help.. bedtime!!!

I have a 6yr old spayed female who is strictly indoors, named Bella. Its just her and I and we are like an old married couple. I have very few problems with her as she is sweet as pie and very tolerant --uses her litter box always, eats well, uses scratching post and is addicted to laps. She loves being with me and LAPS!
So my problem.. the first two months I had her, (I got her as an adult and have had her for 5 months now), I closed my bedroom door at night and let her have run of the house. She didnt like it much but after 15 min or so of light meowing, she would just go lay on the couch and sleep. As she got more attached to me, she began really wanting to sleep with me. So 2 months ago I finally let her and I love it too.. in fact its hard for me to sleep now without her! Bella sleeps well in that she will lay quietly for 3-4hrs at at time, but the problem is in between times when she cleans herself vigorously and wakes me up for 15-20 min at a time. Then she will stretch/go in and out as she playing/eats in the other room. All of this is normal kitty stuff.. but HELP! I am a very light sleeper and have gotten so run down from being woke up every 3hours. So much so, that I got very sick w/ the flu last week b/c I have not been sleeping well.

When she is being 'active', I have tried reasoning with her haha! and I have tried putting her out of the bedroom and closing the door, and I have tried living with it til she is done. I prefer putting her out, but is that confusing her? (sometimes she is in and sometimes she is out?) She also seems to get her feelings hurt when I close the door and not understand what is going on. And I feel SO BAD! should I ??? HELP-- I cant find any books on how to handle this so I can get sleep but kitty doesnt get stressed.

I personally haven't tried this but I heard on local PBS radio to buy a small dog crate and keep it in your bedroom. Evidently there is an adjustment period where the cat will be introduced into the crate and at night will sleep in the crate. I would give it a try.

You might just encourage her not to sleep on the bed. I did this by accident with Shinobi. She slept between my legs, and always got kicked, poor kitty. If you give her an alternative, like a cozy chair that's nearby, she might sleep there in order to avoid the flailing limbs of humans. Shinobi sleeps on my desk chair, it is the same height as the bed, so its like she's sleeping with me, except she doesn't get clocked in the head.

thanks for the ideas, esp. the chair one. Though given the opportunity for a snuggle, this kitty tends to take her chances with the bed rather than a quiet chair. ;-)
What do you all do? Do you allow kitty in bed and for the whole night? Is it ok to change what happens at night or should I stick with one solution? Bella seems to have some nights quieter than others.

I've had to shut mine out of my room overnight the last few months. I LOVE having them in bed with me, but I tore up my knee and since then can't handle people walking on me when I'm not expecting it, and jumping on the bed. My older cats were fine since they'd just settle down and go to sleep, but Jake is very nocturnal and he's on the go all night, plus loves to get under the covers and chew my feet- really not good when sudden movements hurt. At three am, your main instinct when you're woken by a friendly but unexpected nip on the toe is to move very suddenly indeed.

I can see why you would put your kitties out w/ knee surgery! Did they adjust well? I am afraid Bella will take it so personally since its just her and I..

I let our boy sleep with my husband and me. It usually works out. He sleeps with us, and when he wants to play he gets up and leaves the room (we keep all his toys in the main part of the house). He wakes me up every once in a while by playing toe-hunter, or by deciding he wants to cuddle up on my face (can't . . . . breathe . . . . ). Weird thought, but maybe a firmer mattress? Or one of those mattresses that claims to prevent the transfer of energy from one part of the bed to another? That way when your kit is grooming enthusiastically it won't shake the whole bed quite so much. If you're willing to get a whole new mattress by way of an experiment!!!

Great ideas. Mine is a night time kitty too. I have put a pillow above my pillow that lays flat that Char will use when he doesn't want to get bopped by me or my husband. When he wakes up he usually climbs over us and off the bed and meows at the window door at night. He sometimes leaves and eats or whatever kitties do. I do lose sleep at night though when he is meowing at the door. I have put him out for a few minutes but he comes to the bed purring and makes me feel so guilty for booting him out. He then drifts off to sleep for a while longer and repeats a couple hours later.

I'm not usually a light sleeper so my kitties are free to come and go as they please. They usually only spend an hour or so on the bed then go somewhere else. If I'm having a "twitchy" night where I'm sleeping lightly I usually have to put them out. Luckily they rarely whine to come back in. They have two or three pillow beds I've made them out of fleece scattered in my room and the guest room and they usually spend more time on those. They probably remember being accidentally kicked or propelled off the bed by my big human feet!

You might try devoting a good solid hour to play time right before bed and wear the kitty out, so she'll sleep the whole night. If not that, maybe get her a friend

My oldest cat wasn't happy for a week or so- I did make sure she had some extra attention from me on her own at other times though, and that she had somewhere to sleep to get some peace from the young cats which I think was mostly what she missed rather than me! The boys do sometimes scratch at the door and yell at me- but then they all scratch and yell to go in the wardrobe, they really don't approve of any door being closed.