Sarah’s Day has confirmed she has booked her newborn son Harlow for a controversial operation just a month after his birth.
The lifestyle YouTuber, 32, whose real name is Sarah Stevenson, took to Instagram on Thursday to share the news with her 1.2 million followers.
“Thank you to everyone who checked in with me last night,” she wrote in a caption on a short video of her family in their car.
“Last night was one of our worst nights with almost zero sleep.”
Sarah gave birth to her third child with her husband Kurt Tilse at the end of October.
She already shares sons Fox, five, and Malakai, two, with Kurt, and the happy couple welcomed their newborn with an at-home birth that they documented in Polaroid photos.
Influencer Sarah’s Day has confirmed she has booked her newborn son Harlow for controversial surgery just a month after his birth
Sarah gave birth to her third child, baby Harlow, with her husband Kurt Tilse at the end of October
The lifestyle Youtuber, who is religious, said she prays to God for her son during the surgery, where she took him on Thursday afternoon
Sarah wrote that she booked her baby Harlow in for controversial lip/tongue-tying surgery in three weeks.
“But miraculously, the surgeon contacted me and said if we could get there in two hours, he could do it this afternoon.”
A tongue tie is when the tissue under the tongue restricts its movements and functions.
Tongue ties occur in about three percent of babies and are a condition that can run in families. It is more common in boys.
In young babies, it can affect their latch and sucking ability during breastfeeding, which can lead to poor weight gain, according to Queensland Health.
A GP may suggest a frenotomy, a surgical procedure in which the lingual frenulum under the tongue – the tie – is released, so that the tongue can move more easily.
“Please pray for God’s hand on this entire situation and this is the answer to this truly challenging time and Harlow’s suffering,” Sarah continued in her emotional caption.
“It’s getting worse and none of us are coping well with it.”
The mother of three, pictured giving birth to Harlow, posted to Instagram at 2.39am on Thursday saying she is at a ‘breaking point’ due to her newborn son’s poor sleep
Tongue ties occur in about three percent of babies and are a condition that can run in families. It is more common in boys. Pictured: Sarah Day’s newborn baby
She already shares sons Fox, five, and Malakai, two, with Kurt, and the happy couple welcomed their newborn with an at-home birth that they documented in film photos.
In a post made on Wednesday evening, Sarah confirmed she had taken her baby Harlow to an osteopath recommended by her sister, who confirmed he has lip and tongue ties.
“She believes this is the cause of his severe reflux, restless temperament and poor sleep,” she wrote in her Stories.
The influencer said she was “crying just thinking about” the four-hour stretches the osteopath said should be done on Harlow’s wounds after surgery.
“I feel so overwhelmed and anxious about what to do,” she wrote.
In a follow-up message posted at 2:39 a.m. Thursday morning, she said she had been up with her baby since 11:40 p.m. and that “mommy is at a breaking point.”
The mother of three confirmed in her post that she relied on her fans’ comments and messages to ultimately make her decision to go ahead with the surgery.
“Thank you so much for all your comments and positive experiences with all your bubs’ lip and tongue tie releases,” she wrote.
‘I think in three weeks I’ll be going ahead with the lip-tongue tie loosening procedure I booked for. I’m at a breaking point and need solutions now. ‘
GPs and researchers believe there is a ‘serious problem’
In a bizarre conclusion, she wrote: “Gosh this is not fun right now and it makes me so sad that I wish his newborn life away.”
In 2020, the Australian College of Midwives, the Australian Dental Association and twelve other medical associations issued a joint statement urging families to seek professional advice to “ensure that a restricted frenum is actually causing a baby’s problems ‘.
That’s due to a sharp increase in claims for Medicare frenotomy supplies, which doctors and researchers say have surpassed the two to 10 percent of the population affected by the problem.
According to Medicare data, there were almost 53,000 frenectomies in Australia between 2006 and 2016, with the rate rising from 1.22 per 1000 to 6.35 per 1000 children in that decade. The actual number is likely higher because these figures do not take into account procedures in public hospitals or those performed by dentists.
Douglas, who contributed to the investigation into the increase in claims, believes there are “serious problems with overdiagnosis and overtreatment” of tongue ties in Australia.