To be worried that C section causes autism

[37weeks001]

Name change as I don’t want to out.

I am currently 33 weeks pregnant with second baby. My DD was born by emergency C section at 40 weeks weighing 5lbs but healthy. I have been diagnosed with IUGR as this baby is on 5th percentile. He is very active and moves around constantly so not worried about how the pregnancy is progressing and my instinct tells me he is physically ok.

However, throughout this pregnancy I have been so anxious that I could have a child with autism (history of males in family with autism), I also have anti natal depression.

I have am having regular scans because of IUGR. A consultant has today has told me that they want to schedule a c section at 37 weeks due to babies size. However last week another consultant told me that a c section before 39 weeks increases chances of autism/ADHD and learning difficulties.

The conflicting information has left me so confused. A part of me wants the c section at 37 weeks as I am getting a little fed up with the constant hospital appointments and becoming increasingly anxious with what I may be told and the other part of me thinks I should weight 39 weeks to lower risks?

WWYD?

I’d agree, there is nothing to suggest c sections cause autism. You need to look at why women have c sections and how this links to autism in children, that’s where the cause comes from. There are a number of factors that will cause a woman to have a c section, that are also linked to autism. This doesn’t mean the c section itself causes the autism.

Ultimately your baby needs to be delivered at the point which is safest for both uou and your child, waiting and increasing risk of other issues, known and proven issues, v avoiding one that’s not proven, and highly logically unlikely to ever be correct, is not sensible.

I am of the opinion (based on various scientific articles over the years) that predisposition to autism is genetic, and that myriad factors play a role in determining whether the child subsequently displays signs of autism. Early birth may play a role, but the link is uncertain.

If an early c section was advised due to baby's size, I'd follow that guidance. That is a definite issue right now, whilst the possibility of autism is still theoretical.

As an aside, most of my family meet criteria for an autism assessment at the very least (including DS2). We are all lovely well-rounded people, albeit with some quirks

I don’t think it’s the c section; from my understanding it’s the early birth that has the correlation with slightly increased risk of autism/ADHD. Did the consultant say how much it increased the risk by? I’d of thought it was very minimal. I would go by what they advise as in my experience they’ll keep a baby in until as late as possible unless there’s a risk to life

Surely the underlying reason for the c section is the reason rather than the c section itself.

@ReindeerAntlerLights

I had a very rushed c section with a baby in distress and failure to progress. My waters had broken 25 hours before the c section.

That child just had an interview with Cambridge university and definitely does not have autism. Child number 2 was a planned c section 10 days early. Again, no autism.

@ReindeerAntlerLights Having autism doesn't stop you from going to Cambridge. My former boss went to Oxford and has autism, she's an extremely clever woman. She's had to work on her social communication skills but it slipped occasionally. However, it didn't prevent her from succeeding in her field if anything it is the reason for her success. She is able to see things from another angle that us neuro-typical can't.

To put it into perspective I have 3 children with Autsim and none of them was born by CS.
I personally think that you have no control if your child will have a neurological condition and as mine probably genetic.

Did they mean there may be issues caused by the baby being born early, rather than the actual method of birth?

I had DS at 36/40 and was told by an obstetrician that being born a few weeks early can make a difference academically. Her words were “straight Cs rather than straight As.” In our case it’s not true anyway - DS is top of his class.

C-sections are not suggested unless the benefit outweighs the risk - particularly on the NHS. There is a slight correlation between autism and c-sections but as others have said it is more likely down to genetics and the underlying reason behind the c-section rather than the method of delivery. For many, many women having a c-section saved their lives and that of their babies. If your consultant is suggesting an early c-section it is because the baby is safer out of the womb.

I think it's really frustrating when an OP posts a concern such as this, raised by a medical professional, and shows a balanced understanding of the risks and many posters (having not researched themselves) utterly dismiss the OP's question out of hand with disbelief a professional would say this, or question whether they'd "just been on google". Peer reviewed articles are often easily accessed these days via google itself incidentally.

Although it's likely that a large component of later developing ASD is genetic, there's a growing body of evidence that environmental factors in utero and early life may sway the balance in some cases of whether a predisposition will lead to ASD. Some of the factors that are linked (and yes I agree that this may be correlation rather than causation, I suspect a mix of both) are shorter gestation and c section delivery. There are theories around the mode of action ie microbiota differences with c section deliveries, babies not having quite finished developing earlier in gestation. Equally there are correlative reasons where the risk is increased by a condition that necessitates early or c section delivery.

