Adult cat waking us (and baby) up early

[Bagok]

I've got a five year old cat who has the run of the house at night. He almost always jumps into our bed for 10 minutes after I get into bed, then leaves to do whatever it is he does at night, coming back a few times to visit throughout the night. It's not a problem, he usually doesn't wake us up. We also have a 13 month old baby, who graciously has been letting us sleep through the night.

Occasionally the cat will decide he wants to wake up at 5 am, which is a good hour and a half before I'm ready to get up. He knows exactly how far from the bed he needs to sit to prevent one of us from jumping up and catching him, so he'll sit outside our bedroom door meowing. It's really annoying, but we try not to respond so that it has only ever lasted a couple of nights at a time.

Now, though, that behavior is coinciding with the baby going through a bit of a sleep regression. And the cat is learning that he can get everyone moving by sitting outside of the baby's room and meowing at 5 in the morning, which he's been doing every night for the past two weeks. Every article I've read about this behavior emphasizes not responding, but the baby hasn't read any of those articles so he keeps waking up and calling for us.

Has anyone had any success stopping behavior like this, when the cat mostly seems to be getting what he wants?

 

[Kflowers]

I suspect that the cat has heard the baby making waking up noises and is calling your attention to it, rather than the cat waking the baby. Remember babies start out rather quiet and when the cooing doesn't get attention they get louder until someone comes to answer their call.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

I have a suspicion that K Kflowers is right on this one. The cat is hearing and responding to the first, soft sounds. They are known for doing things like this, we've heard hundreds of stories over the years.

 

[Neko-chan's mama]

You could get a white noise machine for the baby's room. It might help block the sound of meowing. Just don't use a cell phone or iPad. The blue light from electronic devices disrupts sleep.