Do you let cats in children’s room overnight?

[wishIwasonholiday10]

Do you let your cats in your children’s room overnight and if you do from what age (of the child, not the cat). Our cat has had free rein of the house at night but has never shown any interest in getting in DDs cot. DD is now in a bed and not sure if we should lock the cat up downstairs overnight so he doesn’t wake her. He does come in our room and often wakes us.

We don’t. Our children are 8 and 5. The cats have access to our bedroom but the kids have their doors shut. (Side note, they should be shut in case of fire)

I don't have a cat, but I wouldn't let one in a child's room overnight. I wouldn't let a dog (other than a service dog) in either. Or any animal.

We have a cat

I also have two children 14 and 11

The cat can go where she wants

This even includes lying on my bed at night

I will then sleep in an awkward position so as to not disturb her

I really need to grow a backbone 😕

Yes, always!

Yes since we got her 11 years ago when he was 5. She wouldn't have it any other way. In fact she woke me up at 5am today as he forgot to leave his door open. She's a tiny little thing but still manages to take up most of the bed!

My cat opens doors so can't be shut out of any rooms

She usually chooses to sleep with the older dc or on the bottom of my bed

Our cat has free rein but has never shown any inclination to sleep in DC’s room. We got her when DC was 4 but if he’d been under 3 I wouldn’t have let the cat in.

Came to cats later (dad’s) and cat was banned from bedrooms due to allergies, (thankfully cat now resides in the great cattery in the sky now) the thought of cats climbing on me at night is horrible

I don't purely as I don't want him to wake her up as she's only 27 months old
When she is old enough to go back to sleep easily and if she wants the cat in with her then I wouldn't say no
But I'm quite lucky as our 1 year old cat gets a treat toy as we go up to bed then he sleeps downstairs he doesn't get up until he hears us up!

Generally they're shut downstairs as they can be annoying and noisy especially our 18 year old lady but occasionally my 9 year old hides her in his bed for a sleepover!

Ds 10 shares his bed with 2 dcats... He would be gutted if they didn't. Has for years.. They didn't even go in any room he was in for at least the first year. Too loud....
My best memories from 7+ were having my dcat sleep with me.

Yep our cat sleeps with my kid and they both love it, I have tons of photos of them cuddled up together. I think if your daughter is in a proper bed it should be fine, I probably wouldn’t have had one near a cot but we were between cats at that stage so it never came up.

I have 3 cats and two teenagers. Cats have always slept with the children. Used to have a big ginger cat and he always knew when they were coming down with an illness.....he wouldn't leave their side 😺❤️

Our cat sleeps wherever he wants, because he’s a cat. If that involves displacing a human then so be it.

Our gorgeous tortoiseshell cat has slept with oldest DC since she was a kitten. I tried to stop it but eventually gave up as I was outvoted by both child and kitten! DC is now nearly 19 and Dcat nearly 16. They still sleep together and it's been absolutely fine

Not when our children were very young, but once they got to about 10 we allowed the cats to go where they wanted to.

yes, always have, but all cats we have had always kept well clear of babies and toddlers, and only started sleeping in beds when kids were bigger.

It used to be the cat's choice, but she developed a habit of jumping on DH in the middle of the night. So now she gets shut downstairs.

The cat CAN go in the baby's room, but doesn't - the cat doesn't like crying. Instead the cat tends to sleep on my head (and I'm fine with that). I think if the cat wanted to sleep in the cot I would feel different.

Yes - really important for DC and DCat to snuggle together.

Emotional security and family harmony are boosted. Dcats will help small children with nightmares.

We only got cats when youngest was 4 and oldest was 8 and they were allowed free rein as soon as they were settled in. I don’t think I’d have allowed them in with babies or toddlers.

I would often go to wake the dc up to find them cramped in one corner of the bed with the cat sprawled out lengthwise across the rest of the bed. I have so many photos of this across the years, it’s hilarious. Both dc would not have had it any other way

Our cat has roam of the house at night, but not generally the bedrooms unless she’s been quietly sleeping and gone unnoticed at bedtime. She’s very active at night so it doesn’t take long for her to make her presence known!

Not here - lots of bedtime story snuggles, then DCat is shut downstairs as he seems to have a lot of chores to do at night and it wakes everyone up

Our son is 3. We leave his door open when he’s going to sleep and shut it when we go to bed. The cat would never in a million years go into his bedroom while he’s in there.

We were militant about keeping her out the room when he was an actual baby though, I’d never have risked that.

A cat an cause suffocation. I would not allow a cat in a sleeping space.