Hi everyone, don't know if anyone can advise but I have a 4 week old litter and these are the noisiest at night I have ever experienced. They are all big pups, as this was a small litter, which are feeding well. They are up to 3 meals a day still supplemented by regular visits from mum with milk. I stayed down with them for the first 3 weeks and for the first rew nights when i went back upstairs the pups all slept pretty well with a visit from mum. The last couple of nights the pups have woken 2/3 times, will not be settled by mum and want to come out and play. They are sleeping in the whelping box still and although playpen's attached I'm blocking access at night although mum can still get in. I'm giving the pups a meat feed at about 9pm and still using a heat lamp overnight. I don't know if anyone has any suggestions as to what might help the pups to sleep better overnight or can advise if i am doing anything wrong. 

Just a few thoughts. 

If the heat lamp is a light as well it may be giving them too much light for night-time.  Could you leave a radiator on in their room instead to see if it makes any difference.  I don't know what breed you have, but at 4 weeks they should be fine with normal room heating and a blanket over the whelping box.  But if you have a delicate breed then obviously you will know best.

Pups of that age are getting cleaner in their habits and try to get away from their bed for their toilet.  If you are preventing this, it could disturb them more while they try to find a way out to where they do it during the day.  When I have pups of that age, in the morning the paper in the run is very soiled so they obviously have been out quite a lot in the night, but they have done it quietly because I am only in the next room and all the doors are open.

I don't think it can be hunger if mum is going in and feeding them during the night.

Thanks for the advice, some useful thoughts. It's been a few years since we last had puppies and I think I'm being over protective. The breed isn't delicate. It's very difficult sometimes to know what to do for the best as everyone's methods differ slightly and I tend to be over cautious anyway. Both my children had heat rash as babies! I'll remove heat lamp again, has already been off once but then put back as weather got colder. I'll also give the puppies access to play pen tonight. I'd been keeping them in as I was worried that one of my cats might investigate but looking at them playing with each other today I think the cat would steer clear. Thanks for the advice pjw and hopefully I'll not be posting in the wee small hours tomorrow!!!!