Ultrasound scan

[Laptopontable]

I had my 25 week midwife appt yesterday and was discussing with her my consultant appt and the fact that I'm having a couple of extra scans between now and term. I mentioned that I thought that all women should be offered a 32 week scan routinely as I've read it could reduce problems greatly. She quite forcefully disagreed with this (fair enough) but then went on to say that there is a link between ultrasound and autism?? I think she was a bit out of order to cite this link as there is nothing concrete and certainly nothing written about it in the UK. She's really worried me as by the end of this pregnancy I'll have had about 8 scans. Can anyone offer any insight?

I think it's an area that needs further research. If you are being scanned for medical reasons I wouldn't worry as they're suggesting you have these in your and baby's best interests. I agree with your Midwife though, I wouldn't want to be scanned routinely at a certain point without clear evidence or clinical justification.

I think that is rubbish. I live abroad and have had ultrasound scans a lot more regularly, in fact I had probably had at least 8 by 20 weeks. It is standard here and if there were any risks they would not be offering it. I have probably had 15-20 so far due to complications and am now full term.

I think your midwife was very unprofessional to say this to you. Like the PP, I looked it up and could find no convincing evidence of a link, and a couple of studies that concluded no link. If you do a Google search, have a look at the academic research results that are shown at the top. They're going to be more reliable than ultrasoundautism.com, or whatever one of the top links was called.

If a midwife said something like this to me, I'd ask for the study she was basing her opinion on.

Thank you for your advice and opinions. I too think she was unprofessional to say that to me.