Well, now I'm that future self. And here's what I wish I could have told myself back then:
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1. PROBIOTICS! You know all those antibiotics they gave him as a precaution right after he was born and you were concerned it might affect his good gut bacteria and you're doctor assured you that it wouldn't? Well, you were right. Give Gregory 1/8 tsp of Baby's Jarro-Dophilus every day. It'll take a few days to have an effect, but it will work wonders. It will fix pretty much all his issues. He'll be so much happier, he'll nap better, his bowel movements will look like they're supposed to, his diaper rash will finally go away, etc, etc. But don't stop even after he gets better or all his problems will crop up again.
2. That pesky omnipresent diaper rash that you've been fighting since week one? The reason you can't make any headway on it is because it's a yeast infection. It's related to all his gut trouble. Use Triple Cream AF or Lotrimin. It'll help clear it up in a few days, but unless you give Gregory his probiotics, it'll just come back again.
3. He likes to be warm when he naps and cool when he sleeps at night. The probiotics will help the napping situation the most, but the proper temperature setting will perfect it.
Napping:
70 degrees - fleece PJs and 4 layers of his brown sherpa blanket
74 degrees - light PJs and 2 layers of sherpa blanket
77 degrees - light PJs, no blanket
Sleeping at night:
70 degrees - light PJs, light swaddler
74 degrees - onsie, light swaddler
76 degrees - he'll wake up every hour or so and be difficult to get to sleep again (they'll be a lot of hot nights, so it's worth getting a little A/C unit for his room)
4. He loves going on walks or sitting outside and watching Nugget run around. It'll help soothe him when nothing else works.
5. Feed him when he's drowsy, either right when he wakes up or right before he falls asleep. Otherwise, you won't be able to get him to eat a full meal (he'll be too distracted with the excitement called life) and then he won't sleep well; he'll wake up every hour wanting a light snack.
6. This one is for you, Jody. The insomnia gets worse. Much, much worse. I know you'll want to fight it, thinking that if your body gets tired enough, it'll have to fall asleep, but oh boy, it'll certainly try to prove you wrong. It'll make you crazy, dizzy, and sick. And you still won't be able to sleep. At all. So just call your doctor and get some sleeping pills. You'll still be able to wake up for Gregory in the middle of the night (the pills just help you fall asleep, they don't help you stay asleep), and it will help relieve so much of your stress and crazy. It'll still take you an hour or two to fall asleep, and you'll only be able to get 4-5 hours of good sleep a night, but it'll be enough to help you stabilize mentally. Your mind needs sleep, and you need your mind.
Good luck! Give Gregory a smooch for me!
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Obviously, most of this advice is specific to our situation, but I knew it would be, which is why I wanted to talk to myself about it. It took us a while to figure these things out, and I'm sure we have many more down the road, but I'm so glad we have a few things under our belt now. We're all doing so much happier these days.
Triple woot!