Lyla,
When you mention gum line asymmetry, do you mean that the baby has a
maxillary alveolar overjet?  (Also called an overbite, where the lower
gum ridge is shorter than the upper, sometimes so much so that the baby
can totally enclose the lower gums within the upper).  This is a sign of
micrognathia, or abnormally short mandible, which decreases the baby's
mechanical advantage in sucking.

If the baby is micrognathic, a more extreme asymmetrical latch with head
extension will help, IF the baby has good tongue function.  It sounds
like your baby has poor tongue function.  Fingerfeeding for a few more
days, some tug of war games with a gel filled cyllindrical pacifier to
strengthen the tongue, and perhaps evaluation by a speech or
occupational therapist familiar with breastfeeding could be helpful.

I would give up on trying to flange the lips, neutral is usually enough
(as long as the lips are not curled into the baby's mouth, mom is
usually comfortable enough.)

Some babies with tongue tie also have other malformations that can
impact feeding.  If this is a triple whammy mouth baby (tongue tie,
short labial frena, and micrognathia), it can be difficult for mom to
feed him.  I saw a little girl last week with the triple whammy mouth
(not a scientific term, just tongue in cheek) who was a month old and
just 2 ounces over her birthweight.  Her mom was in to relactate, so
this poor feeding was happening with formula in bottles.  The
pediatrician was not concerned that it took this little lady 1.5 hours
to drink her bottle.  Sigh.

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html