Hi Kath! Molo was my first puppy as well - lots of rescue dogs before, but no pups
OH had a pup as a teenager, but he has rose tinted memories and found puppyhood a bit stressful
We're agonising about what to do in the night - do we get up & let him out for pee etc or do we leave him & just clear up in the morning? (Hopefully he'll use the pee mat - he's quite good at the moment apparently!) If we leave him in the kitchen-diner, we'll only hear him in the night if he barks or howls properly - won't hear any whimpering - don't know if that's good or bad - blimey - I'm stressing already - just want to do what's best for him really.
I suggest a Baby Monitor - it was the best thing we have ever done, and still use it now
We had a spare from when my daughter was little, but you can usually buy them secondhand in the free ads of local papers.
I did let him out in the night when he whimpered - it didn't take me long to work out which type of whine meant he needed to GO - but I combined this with shutting him in his crate at night so that he did whine rather than just squat on the kitchen floor
Tiny pups don't usually have the bladder capacity to hold all night - and if he has an accident in his crate, it may take longer to train him
I would also suggest that you recruit a puppy sitter for a few weeks to pop in while you are at work - either a neighbour, friend, family member or a professional pet sitter. 4-5 hours is a long time to leave a tiny pup; we prefer not to leave Molo for that long even now
Molo ripped our kitchen lino up - NOTHING is safe from puppy teeth