your baby is SOOOOO adorable!!  i love asian babies!  he doesn’t look mixed, really.  he looks asian.

anyways, i wanted to tell you about the 5 S’s.  I watched this pediatrician on tv who demonstrated 5 ways to trigger the “calming reflex.”  just as any reflex, you have to trigger it by doing the suggestions exactly right (just like how you have to hit the knee in the exact spot to cause the jumping reflex).  the 5 S’s are guaranteed to calm your baby when he’s crying.  anyways, the 5 S’s are:

1.  swaddling-swaddle the baby tightly with a blanket and he’ll stop crying.

2.  side-hold the baby on his side. 

3.  swinging-while holding the baby on his side, ever so gently allow his head to swing back and forth as though he were nodding gently. 

4.  shushing-put your lips all the way up against his ear and do the “shhhhhh” thing rather loudly.  it imitates the sounds of the womb and will trigger the calming reflex.  most people think babies need quiet.  this is a myth because the womb is not a quiet place, it’s like an ocean in there.  so babies are actually more comfortable in noisy surroundings where there’s a constant buzz, say from a vacuum cleaner.

5.  sucking-pacifier, this is the one that everyone knows.