Waking toddler up from nap

[ZaraBlue]

Anyone else's toddler impossible to wake up from nap time?!

My toddler (2.5 years) will sleep easily 3 hours in the day, I wake after 2 hours otherwise bed time is just too late. But my toddler takes a good 30 mins to wake properly, keeps falling back to sleep and even asks for more sleep. He needs to wake up on his own time eg he'd be very upset if I gently got him out of his cot for cuddles.

My friend's toddlers seem to bounce out of bed at the end of nap time!

My toddler isn't lethargic in the day at all - full of energy, non stop and eats well. Wakes up happily in the morning.

Should I just let him sleep until he wakes up naturally?

What happens if you let him sleep? Will he sleep slightly later at night but still sleep through?

He may just need more sleep. Some kids just love their sleep!

He will wake up happily but could be 3-3.5 hours!
Then he won't go down until 9.30pm but he needs to be up 7.30am some mornings so then I feel I just took it away from his night sleep if that makes sense.

Unless we had to go out for an important reason I never woke a child

Try to work with natural sleep cycles - from memory it's around 45 minutes? So you could try waking after 1h30 or 2h15 minutes see if that helps?

Can you move lunch to earlier and put down for nap earlier.

I never woke any of mine up unless I really needed to.

3-3.5hr nap and then 10 hours at night is absolutely normal for a 2.5year old, he isn't losing any sleep and in fact sleeping longer than average for that age, I'd say. Mine has a 2-2.5hr day nap and 10 hrs a night, or no nap at all and 12 hrs a night

I would definitely wake them to avoid a late night. We had issues with nursery not waking my daughter, she wouldn't go to sleep til 10pm on those days vs 7.30pm when we capped the nap.
3 hours seems like a long nap for their age, less than 2 would be more typical and some children are dropping naps by 2.5 so I wouldn't see an issue with waking them personally.

I would wake them, your time to yourself on an evening is precious as a parent to recharge.

I've always woken mine and capped naps, we have really unsettled nights if not. I like the PP idea to wake at the end of the sleep cycle, worth a try!

What time is he starting his nap? Could you move things forward so he still has the full nap but is tireder earlier in the evening and can go to bed by 8?