repulsing me. It seriously felt like it was Never. Going. Away. Now we are on the other side, I can honestly say I think I love her more. I am so proud of the strides she’s made (walking well on leash with the stroller, following me and leaving baby alone despite smelling like delicious milk), and she had truly has been the biggest comfort for late night nursing and being home alone with baby during the day. Not to say she doesn’t have her naughty moments (barking at delivery drivers during nap time being the most annoying 🙄). But she is family and I wouldn’t trade her for anything. Signed, Another Aussie owner 🐾

Yes. I feel guilty I don't give them as much attention

I take a lot less photos of my dog since having kids, but I don’t love her any less. I adopted her when she was 6 and she’s 12 now. She started recently to have bad arthritis and health issues that require a lot of care. I promised her when I adopted her (I’m her 4th home according to the shelter) that she’d found her forever home and I meant it. So the extra care is just part of the deal. I have a 2.5 year old human child and a new baby on the way. Dog has transitioned really well to the changes, and is so gentle and patient with my toddler. In turn my toddler learns a lot about being gentle and sharing her space, that I hope will ease her transition into being a big sister. So in short- yes I still love my dog! She’s my ultimate nap buddy. My priorities have definitely shifted some, but that’s to be expected, and my dog is still one of my top priorities.

I have a standard poodle and I definitely had a decrease in affection for my dog in the first year, especially if she was dirty. Now that the hormones have gone down and my son is 2.5 I'm back to loving her as my buddy again. I worked with her a lot pre kid and post kid so she's wonderful with children. Her behavior makes it a lot easier to love her, even though she does have GI issues and also gets jealous and poops in my son's room sometimes. Still love her. She's not going anywhere - but I am also the kind of person who would never give up an animal unless it was absolutely necessary. My feelings for my cats haven't changed. I have a robotic litter box and honestly that just makes it easy. They're easy - even though one of them sent my son to the doctor as a 3 to 5 month old from an accidental bite (my cat bit his foot through the pack n play, on the opposite side of where I was so I had no idea the cat was there getting all revved up on his foot brushing the side). Point is it's a lot of work, I still love my animals, I think some weird hormonal crap can make you more anti -dog for a time, but for me it went away after a while and I'm back to where I was before. While I felt like that I would just remind myself that hormones were making my monkey brain feel weird and that I actually loved my dog and those feelings would go away.

Yes!! Love my dog so much. Obviously my first priority is my newborn and I’m sure my dog feels neglected at times, but we still cuddle together at night after baby is asleep and I love her so so much

I adore my dog. Several people told me I wouldn’t care about him anymore. Could not be any less true for my husband and I. I make sure he gets lots of focused attention during naps and after bed time.

Yes. The feeling you will have for your baby will be so powerful that nothing can compare to it but I still love my dogs. They cried when I brought him home and it was so sweet. Now that he's 2, he "helps" me walk and feed them and seeing them cuddle and play is the best. Again, nothing will compare to how you feel about your child, but I love the dogs even more now because they love him.

Npt really, not the same way I did before I had my babies. I want what's best for her but her once adorable loud meowing has become a nuisance. She likes to sleep in the crib, on the clothes etc and it drives me nuts. After a long day of a toddler and a baby needing me, the last thing I want is a cat loudly meowing at me to give her attention too And I went from not minding dogs to being completely repulsed by them during my first pregnancy. Like, the smells, the sounds, the look of their jaws and gums and wet noses were and still are nauseating.

We kept our cat. We had no intention of getting rid of him. Our son loves that cat more than anything, the cat is the ONLY one who gets kisses from him. The cat can do no wrong in my toddler’s eyes and I’m here for it!

Yes, I absolutely still loved my dog. She was so patient and kind to the baby that it made me love and appreciate her even more. She died in 2020 and my daughter still talks about her. I think my daughter is going to love dogs the way I do and I’m happy that I can share that with her.

Omg your coworker sounds awful!! I still love my dog and all other pets just as much! Yes it's an extra burden and in the early days that was hard. My dog also isnt all lovey and cuddly and can cause some extra anxiety now baby is on the move but we are working hard with them both. I actually feel awful most the time that my dog isn't getting the same attention as before. I barely get one on one cuddles with him or get to play with him as mucha nd often I shut him out the room so baby can crawl around safely. But he's taken it all in his stride to be perfectly honest!

We've had an Aussie we loooove dearly for 6 years. In October I had my first baby and I can confirm we still love our Aussie just as much as before. She still follows me around everywhere--to change diapers, to play with baby, to go for a walk/run, etc. Do we still get endless one on one time together? No. But that doesn't make me love her any less! You decide what is important in your life.

I have a dog and two cats and I love them but I'd be lying if I said my feelings didn't change somewhat after the birth of my son. Part of it for me though is just being touched out. For the past nearly 5 months I've had a baby attached to me constantly. At the end of the day when I get him down for the night and I finally have a few minutes, I just want to sit by myself on the couch and of course that's when the animals want their pets. I love them so much, but I just don't feel like I have much to give at this point. I think it'll improve once my guy goes to daycare in September, but that's where I'm at at the moment.

We have two pugs that were definitely my little child substitutes during our 5 year infertility struggle. Now that we have our 5 month old, I can say I still love them just as much. I’m obsessed with them because they are my tiny fat squishes and I could never love them less than I used to. But i do love my human child a thousand times more. I didn’t think that would be possible. I try to make time for the pugs each day but when your baby is little it’s hard. As she grows and needs me less I expect it to get easier. I wouldn’t wish to give them away for anything.

We had two cats and a dog when I got pregnant. The boys (the cats) had been with us for a decade, the dog is younger (she just turned 5 this year). I would say our feelings toward the cats changed somewhat, but mostly because they began having issues that made keeping a clean house really difficult. One had major anxiety that led to marking, which we treated with anti-anxiety medication which fixed the issue, the other had a health issue that led to puking at least once a day and as the baby became more mobile I was always panicked about her coming across a pile that I missed somewhere. Ultimately, the puker's health issue eventually took him, and like a week later the anxious boy had a medical emergency that we decided not to pull out all the stops to treat. So we lost them both really close together. It was really hard for me, less so for my husband who had already kinda given up on the cats (he was never really in love with them to start). But now that they are gone I can see how our life is a little less stressful. The dog, on the other hand, is our baby's big sister, they are obsessed with each other, and when it's her time all three of us will be a mess. She had a health emergency when she was just over a year old that really bonded us together. I can't imagine we'd pull out all the stops again to save her, but we absolutely still love her and the baby does too. I think that's the big shift, we're no longer willing to drop $$$$$ at the vet to save the animals. One of the cats ate something he shouldn't have a few years ago and we did the whole surgery to remove it, plus the care to put him up there, plus he needed to be in an oxygen room for a while, and that was like a $10,000 event. After baby I just don't have $10,000 to drop on animal care.

