Can you teach a kitten to sleep through the night?

lucicat

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I've posted here about introducing my 5 month old to a new baby (now 11 weeks). That went really, really well and I'm so happy to watch them play together and groom each other and sleep together! It's the best thing ever. I'm a little sad that my resident kitty, Sati, doesn't follow me around the house anymore now that she has a better play mate. . .but anyway

Back story is that we have had Sati (shelter kitten) since August and she has almost always sleep through the night in bed with us. She is very bonded to me and basically if I'm in bed she is. This was great since we didn't have to deal with mischief at 2am and she developed such a strong habit of going to bed with me and staying in bed with me--quietly! I already went through the baby stage with two kids waking me all night and I loved that we had a "good sleeper" in our kitten. We decided to adopt her a sibling though and I wondered if the sleep thing might get complicated.

Last night was the first night we didn't put the little guy, Ash, in the kitten room for the night. I loved falling asleep with two kittens snuggled in bed with us!!! <3 BUT he was up having a crazy play sesh from 2-4am. Gah!!! And of course that meant both kittens were up playing. ..wrestling, running down the hallway like elephants, jumping on our feet in bed, etc. I know this is normal. . .but I really don't want to shut them out of the bedroom. . .is there a way to encourage him to stay asleep? Is he going to create this new habit with Sati? Will this just fade as the kitten energy wanes?
 

kittenmittens84

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With two it might be harder but yes you can teach them to be calmer at night. We basically followed Jackson galaxy’s “train your cat to let you sleep” advice for our kitten and after 2 months he’s settled down so much, he hardly ever wakes me up in the middle of the night anymore. The two biggest things for us were 1. ignoring him when he woke me up - this is the hardest part but don’t give in! Not even negative attention, you just have to pretend there’s no cat there at all - and 2. lots of vigorous playtime during the day to tire him out especially right before bed. They’ll sleep a lot longer and be less likely to wake up at 3 am if they’re all tuckered out.
 
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lucicat

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With two it might be harder but yes you can teach them to be calmer at night. We basically followed Jackson galaxy’s “train your cat to let you sleep” advice for our kitten and after 2 months he’s settled down so much, he hardly ever wakes me up in the middle of the night anymore. The two biggest things for us were 1. ignoring him when he woke me up - this is the hardest part but don’t give in! Not even negative attention, you just have to pretend there’s no cat there at all - and 2. lots of vigorous playtime during the day to tire him out especially right before bed. They’ll sleep a lot longer and be less likely to wake up at 3 am if they’re all tuckered out.
I love Jackson Galaxy, I'll have to go look for his video on this! Thanks. I was so focused on the introductions before and Sati always let us sleep. So this is a new issue!
 

Tik cat's mum

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It's true it's harder with two but it can be done. I found like already said playtime to tucker them out and I always feed about 30 minutes before bed after playing. That helped the ignoring was hard especially when they decided to wrestle on top of me but I can sleep at night now. Stay strong and good luck.
 

susanm9006

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In my experience the chance of getting a single kitten to sleep through the night is very small. The chance of getting two kittens to sleep through is non existent. Regardless of what you feed them or how much you play with them at some time before morning they are going to wake up and play. So I would enjoy the early night time snuggles but when they wake up, shut them out of your room until morning. It will let you sleep, it will dull the sound of the wild playing going on and they will learn that remaining in the bedroom depends on being quiet. They won’t likely figure this out in kitten hood but as they reach adulthood they will catch on and may be able to spend more of the night with you.
 

She's a witch

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I would do what susanm9006 susanm9006 says. But also, when I had this problem with my kittens (one was perfect at sleeping at night, the second addition was a troublemaker as in your case) I tried to keep him awake as much as possible during a day, never waking him directly though, but I’d start playing with his favorite toy etc. however my kittens were older, you have a tiny baby that needs lots of sleep so I’d probably hesitate to deprive him of that during a day. But maybe try to keep him awake the whole evening?
It took my kitten two weeks of this “not sleeping during a day” routine to sleep through the entire night.
 