And of course most babies won't go on to develop ASD, it's just a possible increased. A consultant will need to balance the risk of the pregnancy continuing with early delivery. They are right to explain to the OP why they don't just go ahead and schedule a delivery anyhow as soon as the baby is viable.

@pylongazer

I would do your own research but I would personally wait anyways, it's only another 2 weeks and baby will be closer to when it should actually be born.

I’m sorry but that is potentially very bad advice when the baby has IUGR.

One of my twins had IUGR. I had an emergency c section at 35+1 because he had stopped moving.

He has multiple health issues / disabilities, and both twins are autistic. Without the emergency section when it happened, he would not be here.

I know many autistic children, born via c section and via vaginal birth. There’s really no evidence of anything in particular causing autism, having read a lot of research over the past few years I don’t believe cs is a factor but who knows for sure.

But if your consultant is telling you that delivering sooner is wise, I would listen. You could request induction instead.

Csection at 31+4. My baby started at university last September.

I've never heard of there being an increased risk of SEN with sections. I've had 3, my eldest was delivered at 39 weeks and has autism, my other two don't and were delivered earlier. There is family history on both sides for autism. It's difficult with varying degrees of the spectrum, some of my family are severely disabled and none verbal at 22, others thrive. I was the only to have sections.

In your specific case OP, I think the second consultant will have weighed these factors up and if they think 37 weeks is safest then I would absolutely go with that rather than delay for the possibility of a very small increased risk.

You could discuss this with the consultant if you are worried but at 37 weeks although there is a slight link you are much closer to term than you might be and there are risks associated with IUGR which are much more significant.

That said I still feel frustrated that previous posters can't recognise your point and engage with it.

I've never heard of a c section increasing the risk of autism

Haven’t read the whole thread so it might have been said already...

Having a child with autism is not the end of the world.

I hate the idea of my child reading such threads.

Your being ridiculous. That’s not even a thing!

@lucidnightmare

Csection at 31+4. My baby started at university last September.

Why do people think university must = no autism?

Many people with autism are highly intelligent and in fact their autism allows them to excel, rather than inhibits them. Really not a helpful road to go down.

Only anecdotal but I can tell you that my one c section child doesn't have autism but the two easy natural births I had both children have autism.

My take would be, would you rather an alive baby at 37 weeks, who may or may not have asd, csec or not, or potentially a stillborn baby at 40 weeks? That's the real choice here.

Fwiw, your dd is still at risk of asd if there's such a strong family history, just that it presents differently and girls are better at masking. If she had a diagnosis would it really change anything? She's still your daughter as would be the newborn...

I say all of this as a mother of a child on the asd spectrum and with a strong family history. At least 90% of the grandchildren (my nieces and nephews) are on the spectrum and I'd think in honesty the others are potentially too... But they're all in mainstream, top bands, top grades etc.

37 weeks is full term.

Asd often comes hand in hand with things like hypermobility and dyspraxia, so it could be that babies with ASD are less able to cope with birth, thus needing a section to get them out. It's not likely that the section itself is the cause of ASD but a result of what is there already.

Autism is a massive spectrum though and whilst it won't stop some people going to university , for many people with autism they will also have severe learning disabilities ,there is an awful lot of ignorance on here about autism ,.It's a spectrum some people are massively impacted by it others see it as a difference.

It won’t be the c section itself that could affect any correlation but underlying factors that could lead to a requirement for an early birth. I would do what recommended for the safety of your baby

Well I have 2 dc’s with ASD, their older siblings also have ASD and 2 of the siblings children, none were born by c section, I’m pretty sure they were autistic before they were born 🤔. I have read so much rubbish about links to ASD, many which have caused me to blame myself and things I did during pregnancy, the truth is most of these statistics are just rubbish, of course some babies born by c section will be diagnosed with ASD, that’s because a lot of babies are born by c section and a lot of children now get ASD diagnosis. ASD is mainly a genetic condition, for me it’s obvious that’s dh (now ex) has many people with ASD in his family which is why 4 of his 5 dc have it.

And BTW my babies were born full term, I had normal pregnancies.