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How to Introduce Your Baby to Pets

Disclosure: This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #GigglesandWiggles #CollectiveBias

how to introduce your baby to pets
Our son has an incredible relationship with our dog and cat, so people often ask us how to introduce your baby to pets. Actually, their bonding started while I was pregnant! Our cat in particular always snuggled me and became really attached to me both pregnancies, never leaving my side. With this last pregnancy especially, he would “spoon” me in bed and avoid my belly.

We have always encouraged our pets to get to know our children, and I’m sure that’s why they have a great relationship! Now that we have another baby, the pets are curious all over again. Here’s how to introduce your baby to pets so they have a beautiful relationship, too.

How to Introduce Your Baby to Pets

Encourage Their Curiosity

Some people isolate their baby from their pets, but we let our pets be curious right from the get-go and encouraged them to sniff around the baby (supervised, of course). Our chihuahua isn’t as interested in babies, but our cat shows his affection by massaging the area near her. He intuitively knows she is fragile and won’t get very close until she is older.

Do Snack Time Together

Gerber lil crunchies

gerber lil crunchies and grabbers
how to introduce your child to your pet

Now that our toddler is 3, he has a great relationship with our pets–especially our cat! He will lay on top of him and loves to feed him treats. When Sebastian has snacks, he asks to do snack time with the pets and giggles when feeding them out of his hand. Right now, we’re loving Gerber Lil’ Crunchies, which we’ve been buying since he first started crawling. They’re a great first snack because they dissolve easily and he loves the mild cheddar flavor.

Give Your Toddler Pet Chores

how to introduce your baby to pets how to introduce your baby to pets
It’s never too early to get toddlers used to chores, and one of his is feeding the pets. He loves doing it and the pets look forward to it, too! Both the dog and the cat eat cat food; our vet said this was ok and that Lola probably prefers the cat food because it tends to be tastier. I’m picky about what I feed our pets so we buy Purina® ONE® because the first ingredient is protein, NOT fillers! It’s easy for us to pick this up during our weekly Target run.

Capture the Memories

how to introduce your baby to pets

how to introduce your baby to petshow to introduce your baby to pets
I have so many photos of our babies and pets together and I’m so glad! Time flies with little ones and they’ll be able to look back on these special moments. If you think you’ve got your own Gerber baby, enter to win the 8th annual Gerber Baby photo contest where you could win a $50,000 grand prize!

The photo search goes from 9/3/17 through 10/27/17. To enter, post a photo of your child on Instagram using the hashtag #GerberPhotoSearch2017. You can submit an entry up to 10 times! See the official rules here.


Additionally, there will be six weekly winners for Baby & Pet photo search #GerberGigglesandWiggles. To enter, post a photo of your child and pet on Instagram using the hashtags #GerberGigglesandWiggles and #GerberPhotoContest2017. Each weekly winner will receive:

  • A $500 prize pack
  • 1 year supply of Gerber baby food
  • 1 year supply of pet food

Because of my partnership with Gerber, my little one is ineligible to win the Gerber Photo Search or a weekly prize, but you may be eligible so make sure you submit a photo of your baby and/or pet!

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Legal residents of the 50 United States (D.C.) and Puerto Rico, who are 18 years of age or older, have a valid Instagram account and/or email address, and are parents of a child 48 months of age or younger and meet certain background check requirements. Enter search by: For Official Rules, including eligibility and entry requirements, judging criteria and prize descriptions, visit www.Gerber.com/photosearch2017/rules. Void where prohibited.


How do you encourage bonding between your children and pets? 

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One Comment

  1. The best way to earn an animal’s respect is indeed feeding time- thanks for the great tips! #client

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