Tips for having a baby with GCC

[WillowNMurphy]

Hi AA!

Didn't really know where to post this, was going to put it in Conure Court but thought I'd get more responses here.
Hubby and I will be welcoming a baby in July this year. We have a GCC Murphy, he is 6 years old. We recently lost our Sushigirl in November last year, and we're just starting to move on and get back to "normal", even though they weren't very close.

We're worried about Murphy adjusting to this new addition.
Has anyone dealt with having a newborn and birds?
How do you/did you cope with nighttime wakeups? I'm worried that Murphy will want to come out and throw a tantrum if he hears us (me and baby) during the night, as our bedroom is right next to the lounge and we don't have a birdroom.

Any tips/advice?

I just want him to be happy and don't wanna stress him too much, he's a very good boy and we love him very much.

 

[expressmailtome]

I do not have any experience, but wanted to say congratulations!

 

[Shannan]

My African gray was in his twenties when I had my children. A couple of things I did that really helped included:

1. I placed Walters cage high enough so he could easily get away from little fingers. We put his cage on a table so that the bottom of the cage was table height.

2. We taught our children from a young age how to give out treats. So Walter soon looked at them as treat dispensaries..... aka he would actually go down to the bottom of the cage and beg them to give him treats. (and eventually skritches.)

3. Before the baby was born, I did not allow Walter in my lap (where the baby would be). He was still allowed out, on my shoulder or on the top of the chair but not in my lap.

4. I also had Walter's cage in the center of the house so that he could be a part even when I was exhausted from being a mother.

5. My kids had no problem with bird noises and seemed to be able to sleep through Walters noises (But Walter was never a screamer )

6. For night time, I just kept the lights low and Walter didn't seem bothered. I would also talk to Walter quietly. I also used a lot of lullaby music at night so maybe Walter enjoyed that instead of making noise.

7 When the kids were old enough I started teaching them how to give treats. This gave both a good experience with each other. As they got older, I taught them about bird space, reading birds body language etc.

8. Now my children are grown and my oldest has her own conure.

9. I would also recommend that if you haven't already, teach your bird that some times it is entertain your self time. Give foraging activities, toys and let him entertain himself for a while. It is a good skill to learn.

10. We also upgraded Walters cage to the biggest we could afford. A good flight cage will allow your bird full activities while keeping your baby safe while they are very young. We kept his smaller cage in the back in case either the bird or the kid needed a break from each other.
(Warning, my bird learned to cry like a baby.)

Congratulations. It will be quite an adventure but they can both get along well in the household.
(PS My Walter learned to love baby food as well)

 

[WillowNMurphy]

I do not have any experience, but wanted to say congratulations!

thank you

 

[WillowNMurphy]

My African gray was in his twenties when I had my children. A couple of things I did that really helped included:

1. I placed Walters cage high enough so he could easily get away from little fingers. We put his cage on a table so that the bottom of the cage was table height.

2. We taught our children from a young age how to give out treats. So Walter soon looked at them as treat dispensaries..... aka he would actually go down to the bottom of the cage and beg them to give him treats. (and eventually skritches.)

3. Before the baby was born, I did not allow Walter in my lap (where the baby would be). He was still allowed out, on my shoulder or on the top of the chair but not in my lap.

4. I also had Walter's cage in the center of the house so that he could be a part even when I was exhausted from being a mother.

5. My kids had no problem with bird noises and seemed to be able to sleep through Walters noises (But Walter was never a screamer )

6. For night time, I just kept the lights low and Walter didn't seem bothered. I would also talk to Walter quietly. I also used a lot of lullaby music at night so maybe Walter enjoyed that instead of making noise.

7 When the kids were old enough I started teaching them how to give treats. This gave both a good experience with each other. As they got older, I taught them about bird space, reading birds body language etc.

8. Now my children are grown and my oldest has her own conure.

9. I would also recommend that if you haven't already, teach your bird that some times it is entertain your self time. Give foraging activities, toys and let him entertain himself for a while. It is a good skill to learn.

10. We also upgraded Walters cage to the biggest we could afford. A good flight cage will allow your bird full activities while keeping your baby safe while they are very young. We kept his smaller cage in the back in case either the bird or the kid needed a break from each other.
(Warning, my bird learned to cry like a baby.)

Congratulations. It will be quite an adventure but they can both get along well in the household.
(PS My Walter learned to love baby food as well)

These are really good points, thank you for taking the time to respond.

Murphy's cage is on a stand in the corner of the lounge so we plan to fence off the cage and TV stand so he has his own space around his cage. I'm trying to convince hubby to upgrade his cage just so he has some new nice things before the baby is here.

Murphy doesn't like being in my lap anyway, he prefers to be on the shoulder/hand/chest. He isn't really a screamer so that's on my side i suppose.

Definitely have to work on Murphy entertaining himself a bit more, we've started to buy him more varied toys, although it's a bit more difficult now as he doesn't like many toys, I don't think he know's what to do with them, and we used to give the discarded toys to Sushi. I'm trying to do some more foraging in his day to day life, luckily this will be a bit easier to do since I'll be around a lot more when baby is here. He's just very snuggly and a busybody so I reckon he'll be a bit upset with us if he can't be out all the time, so trying to enrich his life a bit more.

Logically I know he'll adjust and be fine, but I love him and want to make sure he is happy and doesn't think I'm neglecting him.

 

[Shannan]

He will be a great big brother..... Walter actually learned to sweet talk the kids into treats. so in his book, he really liked having the kids around. For a long time Walter only really liked two toys so I had to actually teach him how to play with the other toys by actually playing with them myself. He eventually learned to play with the other toys as well. Walter loved skritches so I would go by his cage many times and give him a quick skrittch so that made him happy and that worked in lieu of long periods of skritches in my lap when the kids were small. Again Congratulations on your new addition on the way. It is an exciting time for your family.....

 

[WillowNMurphy]

He will be a great big brother..... Walter actually learned to sweet talk the kids into treats. so in his book, he really liked having the kids around. For a long time Walter only really liked two toys so I had to actually teach him how to play with the other toys by actually playing with them myself. He eventually learned to play with the other toys as well. Walter loved skritches so I would go by his cage many times and give him a quick skrittch so that made him happy and that worked in lieu of long periods of skritches in my lap when the kids were small. Again Congratulations on your new addition on the way. It is an exciting time for your family.....

This made me smile, thank you.
Murphy loves children, absolutely adores them always wanting to play, I think he likes the noise they make.

Definitely going to convince hubby to go to the bird store so we can buy some more toys for him, and convince him to play with them with me so Murphy gets interested, and probably going to get some materials to make a foraging box for the top of his cage