Expect the jealousy, and plan around it
A new baby changes the sounds, smells and attention patterns in a home all at once, and a bonded bird notices every part of that. Your bird may call more loudly when the baby cries, compete for your voice, or go quiet and watchful if its usual time on your shoulder suddenly disappears. None of that means the bird has to be rehomed or shut away. It means the adjustment works best when it starts early, with the bird's day staying recognisable while everything else shifts.
Make the routine boringly predictable
Feed at the usual times, uncover the cage at the usual hour, and keep the evening wind-down in the same order even when baby feeds scramble the rest of the house. Birds read predictability as safety. If out-of-cage time has to move because the baby's nap now fills that room, move it once and then hold the new slot steady rather than improvising day by day. Put a favourite foraging toy or a familiar food in the cage before baby-focused stretches, so the bird experiences those periods as occupied time, not abandonment.
Introduce baby sounds and objects gradually
Let the bird see the pram, the changing mat and the empty cot from its cage before any of them are in use, and reward calm behaviour with quiet praise and a small piece of a favourite food. Short playbacks of gentle baby sounds at low volume, paired with that same calm reward, can take the shock out of the first real cry at close range. Keep the introductions brief and stop while the bird is still relaxed; a bird that is leaning away, pinning its eyes or lunging at the bars is telling you the session has gone far enough.
Set hard safety boundaries from day one
The baby never goes up to the bars, fingers never poke through them, and the bird is never out loose in a room where the baby is lying on a mat or sleeping. A startled bird can bite, and even a gentle bird's claws and beak do not belong near a newborn's skin. Feed the baby and the bird in separate spaces, wash your hands between handling the baby's bottles and the bird's fresh food, and keep the bird off shoulders during feeds so a sudden cry does not trigger a nip near your face. As the baby grows into a grabbing toddler, the cage needs a spot the child cannot reach and a household rule that only adults open it.
Protect one real moment together every day
Ten focused minutes of talking, training a simple step-up onto a hand-held perch, or sharing a safe vegetable while the baby sleeps will reassure your bird more than guilty, distracted half-attention all evening. If your bird starts screaming for contact the moment you pick the baby up, avoid rushing over mid-cry, which teaches that screaming works; instead, call back softly, then go to the bird during a quiet pause and reward that pause. Watch for appetite loss, feather damaging or a lasting change in droppings during the adjustment, and speak to an avian vet if those signs persist rather than assuming it is only jealousy. A family member you pick can access its profile in KinsLe Family Sharing, while the baby settles into this bonded bird's home.