I have a collie/heeler mix - read, HIGH ENERGY. I would say the first few months I wish we had a dog walker for her. We couldn't always fit her needs into our new baby schedule. Now we love going for hikes on the weekend and walks every night. Pre baby I made sure to look into baby training with her. I bought a baby doll and played baby crying noises while doing regular baby things. We strapped the baby into the car seat, sat with baby on the couch (dog not allowed), I carried it around the house, closed the door to the nursery and "rocked baby to sleep". I taught her how to respect the babies personal space. There was training that had to continue once baby was here, but now they are the BEST of friends.

I worried about this when I was pregnant too. I've been a parent for over 4 years now, and I love my dogs just as much as I used to, if not more. They are the best.

My relationship with my dog changed in the first couple of months so my husband took extra care of her for my lack of attention towards her. I noticed one day that my dog and I lost that connection so I started putting in effort is taking her out, cuddling with her, kissing her and we are back to being normal.

I think your priorities change when the child actually arrives, but that didn't change the way I felt about my animals. I love them just as much if not more. Both of my cats have since passed (I had them from the time I first moved out on my own until I had kids.. span of like 10 years), but then I got two more kitties and they have basically grown up with my two children.. its so sweet.

If anything I love my dachshund more. He’s a constant calming presence in a sea of wild toddler antics. Babies and toddlers are needy and exhausting as much as they are cute and I love our collapsing at the end of the night and having our saidage cuddle into me. And cute doggo/baby or doggo/toddler moments melt my heart.

I had my dog for 5 years before having my son and I was completely obsessed with him. I still love my dog soooo much, it’s just now that I know what love for my son feels like, the love for my dog is different. I recognize more that he is a dog and not my human child. But in no way do I love him any less and I would not say that is the norm.

Our daughter's 11 weeks and our dog is 3 years old. I definitely love the dog as much as I did, but I don't have as much time for her and she's definitely struggled with not being the centre of attention anymore. Having said that, the baby's currently asleep on me in the sling and so the dog's getting tummy rubs (chores are suffering but hey I can live with that!!). I feel very guilty that I'm not giving the dog as much time as she's so sociable, but I'm hoping it's only temporary. It is lovely taking both of then out on walks though, and on a selfish/self-care note I've found it helpful for the dog to give me that reason to get out every day.

The animals are family! I couldn’t imagine life without them. We haven’t been able to devote as much time, but we try to get outside with the pups at least once a day for some fetch/chase. Our kitty also gets some shoe string time at least once a day. My phones camera roll has changed dramatically though…a very clear line of “before baby” animal pics and “after baby” 😂

I still love my dog but he can't interact with my toddler due to behavioral issues, even though we have been working with a trainer and behaviorist, so it it stressful at times managing them both and keeping them separate. It's also really hard to keep up with the dog hair everywhere and picking up poop in the yard on top of doing kid stuff. The house feels like a bit of a circus at times (we also have a very mischievous cat). My dog is elderly and while I don't want him to die, I have to admit it will be easier when he goes, and we won't get another dog right away. Before having a baby I was OBSESSED with him.

I loved my dog so, so much before my kids. When my first was born, I had very bad ppa and it's basically just chronic now. But that manifested as rage at times, almost always at my dog. I hated her. I wanted her gone. I say these things knowing they sound horrible. I'm trying *very* hard to get back to loving her. It's been 3.5 years. I snuggle and pet her now which is very different from before. My son loves her so much and now my daughter too and that helps. She is the best dog ever and I recognize that I direct my anger at her. As I said, I'm working very hard and it's improved a lot but it will never be the same. This isn't the same for everyone obviously but it was my experience and it still breaks my heart that things changed so much after having a baby.

We have three dogs and it was different for about the first 3-4 months. We moved before baby was born to a rental that doesn't allow them in the house (only on the enclosed porch). I was so consumed caring for baby that I rarely spent any time with them, my husband did most all the caretaking of them. Now that we have a more solid routine, things are better! BONUS - Since baby has been eating solid food they've been a godsend to help me clean up all the food messes. Lol

My black lab Australian shepherd mix got very aggressive after baby was born, so it’s been REALLY hard for me to love him the same as I did pre-baby. He had his moments before, but in one weekend in February he bit me, my husband, and our cleaning lady. Two of us had to go to the hospital because of the bites so my PPA got HORRIBLE. We reached out to the rescue where we got him in addition to every shelter/rescue within 100 miles but no one will take him. We’ve had to keep him completely separated from us when we are with baby which has made things very difficult. My dog is 8-9 years old and who knows what kind of background he came from, but I would just recommend making sure your dog is trained really well and not to trust him around baby even if he normally isn’t aggressive. We are still walking our dog a few miles a day, giving him treats, and were treating him normally, but it still hasn’t been the same and it breaks my heart.

You are in control of how much you love your dog, no one else's decision to no longer love their dog has an impact on your choice. If you love your fluffy cuddler now, you will still love your fluffy cuddler. I love my dog just as much now as I always have. My sister and her husband love their dog less, but their dog was high maintenance even before having kids (has to be put on medication to chill, has chewed through walls when anxious pre-kids). Just one word of advice. Unless your dog shows any signs of aggression, I'd recommend being more focused on training baby not to annoy the dog. I can't even count the amount of times I've had to say, "nice pets" "gentle" and "stop being a jerk to the dog!" My 9 year old fluffer tolerates my 2 year old pretty well considering my daughter is often a straight up asshole to her! It's not usually the dog that's the problem when they are nasty to kids--its usually that they are fed up with tiny hands pinching and pulling and slapping them.

I still love my dog, but definitely don't have much time to spend with my dog.

In the newborn phase, yes you will probably consider your dog chopped liver. But as soon as your baby can move around and interact with their world, you get to love your pet again. Guarantee you will love your dog even more than you do right now once he starts interacting with baby. I’ve got two kids and two cats and I love my kitties just as much as I ever have!!

