Autism and induction

[monkeybug]

I saw a story about this on GMA earlier in the week. What do you think about it? I've actually had a patient refuse pit years ago because she said that she truly believed it had to contribute to autism. The rise in elective inductions has seemed to mirror the rise in autism. What say you?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/emilywillingham/2013/08/14/autism-risk-and-labor-induction-follow-the-money-instead/

[TexRN, BSN, RN]

It also mirrors the increase in vaccinations. It could be a lot of things, labor augmentation, vaccines, mother's diet and genetics, GMO foods, formula instead of breastfeeding. I think people are grabbing at straws trying to find something to blame instead of living an honest healthy lifestyle. I know plenty of moms who had natural drug free births, breastfed, are organic and didn't vaccinate and their kid still ended up with autism. Who knows. The less risks you take in pregnancy, birth and childcare I would think the less your chances are of having a child with autism. That's my oppinion.

[NicuGal, MSN, RN]

I think there is something that triggers a gene for autism, whether it be certain meds or something environmental.

[IamSusan]

I think it's all correlation not causation and that it's terrible that some mother somewhere will refuse and indicated induction and really put her baby in harm's way... ( read what they have to say at Science Based Medicine )....

Also read this about maternity clothes causing pregnancy!

Scientists find maternity clothes cause pregnancy | The Skeptical OB

[jazzyjulz]

I can tell you from personal experience that with my older son (I was 20) I gained a bunch of weight (70 pounds), didn't exercise, drank a bunch of caffeine, had a cocktail (before I knew I was pregnant), ate a bunch of fast food, was 2 weeks overdue and induced, ended up with a c-section, and then bottle fed my baby (that was 17 years ago and I was young and immature). My older son is Mensa smart, and is popular with teens and adults. However, 10 years later when I was 30, I decided to go a more natural route: I exercised (even with a trainer), ate more consciously, had no alcohol, completely avoided caffeine, got massages, hardly ate any fast food, didn't gain as much weight, went into labor 3 days early on my own, dilated all on my own to 10, did have an epidural, and unfortunately my epidural slipped out and I gave up so I ended up with a c-section, and I breast fed my kid for a year--and he has high functioning Autism with ADHD like symptoms. As a side note, both boys have had all of their vaccines.

Now that I know a little about about Autism, I think there is a familial link with other outside factors. I have been secretly assessing people (in my head, of course) and found that I think some family members of mine are on the spectrum. :)

[chrisrn24]

I think it's definitely somewhat familial. Me, my cousin and another cousin all had autism like behaviors/symptoms growing up. I didn't speak more than two words until I was about four, barely interacted with other children. I, and my cousins, grew out of it. Now I went to college for four years graduated magna cum laude and now work as a nurse. My cousins also are now doing well.

[jenbarrett]

I have two friends, each with a set of twins. One fraternal the other identical. My friend with the identical boys, both are severely autistic. My other friend, one boy is gifted and talented, the other severely autistic and died from seizure complications at 19 years old. One could argue that in both cases the fetuses were exposed to the same environment in utero. Fraternal twins:one is born with it, the other isn't. Different genes? The identical, both are born with it... exposed to same uterine experience and genes. It would be interesting to follow twin cases to see if connections can be found that could lead researchers down the right path.