Do I keep waking my 23 month old up in the morning?

[Peek-a-boo]

My DS is 23 months old.  His routine looks like this . . .

8:00ish wake up
1:15 nap (takes a bit to fall asleep, naps 1 hour 20 minutes-1 hour 45 minutes most days)
9:00 bed time


Here's my concern, when we were traveling for Thanksgiving, we had to stay in his room until he was asleep because he figured out how to climb out of his travel crib.  Every since then (two weeks ago), he fights bed time and tries to keep us in the room screaming, crying, asking us to "praaaaaay" in the most heartbreaking wail.  We've been doing wi/wo.  Naps were still fine, but now in the past few days he's started the same thing at nap time.   

However, once he's asleep he sleeps fine--no wake ups.  And, I have to wake him every morninng.  If I didn't wake him I have no idea how long he'd sleep.  On mornings when I've slept in, he's slept as late as 9:00 before waking.  I keep waking him up because historically he's been a much better night sleeper than napper and if he gets too much night sleep he won't nap.  I'm afraid if I let him sleep as long as he wants in the morning, he'll start doing a 12.5 hour night and drop his nap.  I'm really don't think he's ready to give it up yet.

I'm just starting to doubt myself though.     This morning he was down right crabby when I woke him, really acted like he needed more sleep (yesterday's nap was unusually short --just about 1 hour). 

It seems silly that we're struggling with every falling asleep time and then when he's sleeping nice and sound, I'm waking him up, kwim?   

Any thoughts?  Should I keep waking him in the morning to preserve the nap?  Is there something else I need to tweak? 

[LeesMom]

Hi,
Just wondering if 9:00 is the time he lays down at night or the time he actually falls asleep. If he's taking a while past then to actually fall asleep and isn't getting 11 hrs. at night, that could probably be causing some crabbiness. Here, I always wake DD by 7:15 and I think that over time her body has just adjusted to that so she's usually up a little before that anyway. She goes to bed around 7:45 or so (earlier if she didn't nap) though so she could technically have 11 1/2 hrs. if she needs it. I think that at 23 mos. she was doing 11 1/2 hrs. at night, but every kid's different for sure. Personally, I'd try to wake him about 11 hrs. after he actually went to sleep unless it's really late because that could definitely throw the next day off! HTH a little 

[Peek-a-boo]

You raise a good point.  Last night he wasn't asleep until 9:15.  My worry, however, is that he will keep drifting his routine later.  He used to go to bed at 8:00, but then in the spring he started sleeping later in the morninig and taking longer to settle and his whole routine slowly shifted.  We let it happen because the later bed time and later wake up work for our family. 

I come from a long line of night owls, LOL, and I'm worried that if he falls asleep at 9:15 and so I let him sleep until 8:15, making his nap 15 minutes later, then the next night he won't settle until 9:20 or 9:30, so then he'll need to sleep later the next morning and so on . . . if you see what I mean.   

[LeesMom]

Hmmmm...

Definitely see what you mean about bedtime/wakeup being pushed later and later. Do you think it might work to lay him down at night at 8:30 or so instead? Not sure if you've tried this and then he chats until 9:15 anyway. Sounds like depending on the length of nap, his A time before bedtime is about 6 to 6.5 hrs. or so. DD is about 26 mos. and we still do about 5 to 5.5 hrs. A time before bedtime, but I know some lo's require more before bed. If you haven't tried it, it might be worth it to lay him down a bit earlier at night to see if it makes any difference