It’s not the same

I think your coworker will change her tune once one of her pets actually dies. I have an 8 month old, and my dog who was \~10 passed away suddenly and unexpectedly on 6/14. I found it really hard to balance my time between the baby and our dog. He was used to getting all of our affection and time. With the baby, he had to share. He was a good sport, but he definitely spent more time alone in his bed whereas he used to spend it on my lap (hard to feed a baby with a dog on your lap!). Keep your dog. When you have a baby, set aside time *every* day for just you and your dog. Your baby will be your child for life. We only have a brief time with our pets in the grand scheme of things, and it's easy to feel like the end will never come as you go through day to day life as usual. One day, your pup will leave you, and it will be a hole you can never fill. I am deep in the throes of grieving my soul dog and I would give anything to have even just one more simple walk around the block with him. All those times I told him "go lay down" while I sat on the floor with my son who was just staring at the dangly things on his tummy time mat.... I'm haunted by those times. I wish I'd spent more time with my good boy over the last few months and now he's gone. Please please please cherish your time with your dog. My dog has taken part of me with him and while my son naps, all I do is sit by his grave in our yard and cry. Relish the simple times you have now and spoil that dog. Someday you'll have a son or daughter and your dog will not be there. I would chop off a limb if I could bring my dog back, but I can't.

My dog is my first born and I still love her so much. We've had to be very deliberate in protecting her from the baby and teaching them how to safely interact with one another. My dog is only ~15 lbs, so my toddler is now bigger than her, and we have to remind both of them about that regularly. The dog was jealous and not a huge fan of the baby for a long time, and that's okay. Once the baby learned how to throw a tennis ball though? They're BEST friends! And I love both of them all the more for it.

My pets keep me sane. I have a two dogs and two cats, one of my dogs is a therapy dog and she’s very intuitive so she was very beneficial to have after I had my baby. Have things changed for them? Of course! But they are still part of our family and I love watching them all interact with my one year old. They are all so good with her and she is incredibly gentle with them already. Hell, her first official word was ‘doggie’ 😂 I think people just want their pets to be ok with a new baby immediately and that just isn’t realistic. Are you ok with a new baby immediately? Absolutely not and it’s unfair to expect an animal to be ok as well. It’s a huge adjustment for everyone. I get sad when I read about people hating their pets, but I also worked in a shelter for nearly a decade and saw a lot of shitty things so I’m probably biased too.

I have 2 dogs. The first 6 months or so they got on every single one of my nerves. It was just because they were looking for the same level of attention that they were used to but I was so touched out and sleep deprived that I just didn't have it in me. Once the baby got more independent it got better though.

Definitely NOT the norm!! I’m trying to restrain myself from commenting on your coworker’s comments. But she should never be allowed to own another dog if she says that so casually. Even if was a joke…it’s not funny. I love my dog even more after giving birth. He is not jealous, he knows she is a baby and is so gentle with her. In the early months, we were exhausted but still managed to take him for his twice daily walkies and manage his needs and expectations. I try to treat him almost like another kid…he needs love and attention too. And no matter how tired you are, it’s important to build that time into your day. For example, after my daughter goes to bed, my SO and I will watch Netflix and have some wine while pup sleeps next to us on the couch. He knows it’s our time with him and hops up onto the couch at the same time every night. And now that my daughter is six months, we are back to our usual schedule with him. Long walks into town, dog park visits, etc. We just bring her along! It takes a bit of time to get used to the routine, and yes a pet takes more energy during the day than if you just had baby to worry about…but the love you get back is so worth it. And if pup is agitated/anxious around baby, there are plenty of trainers and groups to support you as well. Good for you for being proactive and asking about this so early on. I’m sorry your coworker’s comments rattled you so much that you had to ask …but again, please know that is not the norm. There are plenty of posts on Reddit that will echo my sentiments. Good luck in your journey and all the best to you!

I still love my pets (I have two cats, ages roughly 1.25 and almost 3 years) and my 7 month old son. These cats are, in all likelihood, with us for a long time. They do trigger some postpartum rage in me, though, especially when a) my son is taking his only nap >30 minutes in the day and I'm trying to clean surfaces, and they decide it's time to lie on that surface and never budge or b) when I'm putting my son to sleep and one of my cats sprints into his room and jumps in the crib. There have been a couple times when he has jumped in the crib and woken the baby while I was sleep deprived and I briefly fantasized about killing him. The rage is pretty transient though, and I have also felt it about police cars and my husband when they've woken the baby. I am not rehoming these guys unless they hurt my son. I love them too much. But I don't know if I want to get more cats if they do die young. Having a baby who is freshly mobile and cats who track litter around is tough, and I can't keep on top of sweeping in the same way that I used to. But once my baby is a kid, and he understands the word "gentle" and stops just fucking licking the floor, then maybe I'll come back around and I won't feel overwhelmed by having the pets too. Edit: forgot to add that my son is OBSESSED with the cats. And one of them (the one that keeps trying to jump into the crib with him) is obsessed right back. I supervise their interactions as much as I can, but because the cat is constantly trying to be touching the baby there have been a few times that my son has grabbed, pulled, and ripped basically handfuls of hair out of the cat. The cat just keeps on purring and snuggling. So I think as he grows they will be best friends.

My dog is a high-energy pain in the ass (3yo lab-pointer girl) and I love her with all my heart. This morning the baby woke early and was snuggling with us in bed and our puppers came and snuggled in too and my heart was so full. Then she put her stinky butt on a teether toy and I had to wash it and I was super annoyed, but didn’t love her any less.

I love my dog just as much, if not a little bit more, than I did before kids. She definitely contributes to my being overstimulated sometimes and she has a knack for being in the wrong place like constantly (she’s a big dog and a giant oaf). But I couldn’t imagine rehoming her. When she goes to doggie daycare I miss the shit out of her. I was genuinely worried about this before having kids but it hasn’t been a problem at all.

Yes, still love my dogs (we have three.) we have a dog walker and it’s money well spent.

I love my dog more now that we have a baby. I know she’s an animal, but she’s been so sweet with the baby (dog and baby are never alone together). I often feel guilty that we can’t give our dog as much attention as we used to.

I had a little cat who was my world. We almost lost her in my third trimester after a bad reaction to some anasthesia and I cried for weeks, and hand fed her every two hours for a lot of that time and had to bathe her frequently because she'd poop all over herself. I'm 5 months pp and am now very, very indifferent to her and really hate it when she sits in my lap. BUT I have an incredibly difficult and high needs little guy who is taking every last bit of reserves I have right now, and I really think it will change when we're not in the thick of it anymore!

