I doubt the labial frenulum is the only issue, especially if you are
already getting a nice asymmetrical latch with head extension, which
keeps the lip angled off the breast anyway.

Chewing is more often a compensation for low tone tongue, tied tongue,
or short jaw.  Babies are good at figuring out what gets them the most
milk, and often do come up with new tricks.

One thing that sometimes work for chewing babies is a pacifier tug of
war to increase tongue grooving, to help them stabilize the breast in
their mouths.  Mom might also take a day or two and fingerfeed the baby
expressed milk, delivering milk when the tongue at least tries to move
in a peristaltic wave..

It's also possible that this baby is compressing and making the latch
shallow to reduce milk flow.  If this is due to poor bolus handling,
improving tongue grooving might help there too.

Good luck, this is a tough situation.

--
Catherine Watson Genna, IBCLC  New York City  mailto:[log in to unmask]

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