This is not unusual at all for a baby who had a tight frenulum.
Remember that he had the tight tongue for 9 mos+ before it was freed,
it might take a few weeks for him to learn to use it properly.
In the meantime, keep working on latching him on more deeply, especially
with the head slightly extended so the lower jaw contacts the breast
first.  Start with his lower lip about 1/2 inch before the base of the
nipple, so he has to open his mouth wide to reach over the top of the
nipple.  Then have mom pull him in fast by his shoulders and trunk, so
he gets a lot of breast over his tongue, and the nipple far back in his
mouth.  Mothers tend to use the "up and over" maneuver where they are
pulling the baby's lower lip up toward the base of the nipple as they
latch them on, this is particularly harmful with a tongue tied baby.
        I've written ad nauseum about excessive compression as compensation for
tongue instability (due to tongue tie, shallow latch, etc) on Lactnet,
search the archives if you want more.
        Good luck, this mom will probably need a lot of moral support.  You
might want to encourage her to express milk for the feeds that she can't
bear to do at breast, while reinforcing the idea that the baby should
"get it" soon.  I've seen zillions of cases with this same scenario, and
if mom can hang in there, and I keep reinforcing correct positioning and
latch, they seem to be pain free in a few weeks after frenotomy.
--
Catherine Watson Genna, IBCLC  New York City  mailto:[log in to unmask]

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