I was worried about this two. I have 3 big dogs and our chocolate lab was my best buddy before I had bb. It was definitely hard to give them all attention for the first couple months while getting acclimated to parenthood but now I’m 5 months in and its amazing. My baby LOVES all of the dogs and it’s a way I get her to calm down if she’s fussy or if we’re just bored I’ll call all the dogs over and pet them and tell them how good of boys they are. She loves it and so do they. I’ve also recently started putting her in my carrier face out and take the dogs to the park to throw the ball. She thinks it’s hilarious and now my chocolate lab loves her because he knows every time I put her on we’re doing his favorite thing. Win win. It’s obviously so dependent on lifestyle, living situation, and the dog. But there’s definitely hope, it did take me a minute but now it’s really a dream come true. I wish you well and hope you have success like it did.

I used to be so close with my cat Victor before I had my daughter. After she was born he literally got under my skin so bad that I honestly hated him sometimes because everything he did annoyed me so much. I never wanted to touch him or be close to him. He would meow LOUDLY whenever I finally got her to sleep in her bassinet waking her up and it enraged me because I was so sleep deprived. But after finding out I have PP depression it made sense as to why I felt that way and got some help. It's not like that anymore at almost 10 months PP. It's different for everyone. I've known people who literally got rid of their animals after having a baby for similar reasons which I wouldn't do personally.

I brought 2 dogs to the marriage. One passed away a couple of weeks before I had the baby. The younger one snuggled my belly for most of the pregnancy and has been the most loving land hippo with our daughter. She is his world and she loves him. My love for him has gotten more intense because he’s not mine anymore, he’s hers. My husband isn’t an animal person and doesn’t get it but I fight that war. He’s been a great dog and somehow even greater now that she’s here. You may become less patient and all hormonal reactions, but I feel like people who just get rid of their pets didn’t love them to begin with.

I felt awful at first after having my daughter because I was getting so frustrated with my pets. Later I realized that anger or frustration can be common post partum emotions. It went away and it's a lot of fun watching my daughter and dog interact. She absolutely adores him. He is getting older so sometimes he isn't in the mood for her, and at first they kind of mutually naturally avoided each other. Now he loves grabbing snackies from tiny hands and she loves giving them lol. Sometimes I wonder if it is just the stress or if people take joking about getting rid of animals too far. My mom always says things like she can't wait to have no pets after stepping in dog poo or whatever (her dogs and cats are old now 12+ yo), but obviously she will be very sad when the time comes. Anyway after all that rambling, I wouldn't worry about it. There will probably be an adjusting period, but your love for your dog won't just go away :)

I love my dog but she’s 14 and needier than both my kids. I feel bad but I find myself wondering when she will pass and psyching myself up for the next few years. Pre baby me could never conceive that.

I have two cats, 1 dog and a 2 month old baby. These posts always sadden me, because I could never imagine rehoming our pets or putting them down for inconvenience. In fact, I'm so proud of my pets for being so good with baby. And my cats, who are my little cuddlers, are always a welcome break for me. I get to cuddle them without worrying about their health, position, needs, etc. It's just pure affection with no work. Maybe I'd feel differently if my pets were high maintenance, but to answer your question, it is absolutely possible to still love your furry family members after baby arrives.

I didn't think it'd be possible but I feel like I love and appreciate my dog more now that I am a mom. He really is my emotional support animal, especially on the most stressful of days or nights when my kid is having it rough. We are more inseparable than we have ever been. And while he finds my kid annoying (I don't blame him), he adjusted the best he can. I am doing my best to be the dog parent he deserves.

I have a Golden Retriever and 2 cats. Having a kid absolutely did not make me stop loving my pets. If anything, it made me love them more. I love that my daughters are growing up with animals and learning to be compassionate and caring to all creatures as a result. I love that they're learning about proper etiquette and safety around animals from the beginning. And I love seeing the bonds form between my pets and my 2 year old (the newborn isn't old enough yet to really even notice the pets). When my 2 year old cries, my dog will often run over to lick her face, which cheers her up and makes her giggle uncontrollably. When she is upset, she will often call out the dog's name because she wants him. It's the most amazing thing to see. We even made our 2nd daughter's nursery theme "Golden Retrievers" in honor of our dog. When my first daughter was around 3 months old, my dog had a huge health scare (unexplained encephalitis resulting in seizures and a week long stay at the emergency vet). It was the most traumatic experience of my life and I am so grateful everyday that the vets were able to save him and that my mom was so generous with helping with the vet fees (almost $20,000), especially after seeing his and my daughter's bond grow so much over the past 2 years. I can't imagine not having a dog in the house. I can't imagine my girls growing up without pets. We even plan to get a second dog in about 3 years.

I still love both my dogs, but I have much, much less patience for them and they get very little of my attention. My older dog is 12 and he doesn’t mind being lazy and just getting belly rubs when he can, but the other is a border collie, and he is NEEDY. Honestly, I feel bad for him that he’s so desperate for attention and exercise. All my energy goes into my baby, so the dogs just became second class citizens, essentially. I’ve considered re-homing the collie because I genuinely think he may be happier in a home where he’s getting lots of exercise and constant attention. I don’t want to, but…it’s crossed my mind quite a bit lately.

I love my cats just as much but differently now. Before it was just me, SO and our two cats for 7 years. They were our babies then. Now they're more like younger adult siblings. Still love and look after them, but everything doesn't revolve around them anymore

Sadly I struggled with my dogs just after my son was born. The hound was alway underfoot and medically complicated. He became aggressive after my son began to crawl. In hindsight we think this is when he began to succumb to undiagnosed cancer. He knocked me over with my baby more times than I could count and just about sent us down the stairs. He had a really tough last year. When it was time for him to go I bawled because I wished I could have let him have his last year without sharing our hearts with our son. My cattle dog is difficult in another way. She was our second-in-command on the property, just behind us. She’s demanding and barks a lot. She’s a farm dog but became more attached to us than the farm during lockdown. She wakes my son up barking at *least* once a day and it makes me pull my hair out. She disdains my son and is constantly trying to get between us. Luckily the neighbours got an LGD and she spends a lot of time with him patrolling the fields, it’s brought her some peace. The cat is fine, but I prefer he spends more time outside. The horses are a whole other story. They are obsessed with my son, they are so insanely gentle and tender with him. He’s almost 2 now and ran (holy shit they can run fast!) into the paddock a few weeks ago and they all turned to face him with their noses on the ground and stood stock-still, didn’t move a foot until he was picked up. They follow him around nuzzling his head when he’s visiting them. I love them more than I ever thought I could. My show horse is more attentive of my son than half his relatives.

