Markus - Friendly or Fussy?

Markus is 6 weeks old today! He's getting bigger and changing all the time. He's moved up from the newborn (N) size to "1" size diapers and he's already outgrown some of his newborn shirts. He's eating around 4 ounces every 3-4 hours on average. Sometime he'll put away 6 ounces, and sometimes 2. And sometimes he'll get hungry in two hours. It's crazy trying to figure it all out. One thing is for sure...if he's crying for more than one minute...HE IS HUNGRY.

When he's not hungry, not sleepy, not dirty, not hot/cold, but still fussy, we have come up with several possible solutions/tricks to calm him down:

• Pick him up and walk around with him. This works pretty well, but tiring...especially in the hours between 1:00 - 6:00 a.m.

• Put him in the swing. Hit or miss. He either loves being in the swing or wants right out. When he's in the swing, he looks at the little animated mobile and relaxes. Who wouldn't? It's basically a giant motorized bed that swings back and forth. If they made that for adults, I'd like it too!

• Turn on the ventilation fan in the bathroom (dark). Works, but you have to hold him and rock him too (see bullet #1).

• Hide under the covers. Don't ask me why, but it works! It's like a little cocoon. Only problem is that it gets pretty hot and stuffy quick in there. The good news is that if it works, it works quickly! He'll pass out in a minute and you can then sit back out in the open and watch quality late-night television.

• Car ride. The ultimate weapon. There is no defense. We've never actually used this as a method to get him to sleep at night, but we've gone on car trips and he loves it! We've heard similar results from other parents.
  

Here is a summary of my last overnight experience with Markus: It's around 1:30 in the morning on Saturday and I was informed by Markus' aunts that he had eaten around midnight. He was awake and a little fussy, so I took him and tried the under-the-covers trick. It worked. He was asleep in my arms and I was watching the 2:00 a.m. Sportscenter. I wasn't tired, and I knew he would up to eat around 3:00, so I stayed up. I got a bottle ready around 3:00 and he started waking up at 3:15. I decided to give him the bottle and he ate 1.5 ounces and passed out (no burps). I was sure if I put him to bed that he would wake up any moment with hunger or gas, but I had to try. He slept until 7:00!

Parents 1, Markus 0.

Score YTD - Parents 3, Markus 39.

Here he is in his giant rocking bed (swing):