No I haven’t finally gone stark raving mad with sleep deprivation.

It occurred to me, as I paced the living room carpet at 3am with Littlest B the other night, that there are actually some good things about broken nights.

5 good things about broken nights

There aren’t many good things, admittedly – see things they don’t tell you about being a parent – but nevertheless I have managed to come up with five.

5 good things about broken nights

1. The light of the moon. I didn’t realise the moon created actual shadows on our living room carpet until I became a mum. I remember seeing it for the first time and doing a double take, thinking one of us had left a light on. In my sleep deprived state it took a while for me to realise this strange illumination was in fact coming from the moon. And what a light it is.

2. Nocturnal goings on. I don’t mean in the bedroom department, I mean outside. The owl cooing, the fox crossing the road, the cats in a stand-off on the garden fence: fascinating stuff.

3. Birdsong. Sometimes, possibly because I’m in a sleep deprived state, I stand in our kitchen just listening to the birds as dawn breaks. There’s a proper orchestra in our neck of the woods – it’s really quite uplifting.

4. Sunrise. Without a doubt some of the best sunrises I’ve seen are those I’ve happened to catch when stumbling out of bed to deal with a crying/wet/colicy baby. Sunrises I just wouldn’t have seen had I been fast asleep in the land of nod.

The upside of a 4.45am feed #sunrise #breastfeeding #nofilterneeded

A post shared by Natalie Brown (@confessionsofacrummymummy) on

5. The peace. Of course you’d rather you hadn’t been dragged from your slumber by ear-piercing wails to deal with the poonami to end all poonamis, but when they’re clean, fed and content again there is something special about snuggling down with your baby when the rest of world is sleeping. Something you know you’ll look back on and wish you could do all over again.

What do you think? Am I clutching at straws and have I finally gone stark raving mad with sleep deprivation, or do you think there are some good points about broken nights too? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Linking up with…

Mummuddlingthrough
Tammymum
Diary of an imperfect mum