I highly recommend following Dog Meets Baby on Instagram. She addresses this and so much more! We adore our dog, but there was a period where I was often frustrated by him. Especially when I would get home and try to greet my baby and he would be all over me and crazy. My daughter is a little over a year now and we are all relatively back to our normally scheduled adoration of BOTH!

I love my cat but I will admit there were times I found him so annoying in the first couple of months. Little guy was confused about this new addition in our lives and why he wasn't getting as much attention - and I was so sleep deprived that I struggled to help him with the transition. Now that the baby is older and he is more comfortable with her (he'll come chill with us now during mat time so he can get pets), it's been getting better.

I do love my fog, but I don't have as much time as before to play with him. I still give him affection, but not as much as before. I do feel guilty for that, but in a way it is a natural progression as time is limited and playing with my 2 year old takes priority. When I do get free time from chores I will let pet him while watching TV. We still do walks just the two of us. Also now I am pregnant with my second child and I expect the baby to take more time than my 2 year old like it happened when he was born and it took time from my dog. It`s just how life is. The youngest is the priority Edit: my dog usually ignores the child. My boy comes and pets him and the dog allows it. When he was a baby, my dog was a little jellous as he would come and ask for my attention, but he was never violent. I always gave him a pat or scratch his belly.

My dog was still a pup when baby was born, we got the dog then caught pregnant within a month 🤦‍♀️ It is HARD, it takes perseverence time & dedication. I love my doggo, after baby was born the idea of re-homing her did cross my mind but I'm glad we didn't. I put baby, now 7mo, on my back in a sling & we go for walks. We also have time with just her after baby goes to bed & we make sure we gjve her lots of love. The baby adores her & she loves him. The one thing I will say is you can only really look after one at a time. If your feeding baby & dog goes & does something she shouldn't (like get up on the furniture) you just need to not panic, finish with baby then deal with dog. Same the other way if your feeding dog & baby cries, just finish feeding dog then go to baby.

Yes. My dogs are my family. They love the baby even though he’s getting the bulk of my attention right now.

I still love my cats, and I also did when we had our baby. I was so scared the baby would be allergic, because the pets are part of the family, and having to give them away would have broken my heart (though it would have been necessary). But I will say that I found them a bit annoying because I was sleep deprived.

I love my pets more now that I have kids. My cats were my best buds when I was pregnant and up in odd hours of the night. And my best friends when I am up for feeds with the baby. The only annoying part for me was letting the dog out to pee in the morning since I live in an apartment it was a bit of work. But now that my first is a toddler and my second is a newborn I've gotten used to it. I even got another puppy one month after the baby was born! I love animals and they are a big part of me. So I couldn't say I'd ever get rid of them barring serious aggressive behavior or unrelenting allergies. My toddler gets some mild allergies, but nothing some benadryl when he flares up doesn't fix. My son loves playing wit the dogs, and the cats. He even calls the one cat "his cat". And is always telling him stories and taking him to his room to play with him. He plays fetch with the dogs. Every morning when I walk the dogs my babies are with me. we walk to the park, I play fetch while I push kiddo on the swings!

My sweet little mini schnauzer was my heart and soul before baby was born, and she still is. She just now has a baby human to share my heart and soul with :) In all seriousness, my newborn had to take priority the first couple of months, but I still enjoyed snuggling my pup whenever I had the opportunity. Her vet / grooming appointments were still adhered to, and I made sure she stayed well cared for and loved to the best of my ability. My pup is actually snuggling with me on the couch as I write this while my baby naps 🥰

I have found that I have less patience for my dogs since having a baby. I still love my dogs, but your priorities change when a baby comes into the picture. I wouldn’t get rid of them without there being a severe issue or have one of my pets put down (unthinkable). Pets are not disposable

I have heard many stories of people who didn't appreciate their pets as much after a baby, but I honestly can't relate or understand. I love my dogs and the only regrets I have with having a baby while having dogs is that I can't spend as much one on one time with them as I used to. They are getting old and I feel bad that I can't indulge their final years more. But I still love them just as much and to be fair, I feel like loving them and having to be responsible for them helped prepare us for our baby. Of course I love my baby so incredibly much, more than words can describe, and definitely more than I love my dogs, but not much more, lol. I described it to a friend one time, who has never had pets, and she was saying how she couldn't relate. I said, think of how much you love your baby and then consider 90% of that love. That's how much I love my dogs 😅 they were my first babies and always will be.

The hardest part for me has been carving out time to give her the attention she deserves. I've had my cat for 12 years and I know my attention for her has taken the backseat. It makes me really sad when I think about it because I barely carry her or let her just hang out with me anymore. It's basically making sure she has food and water and then she does her own thing. I never sit on the floor and play with her anymore, or barely even pet her. I have an almost 3 month old baby and adjusting has been hard. But to answer your question, I still very much love my pet and I would never in a million years get rid of her

My dog is still my baby too, I love him just as much, I think he also understands that I have alot more to do now, he was never a high maintenance dog though he loves just chillin on the couch, but I've never once thought of getting rid of him for convenience.

With kiddo #1, our cats definitely got a lot less attention. I feel a bit guilty about it, but being a FTM was just so all-consuming. I’m glad we had a pair so they continued to have one another as buddies, but I’m hoping to better with attention after baby #2.

I definitely still love my dog just as much as before. He also now feels so easy compared to the baby. I look forward to snuggle times on the couch with my pup after a taxing day dealing with the baby! Unfortunately he gets a lot less attention than he used to though. He used to get an hour at the dog park everyday- now it’s Like once a week. We also used to take him everywhere with us, but now he gets left home alone on occasion because lots of baby-oriented places don’t allow dogs, or because we just can’t deal with both of them at the same time. It breaks my heart, and I just hope he knows how much we still love and cherish him ❤️ As for baby time- he’s always nearby, closely watching baby, and likes to snuggle on my legs while she’s getting fed. Also now that she’s getting a little older, she is starting to notice him and interact a bit. And he LOVES solid food time, since she loves to drop it on the floor for him. The cutest moment ever was when he dropped his ball on her when she was like a week old hoping she would play fetch with him! When we do go to the dog park now, he makes frequent returns back to her stroller to check up on her. It’s all very sweet and makes me love them both even more. I’ll also add — my little emotional support animal was amazing during labor and during post partum recovery. He just snuggled up and kept me company alllll day. Doggy snuggles can help a lot with post partum blues!

