lab puppy pooing in his crate

Question
I have a 4 month old puppy.  He has been pooing in his crate for seven nights now, sometimes he rolls around in it and last night he was trying to eat it.  The crate is just big enough for him to turn around in.  My husband made the crate out of solid plastic, and I am wondering how deal with the pooping in the night.  I let him go out to go to the bathroom around 10 pm (to pee and poo) and then again at 5 am,(to pee only because he pooped in the crate already). Every morning I have to get up and clean up the crate and the dog.  Please help.  I was also wondering why he wakes up soooo early in the morning.  He goes to sleep usually around 10pm and is up and ready to go for the day at 4am.  I am tired out.  Please advise, as I am almost at my wits end.  Thank you very much.  

Answer
At 4 months, a healthy puppy shouldn't have any trouble going overnight.  Usually if it is a physical problem, the stools are soft if not liquid.  Still, almost any change of behavior calls for a vet check.  

There are some problems that are quite common and I have found applying what I have been trained to do solves them.  I keep material I can just paste in to answer many  questions.  This is a problem I haven't had nor have I seen a solution in anything I have read including my puppy raising manual chock full of great answers.  

I am not sure it is natural for dogs to sleep 8 hours at a time.  I was awakened today about a half hour before the alarm was set to go off.  Happens several days a week.  This could be part of the problem.  I am sorry, but I don't have the answer to every question.