8 month old - early waking question

[Baby_A_Mama]

My son, almost 8 month old, has recently started dropping night feeds. We gently pushed him down to 1 feeding, waking somewhere between 2-4 am and back too sleep until 6:30 ish. He is now generally sleeping from 7pm - 5:15 am though and I can't get him back to sleep after the feed at 5:15. I'm happy he's weaning himself from the night feeds but almost preferred the 4am waking as he would at least go back to sleep.  How do I get him to so this early waking. I'm thinking of not feeding him until 6am, which is our families acceptable start of day.   

Our general schedule is:
5:15 - wake up
9 - sleep
10:30 wake up
2 - sleep
4- wake up
7 - bed asleep

Do I need a schedule tweak, I'm not sure if something is reinforcing the early waking. If he sleeps until 6:30, his nap would be more like 9:30-11

[Baby_A_Mama]

I should maybe edit, his morning nap is a bit shorter, (1hr 10 min) which is leading to tiredness at 1pm, not 2. We're a bit overtired I think

[creations]

I would probably push that morning nap a little later. 9.15 for a couple of days then 9.30 for a couple of days and then possibly 9.45, with the idea of moving the day on.  His nap may extend a little (which helps to get through the day so that nap 2 doesn't come too early) and his second nap can come a bit later. I would accept a later BT too, again to move the day on.  It may be that for a while he needs 2 naps and a 7.30pm BT (or even 8pm) BT to get him through to the 6am WU you would prefer.
Once you have moved those naps and BT and the WU has moved you might find that he is able to go to bed a little earlier (7.15?) and still WU at 6am.

[Baby_A_Mama]

Thank you, we'll try that for a few days and see how it goes. I don't really like pushing bed time later because it's been nice having both kids in bed by 7 to have some us time, but perhaps it's a later bedtime or early morning choice    I think once we get back on track and no over tiredness, maybe I can work on juggling the day a bit? 

He was back to waking twice last night but we do have colds going around. This resulted in a later waking/start to the day.

[creations]

but perhaps it's a later bedtime or early morning choice

It might be for a little while.
I shifted my DS day on (he was older) and really needed to push BT late to force him to wake later in the morning, once he did I was able to gradually make BT a little earlier and earlier again, slowly.  I'm not suggesting you push hard on BT moving later but rather to accept it might be as you said, late BT or early WU.
Even if BT moves later and stays later it isn't for ever...once they go down to one nap they usually need earlier BT again.

Let us know how it goes

[Baby_A_Mama]

We tried a later bedtime last night...asleep by 7:20, and had a waking at 3:30, up for the day at 5:45. Not bad, I'll take it and keep trying. However, he never got tired for nap #1. 9, 9:15, 9:30, all passed with no tired signs so finally at 9:45  I took him up (4hrs awake), nursed him and he fell asleep nursing. He only slept for 40 min which is unusual. I'm wondering if this was under tired or over? He did not seem sleepy but had been awake a very long time. We are nite starting nap 2 early as a result of waking from nap 1 early. Oh boy, it's never ending!

[creations]

The short nap might have been a one off, it often isn't worth worrying about a short nap (if it isn't usually short) unless it turns into a regular thing.  He might have been UT or could have been something else entirely.  It's ok if he wants an A of 4hr+, some do.  The positive aspect of a longer A is a later BT which can help move that WU time.

[Baby_A_Mama]

I'm not sure if we're winning anything yet. We've bumped bedtime to about 7:20. He still wakes early but occasionally we can both snooze and nurse on the rocking chair until 6:30 (I'm worried this will become a crutch for him).  Our naps have reopened to a good length but I have a question with our new schedule...Perhaps it still needs fixing.

6:30 (on a good day) wake up
9:45 or 10 - sleep nap #1 (1.5-2hrs)
11:30/12 - wake up
2-2:30  - nap #2 
4pm - wake up from nap
7:20 bedtime

I almost always have to wake him up at 4pm from nap #2. He is still waking in the night to feed 1-2 times. Should I be waking him earlier from nap #2, since we still often get an early waking?  He goes to sleep without much fuss at bedtime and starts eye rubbing as soon as we sit down but I think he could do a slightly longer A time with a but of work.

The other day he did almost 3hr first nap and I had to wake him 1.5 hrs into#2. The but just loves napping at the moment. He's almost 8 months.

Thoughts?

[creations]

Rather than capping nap 2 I'd be more inclined at this point to move nap 1 later (to discourage the earlier waking in the morning) and cap it at a max of 2hrs.  Move nap 2 a little later (so the same A time but just later in the day because nap 1 was later) and keep BT the same.  Moving both naps a little later will slightly reduce the A time before BT (this is the longest A time currently and could be giving a little OT to the night sleep making for a EW) without actually moving BT any later.
Hope this makes sense.
If you could get that WU to be a 'proper' 6.30am with 7.20 ish BT that would be 11hr night which is good, along with 2 good naps.

If the WU doesn't move later even after the naps have moved and the A to BT shortened I would consider shifting the whole day by 15 mins (meals and naps and BT) and possibly capping one of the naps to 1.5hrs.
hth