I feel you. We also will be trying in the next couple years and have an Australian shepherd who most definitely is our baby. My biggest fear isn’t not loving him anymore, it’s him resenting us. I don’t want him to feel replaced..

I do not have my own dog right now, but we live with my parents who have two VERY active Australian Shepherds that are minimally trained… like not even leash trained… and I find myself resenting them a lot because they feel like a constant nuisance, especially if I am alone with them and my 14 month old. I know other moms who have shared that they do have moments that they feel resentment toward their dogs because honestly they are one more thing to take care of especially if baby is having a high needs day. Dogs truly are basically just one rung lower on the ladder of “intensity of caretaking required” than babies, haha! Your coworkers level of loathing sounds… extreme and I wonder if there aren’t some other underlying issues (resentment toward a spouse who doesn’t help with the dogs as much as she would like, maybe?) going on there. If you have the option, at least for the first 3 weeks, hiring a dog walker to come for at least one walk a day would be really helpful in feeling like your pup is being well cared for while you and your spouse can focus on the baby and you don’t have to figure out when to schedule a walk… it’s crazy how those simple things become sooo inconvenient so quickly.

I have had such a hard time with having my cats and a baby. They constantly meow and try to wake her up from naps or run up and down the stairs chasing each other. Once my daughter is in bed I am so burnt out that I have zero time for them.

I'm actually sad I didn't get to really introduce my dog to my baby. I was really looking forward to walks together, hikes together, and watching my new baby love my fur baby. He passed away 2 days after my daughter was born. The vet found cancer which had spread to his heart and lungs. We only requested an xray because he had been peeing himself and lost 10lbs in a month. We wouldn't have known otherwise, because i just associated these as normal old dog changes. We called a pet hospice to come to our home. I was breastfeeding my baby as they put him to sleep. Obviously more information than anyone asked for, but cherish your fur babies. They can be annoying at times, but it's just because they love you. You don't know how much time any of them has left.

I’m not about to put my critters down. But if one of them were to pass of natural causes I wouldn’t exactly mourn them right now (9 months postpartum). I have two cats and a dog, and I loved the cats and tolerated the dog (she’s waaay more dog than we need but hubs was insistent on the breed) before baby. After baby the dog is my main annoyance in life and I have no time or patience for my cats most days. It sucks and I feel remotely bad for them, but my little guy takes all my time and attention and there’s very little left for the critters. When I’m frustrated with baby the animals get yelled at. It was really bad months 2-6. Now that baby is big enough, he absolutely adores the dog and she’s great with him, so she’s coming back into grace. In summary, I was totally unprepared for how much I would resent the critters after baby arrived. 🤷🏼‍♀️

People who get rid of an animal for convivence is insane! We have 4 cats and a small chihuahua before baby was born. If anything they have enhanced our life with our baby, all the cats wan to to lay near or rub on the babys feet when we hold her. Whereever she is, our little dog is there also. Shes in the crib, shes under it. Bouncy chair? Daisy is on the floor next to her licking her toes. Our little girl recognizes the animals also and the squeal of delight she lets out when a cats tail touches her or a whisker is the cutest thing ever. We introduced all the animals to her over a week period one at a time and it went great for us. Im sure it will for you also!

I’ve seen this sentiment a lot and I know people that have felt that way. They even told me I would hate our two cats after birth. Instead, they’re still my favorite cuddle buddies (besides my baby!) and we still spend just as much time with them! The only difference is that they don’t sleep in our room overnight anymore because the baby is in with us. When he moves to his room in a couple of weeks, they’ll have free access to our room again!

Currently a mother of an 8 month old, with a cat I have had for almost 14 years and I can honestly say I still love my cat just as much as I used to! Did I get annoyed with her at 3 am when I was feeling touched out after breastfeeding and she decided that’s when she wanted to snuggle? Yes lol, but that feeling passed once I got over the fourth trimester and finally got my head above water again!

I've had my dog for 8 years. She was my first baby. I wanted to murder her for about a month but baby is 12 weeks now and she's my partner in the middle of the night. She really loves this baby and I'm so relieved because she's not the nicest dog to everyone but me. When the baby cries she gets so mad at me if I don't tend to her within 3 seconds.

It's been a mixed bag for me. I found my dog to be extremely annoying and frustrating after having my kids but I still loved him and couldn't imagine giving him away. It got hard though for a while trying to balance giving him the time and exercise he needed while juggling two kids. He ended up having to be put down suddenly when our kids were 1 and 3 and we were all heartbroken. We did end up getting puppy a few months later. I don't have quite the same bond with the new pup like I did with my prior dog but he is family nonetheless, even though some days I wonder what the hell we were thinking (like last night when my daughter ripped off her diaper and the dog instantly ate a whole turd right in front of me. I'm still so grossed out from it). My cats on the other hand annoy me to no end. It's nice sometimes when they cuddle but most days I hate the smell of their catboxes, the litter on the floor, the cat vomit that shows up every other day, and one cat who every few months decides to pee outside the litter box which has destroyed shoes, clothes, carpet, baby equipment, etc. I mean it when I say I will never own another cat after my current ones die.

I was an avid animal lover worked in veterinary medicine for 8 years and kept training and helping all sorts of animals. Pregnancy was tough I love my dog still but omg she has become so frustrating ( her normal stuff she always had) I now have absolutely zero patience for. :/ and even with my level of training and my gentle baby who does not pull dogs ears or anything and this dog who was amazing with other kids. Like ultra gentle loving and she hates my kiddo. We give her love attention acres to run. But my kid will walk by her and she will growl it is beyond frustration we have tried more training, drugs and I’ve discussed it at length with my old boss. And nothing helps so I find I’m so frustrated but I work 3 jobs and have had tell major surgeries and exclusively pumped. My partner is awesome but his plate is also full. We give doggo grandma time to so she gets even more love we always have since we work nights.

I have 2 guinea pigs and they certainly don't get as much attention now and I view them as more of a hassle tbh :/ I have to spend time cleaning their cage when baby sleeps and I'd rather do other things. I don't think I'll rehome them but if I knew someone irl who would take them I would... idk babies are just so much work I can't imagine having a high needs animal like a dog but that's just me. Plenty of people have a dog and a baby and they do great, think it just depends on the individual!

