Our little girl has been stressed out a lot. Most of the time she feeds (slowly) or cries (loudly). While we can still comfort her, it was clear that she was pretty stressed out about something.
A couple of visits to a pediatrician and a speech therapist gave the answer: she has a lot of stress on the cheeks and tongue due to her shorter tongue tie and lip ties. The solution: a high powered laser operated by someone more experienced than me.
We prepared for a lot of crying after the operation, but to our surprise this actually went pretty well. The general fussiness stayed there for about two days though. We got her some painkillers, which you administer by using some large syringe. Operating this highly complex device takes some training, but the effect was worth it for us. It’s just that giving painkillers to a very fussy baby is about as enjoyable as wrestling alligators.
After this things started improving. Where eating took her about 30 to 40 minutes earlier, now she eats in about 15 minutes. This results in more sleep, and happy everybodies. So in the end this was well worth it.
There isn’t much of a lesson here to be honest. We got help from a diverse cast of people, starting with the midwife and lactation specialist. Most of this was free, so if there is a lesson, it’s to take the help you are offered. The first months are hard enough as it is already.