Tip for hand-rearing kittens without a mother

Tip on how to calm a crying newborn kitten

I know this is probably going to sound kinda dumb, but I've tried this on two kittens I've hand-reared, and it worked on both.

If your kitten/s are crying, and it's not because of hunger or the need to "go", gently pick up the kitten, and hold it close to your chest. Put your lips together and start humming "MMMMmmmmMMMM" at even intervals (The "M"s being a higher pitch, and the "m"s being a lower pitch. As you can probably guess from the size fonts I used, you start high, work your way down, then back up again. Start at a mid-level octive for the first "MmmM"s, then gradually work down do your lowest tone of voice, then start back up again at mid-level, and repeat as long as needed.)

In other words, you're trying imitate a whale call with your mouth shut and your teeth touching, while allowing your chest to reverberate while doing this. I guess this is the closest thing to a calming purr that a human can do, and shortly the kitten should calm down, and soon will go to sleep if you continue "purring" until it dozes off.

putting a ticking clock with a blanket over it, or inside a stuffed animal should also help, it sounds like a beating heart and can calm them.

I did something similar with wickett when he got scared or wound up as a kitten (I still do it sometimes). I would lightly hold him against my chest and breathe slow and deep intentionally trying to move my chest up and down as mush as possible with each breath.

I hold their bodies next to my face and give them little smooch kisses over and over again in rapid repeat. I find this also calms down my adult cats when they are a little tense.