Is 3 1/2 Too Young to Sleep with the Cat?

My cats have slept with my children since they were about two. I can not remember them sleeping in their cribs, but love to sleep in their beds. I do not think I have ever had a cat wake up my kids. I think it is cute, and the kids love to sleep with them! It makes them feel special when one of the kitties decide to sleep in their bed!

I have a 2 1/2 year old son who has had a cat sleeping with him several nights a week since we brought him home from the hospital. Belle (the cat) was interested in the crib when we set it up, and I began to let her sleep in there, before we brought him home...She jumped up there the first night he came home, and layed down next to him, and stayed there all night...She would move out of the way when I came in to change diapers, but then settled back down next to him. When he would begin to cry, she would jump out and come to me, as if it were her job to let me know, and then, she would return to him, as I would...This bond still continues...I too feared her sleeping in the crib, with all the stories I had heard, but she loves him, and I didnt want to break that bond...Who knows she may save his life one day...Hope this helps!!

She won't suffocate him, but if he doesn't want her in there, keep her out. My 7.5yr old LOVES when our cats sleep on his bed (they are rotaters at night ,on our bed for a couple hours, his bed for a couple hours, then back to our bed... etc) and they always move together (we have two male cats). Our 4yr old, however, is less than pleased when he finds them on his bed, and they've learned to just stay out of his room. He doens't like them laying on his blankie, or on his stuffed animals, or on his feet. He's a mover at night too, and doesn't like being restricted. :)

If he is ok with the cat sleeping with him, he will get used to her movements. I dont' notice when our cats get up and move beds, neither does our 7yr old, we are used to them moving. If he doesn't want her there, then just close his door nad put up the baby monitor again.

We got a cat for our 4 year old daughter on her birthday. She has slept with her since we brought the cat home and we have never had any problems. Even without front claws the cat can get away mid sleep at any point. She even falls asleep with her arm on top of the cat and she still gets away when ready. Yes, the cat sometimes wakes her up in the middle of the night. Most often to attack her toes under the blanket in an effort to play. She tells the cat no and falls right back asleep. This doesn't happen often.

If your cat and child want to sleep together, I say go for it. My 10 year old male cat thinks he's our 33 month old daughter's nanny. He's very protective of her and has been since the day I brought her home from the hospital. Of course, I kept him away from her until she was several months old. If she cries out for any reason, he'll practically knock me down getting to her. He will occasionally sleep with her in her bed but most often he sleeps on the floor next to her bed. When he does sleep with her, he usually sleeps at her feet. Like most little ones, she runs hot when she sleeps, sweating up a storm, and she doesn't stay in one position for very long. She has tried to sleep on him and he doesn't like it. She's big enough now that if she lays on him, he's pinned. He can't get out from under her. I think that's why he sleeps at her feet or on the floor. My cat never sleeps on my daughter. She's not still long enough, nor is her body big enough for him to do so.
As for the old wives tale that a cat will suffocate a child, the way it was explained to me is that the cat is drawn to the smell of milk on the child's breath. The cat tries to lick the milk from the child's mouth, thereby taking the child's breath away and suffocating the child. I can attest that this has not happened even once with my child. I've never spoken with a single person to whom this has happened. Nonetheless, everyone seems to know the tale. My cat wouldn't drink milk unless you served from the belly of a freshly caught tuna! Even then, he'd have reservations.
If your child is still sleeping in a crib, your cat might disturb him getting in and out of the crib. If he's in a toddler bed or regualr bed, your cat is probably stealthy enough that she won't disturb him.

my daughter is two and moves a lot in her sleep but actually sleeps better with one of the cats in her room. we have to leave her door open due to the fact we don't have central heat or air so her room either gets to cold or to hot depending on the time of year. I noticed one of the cats started sleeping up against her feet and it didn't seem to bother her. If she had it her way the dogs would sleep in there too.

You really don't have to worry about suffocation considering he is 3 and most likely would roll over before the cat could harm him. He could benefit from the cosleeping with her since it may help the insecurities. Honestly the whole thing with suffocation is if they can't roll over or move their head along with seratonin levels. Seen it in an article on yahoo news a few weeks back.

She can't suffocate him. But she can give him a rough night's sleep. Cats are up and doing things a lot at night, and when we adopted a stray kitten, she was quite often up and about, then cleaning herself, then stretching....

Would be better is kitty had her own area to sleep and your son would sleep better. They can play and love each other a lot during the day.

At 3 1/2 I wouldn't be too worried about the cat suffocating him. If she is a biter or a scratcher that would be more worrisome or if your son had some allergies. Your son not getting enough sleep may be another matter. Our cats have been in and out of the rooms room since my kids were younger. They are 5 and 7 now.. The other aspect is cats will often move if disturbed. They don't like to be rolled on. Some kids move around a lot when sleeping. If the cat seems to disturb his sleep I would find a way to keep her out of the room.

I guess it would depend on if he's a deep sleeper or not. We have a cat too and she drives me absolutely CRAZY all night long because I am a light sleeper. We can't close our door because she claws at it and meows to get in...and then out. Then she jumps on my head all night and I have tried spraying her with water to get her to stop. She is my cat by marriage and my husband is a much deeper sleeper. One night (in the past four years!) I woke up feeling completely rested and we later realized she had been locked in the garage all night. Anyway, I don't want her to get used to sleeping in our son's room, not because he is a light sleeper, but because we shut his door at night and that will just be another door she claws to get in and out of. I'm not getting much sleep right now anyway with a 3 month old, but one day I'm going to figure out the cat issue myself!