Cats and toddler

[Sizeofalentil]

I have several cats, all neutered/ spayed moggies age between 3 and 15, who are very loved family members. They all have very different personalities but have been wonderful with our baby - the majority actively seeking out her company for her slightly over enthusiastic strokes, and snuggling her when she’s sleepy. If she cries, they try to pat her or come rushing into the room. They quite often bring her live mice, which is less appreciated by me.

Was quite surprised by this as they’re all quite demanding cats - some quite divaish and mean at times!

It’s not all rainbows obviously, cats have been pretty annoyed at her learning to walk, and do sometimes run away from her.

Anyway, baby is now a toddler and I want to put her in her own room at some point. I was planning a Montessori style floor bed and open bedroom doors so she can come in to our room when she wakes up.

Only problem with this is it’ll give the cats free access to her room all night.

Obviously, they’re back not going to sit on her head and suffocate her. But I worry about leaving them alone together. JUst in case she pokes them in the eyes or is otherwise overly rough.

What are your thoughts on this? Am I being overly cautious?

(Can’t shut cats downstairs at night as house is a combination of too open plan and all closeable rooms are tiny. The cats would fight and be unhappy. They’re currently given free reign of every room apart from ours as we co sleep and it was too much having cats as well as babies in the bed. Cats are shut in at night, reluctantly, because of the Cat Killer who may or may not be real. Ideally, I’d give them outside access at night too but can’t happen)

My cat had free access to all children's rooms at night and to be honest I never worried about this - though she stays out of reach of my grabby, unpredictable 15 month old.

Now she is older, if a cat tried to plonk itself down on her head - she would move/wake up crying and scare the cat off. I think it's more little babies who couldn't move if a cat did this that are in danger.

Our two year old is in her own room and we have two house cats. During the day they go in her room, at night they avoid it - even though the door is open. Have never yet gone into to check on her and found a cat on the bed.

I’m not worried about suffocating or anything, to be clear (despite my random typo), more than she’ll poke their eyes or otherwise hurt them. Or get swiped for being annoying.

Thank you, these are reassuring.

Trouble is, the cats are slightly thick at times (two are genuinely very dumb. But I love them) and do seek her out. Then looked shocked that she’s there.

They try and sleep with her when she naps, which is making me worried they’ll seek her out at night if allowed to.

Although they’re probably more likely to camp out on our bed if given the chance.

I think you're right that they'll seek her out, partly because of the warmth of her body. Have you got an old cashmere jumper you can put on the bottom of her bed to encourage them to sleep there instead of the grabby end?

Put a towel or a blanket on top of her duvet, at the bottom of the bed, to encourage them to sit on that rather than next to her. Works for my two.

Works for my two

Yes riiiiiight. Cheddar never gets off that towel to make biscuits EVER.

I also have cats and small children. One of the two in particular seeks out my youngest despite the fact that - although I try not to let it happen - he does sometimes grab him and is generally loud.

The problem I had with the cats and kids at night was more that when the cats woke up at 5 ( or earlier) they also then woke the kids up? One of my cats also gets into the bed and likes to lie against the kids stomach under the duvet. Again this sometimes wakes my even deep sleeping eldest, plus he then can’t get back to sleep as he is worried about squashing the cat.

Anyway luckily my two DC are ok with bedroom door closed so we have had to do that. Although that then results in cats throwing themselves at the door yowling. So now I leave my bedroom door open so they can disturb me instead

Again this sometimes wakes my even deep sleeping eldest, plus he then can’t get back to sleep as he is worried about squashing the cat

Give me a child until s/he is seven....

Weirdly @YetAnotherSpartacus he is just turning seven!

I wasn't allowed to shut my bedroom door at night until I was 14. (Don't ask, it was just The Rules)

From my birth, the two cats felt the need to supervise me at night until my mother went to bed and they relocated to her room. When I was 5 and we acquired a spare litter underneath my mother's bed, courtesy of the walking kitten factory that ostensibly lived two doors down, one of those kittens decided that fighting for space with all the others wasn't worth the effort when there was a perfectly adequate room and bed with just a small child in it - and relocated permanently to my side.

I slept with a little black cat on my chest every night for the rest of her life. I have always had trouble going to sleep in the first place, but I obviously learned from having her in there to sleep like the Dead once I do drop off.

When the OH's DD came to stay over, she would pick up the grumpiest, fluffiest cat, drape her over her shoulders and carry her upstairs. That cat slept purring at her side every second weekend and, moreover, his DD, who was supposedly still a problem sleeper at the age of 5, suddenly didn't need the main light on all night (or any light upstairs, for that matter) and didn't move for nine hours until the cat decided it was time she learned to put crunchies in bowls - we woke one morning to hear his DD asking the cat where her food was kept, the cat obviously showing her and then food half a ton of crunchies hitting the kitchen floor bowl.

If you do the open plan idea, it also gives the cats a simple way to evade attention when it all gets too much like hassle for them, she might actually sleep better because when she wakes up, instead of being scared, she has her best friend with her and purrs are remarkably good for soothing humans because the furry bastards worked out how to manipulate us in that way thousands of years ago.

My LO is 22 months and we shut the door because otherwise we’d wake each other up - but I wouldn’t worry about the cats other than the potential of them waking her. They’d probably go nowhere near her and if they did and she poked and got scratched, that’s a good lesson for her!