How to Help Your Dog Bond with the New Baby

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

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!

One thing I always worried about with each of our children is how our dog would respond once we brought another new baby home. Pippa – our sweet little maltipoo – has had a history of acting out with each of our children, so we were determined to work with her and help our precious dog bond with our new baby, Weston.

How To Help Your Dog Bond With Your New Baby:

• Start slow by letting your dog sniff the new baby and check him/her out. Make sure the dog doesn’t get aggressive.
• Don’t push your dog too quickly or they could get aggressive or start acting out (they may do this anyway depending on the breed and temperament, so ease into it).
• Don’t let your baby and dog share toys.
• Let them enjoy a special snack time together, each day (their own separate snacks).
• Give it time. Don’t rush into it. Their relationship will come with time. Everyone is having to adjust to a big change – including your dog.

 

We started off really slow, letting her smell him and check him out. Gradually over time, she has done great! She has had a lot of practice, bless her heart. Weston is getting to an age now where he is starting to play with her. He likes to chase her around and they are so cute crawling around on the floor together.

Snack time is one of the best ways for the two of them to bond. After all, the way to a dog’s heart is through your dropped food, am I right? When Weston drops his snacks, it makes Pippa so happy and excited! She will jump up and start licking his dangling toes to thank him and Weston laughs. It is pretty adorable. When Weston is eating his snack in his bumbo or somewhere closer to the floor, we have to really watch Pippa because she has been known to sneak a few too many from him. This does spark a fun little game between the two, though.

They are so cute crawling around together and have created a sweet little friendship. Pippa whines when Weston cries and when he pushes his walker around the house. She also love following him around almost like she is watching out for him (even though he has about 16 pounds on her). The bond they are creating is priceless.

I only want the best for my baby and his loyal companion. That’s why we choose to give him Gerber® Graduates Strawberry Yogurt Melts Freeze-Dried Yogurt & Fruit Snacks and Lil’ Crunchies snacks (his favorite)! These are snacks that make him happy and I can feel good about giving him. The yogurt melts have no preservatives and melt easily in baby’s mouth. The Lil’ Crunchies also have a meltable texture making it easy for baby to chew and swallow. They have 5 grams of protein per serving and provide 20% daily value of Vitamin E for crawlers per serving. Gerber is a leader in infant and early childhood nutrition. If you have any questions for them, you can visit MyGerber.com and meet Dorothy, your on-call personal baby expert, or call anytime 24/7 at 1-800-284-9488!

My sweet pup also deserves the best nutrition, which is why we choose Purina® ONE®. The Purina ONE Smartblend of ingredients means a complete and balanced nutrition for your dog that supports their well-being at every stage of life. Real meat, fish or poultry is always the #1 ingredient. Purina has over 85 years of innovation in pet nutrition and their shredded meaty morsels are only manufactured in company-owned facilities. The food has no artificial flavors or preservatives and have a breakthrough use of botanical oils in their senior formula. We purchased both the baby snacks and Purina ONE at Target!

Want your baby to be the next Gerber baby?

Gerber has announced it’s highly anticipated Gerber Baby Search! They are shaking things up this year by holding a photo contest on social media for it’s 8th year of the contest! If you have a baby that you think is the next Gerber Baby, you can share a photo of them on Instagram (your profile must be public) using the hashtag #GerberPhotoSearch2017. You can enter up to 10 times now through 10/27/17 for the chance to be the next Gerber baby featured in paid media and Gerber’s social channels! The grand prize is $50,000 which can be used for your child’s education. Gerber.com will have a promotional page where they will announce weekly contests and share many of your photo entries.

Additionally, there will be 6 weekly winners for the Baby and Pet photo search! To qualify to win one of the Giggles and Wiggles prize packs (chosen by judges each week), you need to enter a photo of both your pet and baby. These entries need to include both of these hashtags to be entered: #GerberPhotoSearch2017 and #GerberGigglesandWiggles. Each weekly winner will recieve a $500 cash prize pack, a one year supply of Gerber baby food and a one year supply of Purina pet food!

Contest Rules: 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: 11:59:59 pm ET on 10/27/17. For Official Rules, including eligibility and entry requirements, judging criteria and prize descriptions, visit www.Gerber.com/photosearch2017/rules. Void where prohibited. Refer to the official rules for additional information.