Fio, have you seen this baby in person? If no, would mom describe the 
chewing as more chomping with either a tight jaw (gum compression on the 
nipple) or too wide up and down jaw motions, or side to side jaw motions? 
From what I understand about normal vs. not normal mouth movements, chewing 
or chomping shows oral motor issues. Here I go again on this topic! The 
articles about craniosacral therapy, like on the BFAR web site, discuss 
chewing motions as being abnormal.

I have also seen babies learn to handle the overly fast MER by sliding down 
to the tip of the nipple and "chewing" or chomping. They also squirm their 
bodies or tense up their arms and throw them about (instead of starting to 
relax). I have seen them do it from the start and also start doing so later 
on in the feeding.

If this baby is using the chewing motions to get the MER going, it would be 
helpful to have someone assess his oral motor skills. Like a CST or an SLP. 
It may be that when baby is screaming hungry, the noise gets mom to let down 
immediately. You might ask if her MER time is quicker when he doesn't chew?

Kathy Eng, BSW, IBCLC 

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