Baby Benjamin's Daily Routine

And an update on baby Benjamin's progress

Ben is now almost three months old. For new subscribers, see this post for context. He is still catching up on his growth. We expected this and ultimately he is doing quite well.

He had some left-sided neglect (he would look to the right all the time, as though the left side of the world didn't exist), which has almost entirely resolved. He has motor function of all his limbs, fingers, and toes. He is developing his head control and can now hold his head up for short periods of time. He can now hold small objects.

He is bottle-feeding right now, because his motor function wasn't strong enough to breastfeed exclusively. He was gaining weight much too slowly on the breast alone, so we transitioned entirely to bottle-feeding. He has been gaining between 0.75 and 1 ounce per day since mid-February, when we introduced bottle-feeding. That's above-average weight gain, which means he is catching up.

We appreciate your continued prayers for him to:

• Smile

• Gain weight

• Grow (specifically his head circumference, which is small for his age)

• Keep his food down better (he spits up a fair bit)

Here is his daily routine. We had to figure this out over the course of weeks after a lot of trial and error.

Michelle wakes me up after his early morning feed (between 4 AM and 7 AM) and I take him into the hyperbaric oxygen tank (HBOT) for one hour to 90 minutes. He sleeps soundly in the tank, as the pressure and oxygen strongly activate the parasympathetic nervous system. I wrote about HBOT here:

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

After the HBOT session, I put him in his crib, where we have a PEMF mat. I shared the PEMF mat we purchased and why in my most recent Q&A. I received another question about this last week and so there's more information coming to premium subscribers in the Q&A this week. We saved thousands of dollars and got a better unit by knowing where to shop. We narrowly avoided a device that was not only inferior, but also potentially dangerous. Learn more in the Q&A:

This Week's Q&A: "The Half-Your-Weight Hydration Rule Could Be Dangerous"

I add supplements to two of his bottles. He currently gets:

1. NeuroImmune DHA 900 from Dr. Green Mom.

2. Magnesium threonate.

3. Vitamin D, 500 IU.

We add just a few drops of the first and 50 mg of the magnesium threonate.

He may or may not get the PEMF session right after the HBOT session - it depends on if he wakes up due to hunger. Generally, he's very sleepy right after HBOT.

I put LifeWave patches in his socks and put those on his feet in the morning as well. More on this here:

Shining a Light on the Brain

I get to work between 8 and 10 AM, depending on when we get done with HBOT. He spends the day with Michelle, who stays busy feeding him, changing him, exercising him, and taking him to various medical appointments. She is amazing. I am so grateful to have such a wonderful wife.

After work, around 5 PM, I dive him again for an hour. Then we pass him back and forth between feeding him and preparing dinner. His last feeding of the day is around 9 PM, and we are generally in bed between 10 and 11 PM. This depends on how hungry he is and how fussy he is.

He spends a lot of time in front of our EMR-Tek Firestorm. We take him outside into the sun for 10 to 30 minutes each day, which is as much as his skin can handle. The EMR-Tek Firestorm, the SaunaSpace Photon, and the sun calm him down and often put him to sleep. This has been incredibly helpful. I can't recommend it to parents enough. Strong red and infrared light is one of the most calming stimuli we've found for him. More on this here:

The Quick and Simple Guide to Infrared and Red Light Therapy

That's all for now. Thank you all for your prayers and well wishes.

Until next time, be well,

Dr. Stillman