4 1/2 month old not sleeping as well in the crate at night?
I have a female 4 1/2 month old that was getting in a good routine sleeping in her crate at night until recently. She would start to settle down around 9pm, by laying around the living room dozing off. Then we'll put her in her crate when we go to bed around 10 or 11pm. She would then sleep like clockwork until between 5:00-5:30am, then we'd take her out, feed her breakfast, and put her back in the crate. This would give us another hour or so until she would start whimpering again around 6:30/7:00.
She's never really barks while in the crate at night, or in the morning. When she wakes up and wants out, she just whimpers until we take her out.
For the last week, she has been waking up and whimpering around 3:30/4:00 and will continue until we take her out. She'll then still wake up at the 5:00-5:30 time as well as 6:45. The extra 3:30-4:00 wake up is rough so I wanted to ask for advice on getting her to sleep better in her crate.
I should also mention, that when she does go out, it doesn't seem like she really needs to go to the bathroom (badly anyway). When I take her out of the crate, I'll open it and take her straight outside (no talking, no playing). She'll sniff around a bit before finally going to the bathroom. She doesn't immediately go as soon as she gets outside like she will do when she really needs to go.
She sleeps in her create that is in our bedroom. Should I move it to another location and only take her out at scheduled times like 5:30 and 7:00? I'd be worried that if she really needs to go out, we wouldn't here her. Or worse, she'd learn that the only way we will hear her is if she barks. I'd rather not start that habit of barking in her crate.
Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance!