"Nursing" my ear

My 6 month old kitten has recently developed the habit of "nursing" on my ear when I'm trying to sleep. I think it's absolutely adorable and love it when he does it (I like to think that he's really comfortable and having happy thoughts of the time he spent with his cat-mother). The problem is that he's started to keep me awake as he wants to nurse constantly. When he just started this habit I could let him do it for awhile and get him to stop when I turned over and told him that he'd had enough. Now when I try to stop him he'll just keep trying to find some skin to suck on and he can't be distratcted. Last time I tried to keep him away for a good 15 minutes before I gave in and let him nurse- and then he nursed for at least 1/2 hour more! Is there a way I can start to discourage this habit, or at least get him to not spend so long keeping me awake? Is this something he'll grow out of, or should I just learn to enjoy it?

P.S. I know both of my kittens were found as strays, without their mother, when they were 1 month old. Does that have something to do with the nursing habit?

Aw, yes, they lost their mom much too young, poor babies. So did our St. John, who does the same thing -- but he is usually satisfied with an "ear alternative" in the form of a chenille bedspread! It's a plain white cotton spread with little tufts of thread, and he loves to nurse on those tufts. Maybe you can find something similar for your baby.

If you have trouble transferring his interest to the chenille, try soaking it in some KMR (Kitten Milk Replacer) -- he'll just love it!

Thanks for your quick reply!

I have a chenille throw that my other kitten loves to nurse when I'm giving him a nice massage. My little ear-nurser hasn't taken to it though. I will take it to bed with me tonight and try to see if I can get him to like it.

I feel badly for my little ones that they were so young without their mother, but at least they've always had each other...

That is so cute. Saki is 3 years old and he still comes and purrs in my ear and licks my earlobes at night