Factors During Pregnancy Linked with Autism
In a comprehensive meta-analysis study, published in 2009 in the British Journal of Psychiatry, the authors of the study were investigating if there were factors during pregnancy which lead to an increased risk of autism. They investigated over 50 prenatal factors. They found that:
“The factors associated with autism risk in the meta-analysis were advanced parental age at birth, maternal prenatal medication use, bleeding, gestational diabetes, being first born v. third or later, and having a mother born abroad. The factors with the strongest evidence against a role in autism risk included previous fetal loss and maternal hypertension, proteinuria, pre-eclampsia and swelling.”
In the study they concluded there is insufficient evidence to prove there is one specific pregnancy factor linked to a higher risk of autism, but that exposure to complications may indeed increase the risk.
My question this week is:
If you have a child with autism, did you experience any of these complications during pregnancy?
OR
If you work with families of people with autism, have you seen evidence to suggest this may have been a factor for some of the people with whom you work?
Please share your story here. My goal in asking this question is to collect some anecdotal information from the Autism Community to better understand the prevalence of pregnancy complications and their link to autism risk. Thank you in advance for sharing your story.
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advanced parental age at birth – I was 24 at time of Jess’ birth
maternal prenatal medication use – Orifer F prenatal vitamin supplement only
bleeding – did experience some in 6 month but stopped after a couple of days
gestational diabetes – did not experience this
being first born v. third or later – Jess was the first live birth
having a mother born abroad – not applicable
previous fetal loss – miscarried first pregnancy at 3 months
maternal hypertension, proteinuria, pre-eclampsia and swelling.- did not experience this
I am blogging the story of Jess and I at the above website. Jess is now 28 years old.
I was 29 when Mason was born, he was my third child and my husbands first child, I took a mild form of anti depressants during my pregnancy for peripartum depression, I had hypertension throughout my entire pregnancy same as all my others. I also had a post implantation bleed so I was not aware of my pregnancy as early as I should have, he is 6 1/2 and I knew that he was different pretty early on…not sleeping or eating the same as a “normal” baby as early as 2 months and it became more prevalant as he got older to the point where we thought he had been born deaf. HTH
i was 30 when i had halie had problems during pregancy had gestaional diebetes she was my first child had min amount of bleeding she did not move much had a small cord had alot of stress test blood pressure up only during the last couple of days before i had her she was not normal she did not want to eat had issues when she did eat lost alot of weight the first couple of months and failer th thrive the first year
I had post partum womb infection/endometritis. I also used the medictaion lamotrigine for epilepsy during my pregnancy. My baby boy was full term but was a poor feeder and jittery for a couple of weeks after birth. I took high dose folic acid and prenatal vitamins during pregnancy. My baby was milk protein intolerant, placed back on cows milk at 1 year but removed it from his diet when he was two. He has aspergers.