Sarah’s Day has confirmed she booked her newborn son Harlow in for a controversial surgery, one 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 1.2million followers.
‘Thank you to everyone who checked in on me last night,’ she wrote in a caption over a short video of her family inside 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 in late October.
She already shares sons Fox, five, and Malakai, two, with Kurt, and the happy couple welcomed their newborn with an at-home labour which they documented in polaroid photographs.
Influencer Sarah’s Day has confirmed she booked her newborn son Harlow in for a controversial surgery, one month after his birth
Sarah gave birth to her third child, baby Harlow, with her husband Kurt Tilse in late October
The lifestyle Youtuber, who is religious, said she is praying to God for her son during the surgery, which she rushed him to on Thursday afternoon
Sarah wrote that she had booked her baby Harlow in for a controversial lip/tongue tie surgery in three weeks’ time.
‘But miraculously, the surgeon contacted me and said that if we could get there within two hours then 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 per cent of babies and is a condition that can run in families. It is more commonly found in boys.
In young babies it can impact their latch and ability to suck when breastfeeding, which may lead to low weight gain, according to Queensland Health.
A GP can suggest a frenotomy, a surgical procedure where the lingual frenulum under the tongue — the tie — is released, so that the tongue can move more easily.
‘Please pray for god’s hand over this entire situation and this is the answer to this really challenging time and Harlow’s suffering,’ Sarah continued in her emotional caption.
‘Things are getting worse and none of us are coping very well.’
The mother-of-three, pictured giving birth to Harlow, posted to Instagram at 2.39am on Thursday saying she is at ‘breaking point’ because of her newborn son’s bad sleep
Tongue-ties occur in about three per cent of babies and is a condition that can run in families. It is more commonly found in boys. Pictured: Sarah Day’s newborn
She already shares sons Fox, five, and Malakai, two, with Kurt, and the happy couple welcomed their newborn with an at-home labour which they documented in film photographs
In a post made on Wednesday night, Sarah confirmed that she’d taken her baby Harlow to see an osteopath, recommended by her sister, who had confirmed that he has lip and tongue ties.
‘She believes this is the cause of his severe reflux, unsettled temperament, and bad sleep,’ she wrote on her Stories.
The influencer said she was ‘crying just thinking about’ the four-hourly stretches the osteopath said will need to be done on Harlow’s wounds post-operation.
‘I feel so overwhelmed and anxious with what to do,’ she wrote.
In a follow-up post made at 2.39am on Thursday morning, she said she’d been up since 11.40pm with her baby and that ‘Mummy is at breaking point.’
The mother-of-three confirmed in her post that she’d relied on her fans’ comments and messages to ultimately make her decision to go ahead with the surgery.
‘Thank you so much for all of your comments and positive experiences with all of your bubs’ lip and tongue tie releases,’ she wrote.
‘I think I’ll go ahead with the lip-tongue tie release procedure I booked for in three weeks’ time. I’m at 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 enjoyable right now and makes me so sad I am wishing his newborn life away.’
In 2020, the Australian College of Midwives, the Australian Dental Association and 12 other medical associations made a joint statement urging families to seek professional advice to ‘ensure a restricted frenum is actually causing a baby’s problems’.
That’s because of a sharp increase in the rate of claims for Medicare frenotomy items, which doctors and researchers say has outstripped the two to 10 per cent of the population affected by the issue.
According to Medicare data, there were nearly 53,000 frenectomies in Australia from 2006 to 2016, with the rate rising from 1.22 per 1000 to 6.35 per 1000 children in that decade. The real number is likely higher because these figures don’t include procedures in public hospitals or those by dentists.
Douglas, who contributed to researching the increase in claims, believes there are ‘serious problems with overdiagnosis and overtreatment’ of tongue-ties in Australia.