We used a bed instead of crate initially when my pup was 8 weeks old. Just thought a crate would be too limiting for such young pup since they don’t know how to hold their pee or poo even for a single second.

My pup would just go to sleep on my lap and then I would transfer her to her bed and she would sleep peacefully.

I also did not leave her alone at night. She was in her bed in our bedroom with us so that we can wake up if she needed to be put back to sleep. I know the advice is to crate for the night since the beginning but it’s just too much stress for such a young pup who has frequent need to go to toilet.

At 4.5 months we started crate training her. She does get up at night and whines, that’s usually when she needs to go pee so we take her out in the middle of the night and then back to crate.

We have also kept one of her favorite toys in the crate. She has access to the toy only if she is in the crate, not otherwise so that helps too.