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These tips might work better for older kittens and cats:


I've never had a problem with Leroy waking me up when he was a kitten and before I got a second cat. He knew that when I go to bed, he goes to bed too. Even when I got the second cat, the two mostly let me sleep at night.Maybe my cats were just weird as kittens :crazy:
 
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lucicat

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Thanks all! To be clear, I know he's not waking for my attention. He's just waking to play with the other kitten. So I don't think ignoring him would phase him at all.

I think just encouraging play during day light and sleep at night is all I can do. . .most likely. I may shut them out of the bedroom when they do their 3am romp. And perhaps as the novelty of being in the house all night wears off he'll settle down. I don't care so much, I can just ignore it. . .but my husband is more grumpy about it. And he thinks we should just banish them from the bedroom, but I want my kitty snuggles!!!!!!
 

everariana

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Thanks all! To be clear, I know he's not waking for my attention. He's just waking to play with the other kitten. So I don't think ignoring him would phase him at all.

I think just encouraging play during day light and sleep at night is all I can do. . .most likely. I may shut them out of the bedroom when they do their 3am romp. And perhaps as the novelty of being in the house all night wears off he'll settle down. I don't care so much, I can just ignore it. . .but my husband is more grumpy about it. And he thinks we should just banish them from the bedroom, but I want my kitty snuggles!!!!!!
I agree with K kittenmittens84 , the Jackson Galaxy video was extremely helpful. I have two 7 month old kittens who have been sleeping, or at least calm, during the night for almost 3 months now because of what he taught in that video. 10% of the time they can be awake, loud, and active, but most of the time they're very chill.

Question though, do you free feed your kitties? I found that stopping the free feeding and putting mine on a strict eating schedule helped TREMENDOUSLY. Probably the biggest factor for my kitties.
 
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lucicat

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I agree with K kittenmittens84 , the Jackson Galaxy video was extremely helpful. I have two 7 month old kittens who have been sleeping, or at least calm, during the night for almost 3 months now because of what he taught in that video. 10% of the time they can be awake, loud, and active, but most of the time they're very chill.

Question though, do you free feed your kitties? I found that stopping the free feeding and putting mine on a strict eating schedule helped TREMENDOUSLY. Probably the biggest factor for my kitties.
Thanks! I've been transitioning them to timed meals. . .today they had no free food at all. Although I feel a bit conflicted about this as they are little and need the calories! But I know they'll tell me if they are hungry!
 

everariana

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Thanks! I've been transitioning them to timed meals. . .today they had no free food at all. Although I feel a bit conflicted about this as they are little and need the calories! But I know they'll tell me if they are hungry!
I definitely understand! I think the free feeding thing helps if you mainly cut the free feeding food out during sleeping hours. So if you're concerned about them not getting enough food then maybe you can leave it out during the day? and feed a couple times at night, like in the early evening and right before bed time?
 

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I have just one cat and have never dealt with your situation with a second cat being introduced, but I'm wondering if maybe it was too early to allow Ash to sleep with you. You mentioned a "kitten room". I would be tempted to have him continue to sleep in there for awhile longer until he's a bit more mature. Another option would be to put both cats out of your room when the playing starts. I know it doesn't seem fair to your older cat, but maybe you might have to do that until the little one gets more mature and sleeps longer.
 

She's a witch

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I have just one cat and have never dealt with your situation with a second cat being introduced, but I'm wondering if maybe it was too early to allow Ash to sleep with you. You mentioned a "kitten room". I would be tempted to have him continue to sleep in there for awhile longer until he's a bit more mature. Another option would be to put both cats out of your room when the playing starts. I know it doesn't seem fair to your older cat, but maybe you might have to do that until the little one gets more mature and sleeps longer.
Personally, I’d leave such a small kitten alone at nights for minimal period of time only. Let’s remember he’s only 11 weeks, in the ideal world he would still be with his mom and siblings with plenty of fur to snuggle with at night, and suddenly he’s placed alone. I’d have no hesitation to keep both of them out of the bedroom as they have themselves but not one tiny lonely baby
 
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