Puppy wakes at 5am

Hell all. I have a three month old puppy. I’ve had him for about a month now and we crate train at night and thought the day. At night he goes in his crate and he sleeps through the night with no whining or barking. In the beginning, we would wake up to an accident in his crate. But overtime it got less and less. We play with him from 11pm to midnight to tire him out and then we go outside for one last potty break. He is in his crate at 12/1215 and goes to sleep with no hassle or fuss.

This past week however, he wakes at 5am whining and barking. My boyfriend works at 6am, so he normally feeds him and let’s him outside. He then goes back in the crate afterwards. He goes straight to sleep afterwards without crying or whining.

Part of me wants to think that maybe he is getting the hang of holding his bladder and at 5am he just can’t take it anymore. Because after my bf let’s him outside and he goes back in his cage he settles and goes back to sleep quickly.

I know he is only 3 months old. But considering we are used to him sleeping through the night, we just want advice. Is this expected ?

Any tips, should I ignore the behavior? I don’t want it to be attention seeking and then he get the impression that if I whine and cry then I can get food and attention.

Just thoughts would be nice.