cats and baby

Cats are less 'trainable' than dogs when it comes to welcoming a baby. They remain stubborn little creatures that are less 'reliable' in their behavior than a dog. What's important not to forget is that cats (and dogs) clearly understand that the baby is no danger to them and that they are supposed to look after/protect the baby. I'd mainly let the cat sniff around and get familiar with the baby, and for the rest, always stay nearby and keep a close eye on things.

Sounds like it's a really sweet cat, so I wouldn't worry. You can never predict the future or know what will happen, but a baby wouldn't die if a cat is a bit clumsy with its claws once in a while. It's always important to keep a close eye, though.

Here are some concerns about the cat too. He's almost a year old and he's such a handful. Jumping on tables and cabinets, even though we've been very consistent from the start in immediately picking him off... he just won't learn to stop.
Our food is absolutely not safe either; if we don't pay attention for one second, he tries to eat it.
Otherwise, he means no harm because he's such a cuddlebug, but you do get tired from constantly correcting him. And if we've been trying for 9 months now without success to get him to stop jumping on tables, how are we going to teach him not to jump into the playpen or crib

Cats don't learn to stop doing that... Cats like to sit high up. That's not naughty behavior, but normal, natural cat behavior. He'll definitely jump in the box if he can, or lie down cozily in the pram to sleep. That's just part of being a cat. We also have two cats and a dog inside, and many more animals outside. We're huge animal lovers. That's why I always warn people to first study an animal's behavior before getting one (we occasionally breed a litter of puppies, so I always mention that when an animal is picked up). There is certain behavior you can teach an animal to do or not do, but natural behavior is just part of the animal. Occasionally you might encounter a special case that does listen, but cats aren't really animals you can train like a dog.

And a 9-month-old cat is simply in its young, teenage phase, so it's going to be very difficult to teach it anything. You can train yourself to close doors properly, so the cat doesn't go upstairs and the baby's bedroom door stays shut. No animals are allowed upstairs in our house either. You can block the box with something so the cat doesn't lie in it, or at least put something on the mat that you remove when the baby is in there, so no hair gets in. The baby won't quickly lie down in the box anyway, so if the cat does lie in it, it's when the baby isn't there.

I find it more annoying that our very old cat, who has been here for a year after being in a shelter for a long time, occasionally shows inappropriate elimination behavior. That goes a bit too far for me when there's a little one around. I'll never put him back in the shelter, because he was super unhappy there and is completely happy here, since we live out in the country. And I don't think I can keep an old cat outside in the winter, so by then we'll have to carefully figure out how to solve that. But once you've acquired an animal, it stays, and we'll take good care of it until the end of its life, unless there's a real danger posed by the animal. I grew up with that mindset, and that's how I'll look for a solution with the old cat who occasionally has accidents. But it can be tricky and annoying sometimes..

I know cats like to climb up high...and he's allowed to be himself. It's just a transition for us after our previous cat. You weren't fond of her. She was indeed such an exceptional case who listened well and never got into mischief. She never even got on cupboards or tables So we just hope our little rascal becomes a bit calmer and definitely doesn't do any crazy things around the baby. That's just a question that comes to mind at the moment.

Keeping doors closed is indeed something we're doing now; we even put the kitchen door back so our rascal can't just wander into the kitchen. And leaving food out is just not an option, so we have to be careful.

And oh, poor old cat...that kind of inconvenience comes with the territory. I hope you find a good solution.
I also had a sick cat who became incontinent at some point, so I know how unpleasant that is.