Alternative baby-soothing methods

Billy and I are starting to get in the thick of looking at parenting advice.  We've already made up our minds that we are going to exclusively breastfeed if at all possible, use NON-disposable diapers (kind of gross at first, but when compared to spending all that extra money on disposables versus washing dirty diapers in the washing machine and dealing with breastmilky poop that doesn't stink and not harming the environment any more than we have to, we'll gladly do so and use the extra money for more chipotle), "wear" our baby as much as possible, not be overprotective snots when it comes to our kid's immune system, and let Pirate lick and play with Nacho (we're going to test run it first, of course :)).

However, there are things that I'm still learning about (did you know that many parents use sign language with their baby to help communicate with them?).  Here are two of the things that I thought were really great, unique baby-soothing methods:



We've definitely got to teach Pirate how to howl.  At this moment, he's only capable of yipping, which, I believe, is probably not soothing to any man, woman, or child.

There's this awesome, awesome thing called the "Zaky."  It's kinda creepy looking but I saw a clip from the Rachel Ray show (not a regular viewer, I promise) and it showed this mother whose infant was not sleeping through night for the last 8 months or so.  She tried the Zaky and by the 3rd night, the baby slept throughout the whole night.  I guess when you're incredibly tired and fatigued and at your wit's end, you'll try anything. 

They're also marketed for premie babies; it helps them feel protected and they can smell the scent of their mother, so if you ever have to leave your baby, use these to stay with them when you're not there.  I think it's a fabulous idea even if they do look like weirdo muppet hands.  We're going to use these as our babysitter (Just keeeding!)

Does anyone have any weird baby-soothing tips they'd like to pass along?