Oh wise ones, I need your advice ......

[Humansatnav]

Otis is now 12 weeks old. Getting on great with housetraining. Fab puppy, BUT......
Sleeping through the night is still an issue, good night is 11-5, bad night is 11-5 with 2 + wakings when he whines/ barks/ howles for up to an hour.
He settles happily in his crate to gi to bed.
Looking online it seems he is getting too much access to water in the evening and not enough exercise / play late evening. Also looked at Adaptil.
4 weeks of short/ broken sleep now and I need your wise advice.
TIA

Where is his crate?
Not sure I can be much help as inexperienced puppy owner - 6 months.

Have you joined the dog training advice and support Facebook group yet? There's loads of advice on how to bring up a puppy including getting them happy and settled at night

He's likely waking and becoming distressed at being alone - pups at this age would naturally still be with siblings and mum so struggle to cope with long periods alone. You need to take care that you aren't inadvertently building negative associations with the crate if he feels 'locked in' at night. Try moving the crate to your room so when he wakes you can soothe him more quickly before he gets distressed

Thanks for the replies-- I will look at the Facebook page now. Crate is in the lounge , but is getting moved closer to the bedrooms this coming weekend ( new doors being fitted this week) He likes his crate and will take himself there if he is sleepy at bedtime.
Does anyone know if Adaptil would help id all else fails - Im pretty much on my knees , dd & dh help but due to important school year ( dd) & unsociable hours working as a driver ( dh) Um trying to do the lions share of the putting to bed/ getting up with him myself. A reliable 7 hours would be heaven !

• and would help my atrocious spelling

Adaptil might work? It might be worth a try.

I'd move him to the same room as you tbh.

Don't restrict water, they should always have access to water.

Update MUCH better last night. I did a play session with training thrown in for an hour late evening , then dd took him for a 10 min stroll to the field and back, then quiet fuss followed by bed at 10:30.
He whined slightly at 4 ish , but settled untill our alarm went off at 5.
He has been out to wee , had a feed , been back out to poo & is now snuggled up ready to doze again.
Big test will be on Thursday when we don't have to get up till 6:15 .
And I didn't take his water away, I left a small amount in his bowl as we were filling it right up after his last toilet at night and he was drinking nearly all of it !

Our breeder told us to ignore. Dh decided to ignore on first night & slept in lounge with him. ( after not getting up ever for dd or ds!). Only lasted one night. Settled v quickly & quickly slept well.
He is a very well adjusted puppy now! It does sound like it is improving. Hope it is!

I don't think I'd be giving feeds in the night. Or cuddles and chats.