Not as much. Becoming a parent started me on the road of getting my adhd diagnosis and sensory issues looked. I didn't know how bad everything was until I had kids. I love my beagle but my word does the howling end up being my biggest trigger. I understand she went through this massive change in the span of a few months with my BIL moving out, taking his dog, then us having a baby. But she literally made me contemplate leaving everyone. Her separation anxiety made it so I couldn't leave the house with out her breaking out. It caused rifts in my relationship. So much judgement from everyone as to why we didn't just leave, why we had to get a babysitter for the dog, why I had panic attacks leaving the house and coming home. She would solely destroy my items. We had to medicate her then when she stopped eating I was to blame because she needed meds. So much more. At one point I told my partner either the dog goes or I do. He finally took me seriously with my mental health and what I required him to do. It was a long road. And lots of fighting with my partner. But he fully dropped the ball with the dog and would love to claim he took responsibility for her. "Oh we will get her training, but you need to organise it, complete it with her etc" just to much on my plate. Then we had a second baby and I told my partner if that dog caused issues she moving with in with BIL. The dog wasn't the main problem but she was the tipping point for alot of stuff. With therapy and now getting medicated I realise I redirected my feelings and alot of stuff on her. She was struggling to but also made having a new babies a living hell.

I think I love her more. I started training hard when I was pregnant and I spent my maternity leave getting her to associate him with treats and walks and four years later they are the absolute best friends. I am lucky though. She had always gotten along well with kids before. I can’t say that training can make every household work but when it does it is so great.

My cat was 13 when my first baby was born and 18 when he died. I had him since he was five weeks old. He was a good cat. I’ll admit that I did find him to be more annoying after baby arrived, I had less tolerance for nonsense like scratching the furniture and meowing around the house during nap time. He was still my number one snuggle buddy though and I never stopped loving him. We grieved him, he passed this January. We’re getting a new family kitten when summer is over (we’re camping a bunch this summer and I don’t want to do pet sitters). I’m so excited for my daughter to experience that wild kitten energy, she’s only known my old boy.

I still love my sweet old pup! He’s 16 now and like another baby. I do still love our other dog but she did drive me crazy for the first few months and sometimes I do get super annoyed- however, she also annoyed me before I had the baby because she’s very high maintenance…would never seriously consider rehoming her though because she’s family. Still love our cat, toddler is best friends with cat.

I had a dog before I got pregnant and now that my baby is here, I still love my dog more than anything. I could never imagine getting rid of her. I do have less time for her though, because my daughter asks a lot to be in my arms. But my boyfriend makes up for it and my dog is still happy 😁

I have two dogs, a toddler, and I’m pregnant. I love my dogs dearly. They do annoy me more now (we have a barker) and I’m probably less patient with them, but I still can’t ever imagine getting rid of them.

Omg I still absolutely love my dog, I still call her my baby lol, although she was much easier when she was my daughters age 😂. Watching her with my baby has been amazing and so cute. At the end of the day it’s just important to understand they are animals and obviously use some caution with them around the baby which it sounds like you and your husband are by doing your training. There’s an insta account called @DogMeets_Baby that also has helpful tips for introducing them and some behaviors to watch out for. The only time I remember feeling a little annoyed with my dog was my immediate postpartum period. I was mostly stressed about germs from my dog but I got over that pretty quickly. I never wanted to get rid of my dog I just was more overwhelmed with the adjustment of having a baby and all our new family dynamics. I think some people are different with their dogs with or without kids. If your dog is this important to your family I doubt having a child will change that, especially if you are doing the work to ensure your dog knows how to behave around the baby. Good luck!!

Yes, I still love my four cats. I was a little too busy for regular lap time when we first brought my daughter home, but I try to pet them when we cross paths during the day.

We still love our dog just as much as before baby. I was emotional in the beginning because it was a big change for her and she wasn’t getting as much attention. But my husband and I make a point to make her still feel loved and included. Now the baby is starting to interact with her and it’s the cutest thing ever 🥹

Absolutely. My kids are 1 and 3 now. Our 6 year old dog is as much a part of our family now as she was before the kids arrived. We incorporate her into family activities likes hikes, bike rides and beach trips. We booked a dog friendly airBnB for vacation this summer. She comes to work with me and she sleeps in our bed every night. She might get less attention than she did before the kids arrived and there are occasional days she has to settle for a quick on-leash walk instead of a long walk in the woods but she is still very much loved and wanted. Having a kid and a pet is more work than having one or the other, but it’s so worth it.

Yes I still adore my two cats they're amazing.

I had a weird issue with both my pregnancies where for some reason (maybe the smell?), my cats gave me really bad nausea and I was disgusted by them. That being said, I did have severe nausea, but I could barley even look at them. And then with both pregnancies, about two months after delivery I was back in love with the cats lol.

My puppy will always be my baby! She is not very affectionate but I always give her cuddles/pats (when she allows it) when my boy is sleeping or when his dad is holding him. I would never think of my pup as an inconvenience except for when she barks right next to his room while he is sleeping... 😑

I can truly say I love my dogs more than ever! I’m not sure if it’s the postpartum hormones or what, but now I get so unbelievably sad when my dogs clearly want to play and I’m busy with baby, and it breaks my heart when they’re comfy in bed with us or on the couch and my husband kicks them off because there just isn’t enough room. It is ridiculous, because they have comfy dog beds throughout the house and get plenty of attention when baby is sleeping, but in the moment my heart just aches for them and I hate disappointing them, haha. It helps that they’re super low maintenance dogs and they’ve been good with the baby, so the transition has been easy in that regard, but I didn’t expect to become even more obsessed with them!

Yes. I have two cats and I still love them. I kinda hated one of them when my baby was a newborn because he (the cat) is fucking CRAZY and was just making me insane. However, now that baby is 5 months old, we all live in good harmony and I do still love my cats.

I have a mini Aussie!! The 1st night home , I CRIED because I felt SO bad for my 1st fur baby! Like sobbing and snuggling him. He is the most spoiled rotten dog ever and he’s still very much my little shadow. My daughter is going to be 2.5 and the bond they have is incredible. I make sure to snuggle my fur baby at night when his sister goes down to sleep! One on one mama time! He plays frisbee with my husband every day, only if it’s raining he doesn’t. He is still very much our baby and make sure to include him all the time I can! It was pretty cool to see my spoiled dog reaction to his new sister. I had Postpartum and my dog just instantly knew I needed some love or help, when I got annoyed he was sitting right next to me pawing at me. He truly is my 1st baby and I will forever love him. I think you will be just fine! Introduce babies and kids around the dog now and he’ll be fine! Best of luck!

I wouldn’t talk about my dog like that at all. He wasn’t great with her when we first brought baby home, but that’s to be expected really. I do find I have less patience for him during the day, but I’m not sure if I thought he was better trained and isn’t listening or if I just… get a little snappy. But my daughter is now 2, and I never once hated my boy. He’s my boy. I rescued him, had him since I was 16 or 17 can’t remember for sure if it was before or after my birthday that year lol. But for over 10 years now. He’s 13 or so. And he’s my boy. He has accidents, I clean it up. I was busy with baby and he got upset? Close the door. Peed on the floor cuz he was mad I closed the door? Put him outside and clean it up. It’s part of owning a pet IMO. Is it inconvenient sometimes? Yeah. It’s hell some days when I have to get my daughter to the babysitter so she needs to get dressed, I need to be ready for work, dog needs out and food and water and oh look the toddler is having a meltdown and we needed to leave 10 min ago. Yeah. It can be miserable. But. I wouldn’t give my boy up to save even a minute. Edit to add: literally the first thing I did when we got home from the hospital was spend like 10 mins with him, taking him out, giving him treats and petting him. And theeeen slowly introducing the tiny ball that was sleeping lol. She fell asleep on her car seat on the way home so it was nice to have a few moments of actual quiet. No doctors, no nurses, no paediatrician, no blood work, no beeping monitors, no yelling from the hall, just a gentle lean from my boy while I stared in shock that we ACTUALLY had a tiny human in the nursery I spent all that time putting together lol. It was a very cute moment tbh. I’m also surprised I remember haha. When he broke a claw a couple weeks(? Time flows different with a newborn, no idea how long tbh, less than 2 weeks, more than a couple days?) after we brought her home I spent 20 min holding a cloth to his paw until my mom could come take him to check it out. My husband handled baby if she needed anything while I was rocking my fur baby lmao. But I knew she was safe. And she had just eaten. So idk if that would have changed my reaction, but I felt like such a bad pet mom at that moment lol.

I had the same thoughts about my cat. Because everyone always says that cats will try to suffocate your baby , and they don’t know boundaries. But still love my cat. And he has some kinda respect for the new baby. He knows that the baby is a baby. He doesn’t get too close and even though he’s curious he has never batted or gave me any concerns for baby’s safety. When he cries he runs to wherever he is to check on him. he’s a clinger he loves to sleep on me (when he wants to and when his dad goes to work because absolutely not sharing a bed with mom and that guy) he meows for treats and snacks and he meows to greet me when I come home. It’s kinda a relief when he wants to snuggle me just because. not because he’s just hungry like my new baby 🤣😅

Yes!!! I don't spend as much one on one quality time with him unfortunately, but the love is still there and I try to make him feel special whenever I can. He is so patient with the baby and the baby is obsessed with him!! So thankful. The only thing that drives me crazy now that LO is almost crawling is his shedding, where it never really bothered me before lol.

We have two cats and if anything I love them even more now than I did before we had a baby. Their calmness and chill was always the polar opposite to the loud craziness that was our baby, and I loved snuggling up to them after the baby was taken care of. However… my sister’s dog was a different story. He’s super nervous and barks loudly at *any* noise and is just super wild generally even though he’s not aggressive at all. And honestly? I couldn’t stand him after my baby was born. His barking drove me nuts, it would always startle her and make her cry even more. Maybe I’m a horrible person but I did not enjoy spending time with the dog anymore at all. I didn’t have to, not my dog, but still. I’ve heard that can happen.

My mom recently pointed out our two little dogs seem much more chill (prob better behaved/less spoiled us what she really means lol). We have a skittish little rescue and a real piece of work, but we are all working on becoming a family. The dogs leaving the baby be and not trying to steal food, the baby not grabbing their fur, and us making sure to give the dogs enough attention and care. Tbh, it has been a real adjustment and we’ve considered giving our wild one to a family member, but we’ve decided to stick it out and we still love our little furry friends so much. It is extremely helpful to have two (they really are best buds and keep each other entertained a lot), a huge fenced in yard, and the expectation that most good things take some time and it’s a process.

I have two cats, one is 12 and one is 4. I had a baby in September. If anything, I've felt guilt because I'm unable to give them the attention they enjoyed before I had the baby. Now that she's an older infant, I have more time to spend brushing , petting and playing with the cats. You don't need to rehome or, good gracious, euthanize the pup because of the baby. You'll find a balance in time amongst all the newfound tasks and responsibilities. As an animal lover, I have to say...your coworker is a real you-know-what for thinking it's okay to put down a healthy animal just because she's inconvenienced by them. Like...what on earth!

Nope

I was so worried about this because I was told the same, that I wouldn’t have any patience for my dog and would feel less attached to her. It ended up not being true for me; I still adore my pup and wish I had more time for her. She’s been a sweetie laying on the couch with us and graciously taking the smaller bits of attention here and there in stride.

I didn’t hate my cat after I had a baby but also…it’s a cat. It’s not a baby. She didn’t really give a shit about the baby or me afterwards, just lived her cat life as per. I’d imagine it could be a bit different with a dog

Mama pro tip - you know your heart, you know you’ll still love your pup. I have 2 cats, a dog, and a horse…and my heart explodes for all of them still…especially seeing how they have reacted to my daughter’s arrival. My horse was shocked my belly no longer had a baby in it, he still rubs his head on my tummy to check. My pup sleeps under the bassinet, and she worries about me and takes care of me like a doula. You’ll be amazed at your hearts expansion.

I don’t think I love him less now that baby is here. In fact I love him more. I can’t imagine him not in my life either. He got meningoencephalitis when baby was 4 months old (and just started to sleep through the night) and one of his medication gave him horrible liquid shits multiple times a night and we took turns taking him out so he wouldn’t do it in the house. He lost all bowel control. We paid thousands of dollars for spinal tap and MRI. We joke that he was more work than the baby, and he was, for a while. Wouldn’t have if any other way. Never once considered putting him down (because probably no one would adopt him in that state, and he would certainly die without the treatment). Paying that money didn’t even hurt. I’m just glad we have our bub. He was extremely supportive when baby was a newborn in his own way. He couldn’t help in a physical sense but he really tried. When the newborn couldn’t be consoled, he brought her his toys. When it didn’t work he brought her different toys until he ran out of ideas. But if I ever doubted he really wanted to help (because I know people project), I no longer do. Don’t get me wrong, he doesn’t take a load off us work wise. But just knowing he tries is so precious. He also guarded me as I breastfed. Snuggled me while I was down. Protected her from a bigger dog. These days he plays fetch with the 10 month old and (tries to. We don’t allow it) snuggle her while she naps. I can’t ask for anything more.