Hyperemesis and autism - neurodevelopment delays

[RubyNZ]

Hey there,

I am 23 weeks and have been suffering from HG. I recently read a statistic that kinda freaked me out saying 8 percent of HG mums will have a baby with Autism. That seemed quite high?

I know a few people who have had HG and none of their kids are autistic (nothing wrong with that, just wanting to prepare for my chances) and am wondering if anyone else can share their experiences - were most of your HG babies nuerotypical?

Thank you!

There are so many theories about what causes autism, C sections, being a twin, being premature are common ones. Autism is also a spectrum & children can be anything from hardly affected to being unable to care for themselves. Concentrate on managing your hg & try not to worry.

Absolute rubbish.
I don't know what the criteria is for sickness to be HG rather than morning sickness but this are my vital statistics as it were:

Pregnancy #1 - no sickness, miscarriage at 12 weeks
Pregnancy #2 - vomiting 20 times a day until 20 weeks, lost 3 stone, dc has autism
Pregnancy #3 - vomiting 5 times a day until 30 weeks, dc has autism
Pregnancy #4 - vomiting 5-10 times a day until waters broke, dc is neurotypical
Pregnancy #5 - vomiting 5-10 times a day until miscarriage at 13 weeks
Pregnancy #6 - vomiting 5-10 times a day until waters broke, dc has learning difficulties
Pregnancy #7 - vomiting 5-10 times a day until baby born, dc has autism.

3 of my dc have autism. I don't know the definite cause but it's probably because their dad has autism.

Hi Ruby, my dd was recently diagnosed with autism, the consultant psychologist who diagnosed her said that autism is genetic and there is a lot of research being done around this. Rest assured and enjoy your pregnancy.

@Nat6999 thanks for your response, you’re right I’m sure it’s very complex, that’s why I was so surprised and how firm they were with their finding. But yeah thanks for the reminder.

@elliejjtiny my gosh it sounds like you have had a rough ride with your pregnancies - I can’t even imagine going through this again let alone that many times! You must be a strong woman.

@markingplace thanks for this, I’m sure it’s very complicated right and is nearly impossible to point a finger at one thing, if that! Thanks for your response.

I had hypermesis with dd and was really ill.

I also had the problem of her attempting to come at 28 weeks which meant steroids and drips to stop labour. It worked and she was born at 38 weeks

She’s 8 now and has no autism worries.

I was only sick 3 times in my pregnancy, ds is autistic, I was diagnosed with Autism age 53. I'm convinced my mum is autistic, she has so many traits (rigid routines, very inflexible in her thoughts, everything is black/white no grey areas)

I didn’t have HG personally, but didn’t the Duchess of Cambridge have HG with all three of her pregnancies? And all of their children seem neurotypical.

Sounds like something to do with vitamin deficiency, as with HG you can't take it as many nutrients - I'd look up what vitamins are important and just try and get everything in.

Do you have the link to the evidence /research? It might be really crappy science.

Had hyperemesis 3 times, had csections 3 times also, none of my children are on the autistic spectrum.
SIL had no sickness and 2 very normal pregnancies both born naturally both are on the Autistic Spectrum, there is a lot of misinformation about why people may have Autism IMO it's just a genetic development that can happen or not, there's no reasoning as to why but with research being conducted far and wide maybe one day the field as to what the neurological development is that can create autism will be narrowed.

I only had HG in my last of 3 pregnancies.. DS2 is NT

DS1 has autism. No HG in that pregnancy.

I wouldn’t worry about this.

Mine are both NT. My mum had 6 with hg and all Nt. Her mum had either 6 with hg and 2 without or the other way around and none autistic. I think that suggestion is rubbish.

I had HG, DS is neurotypical.

Is this the study? www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/10/191003092046.htm

It looks like reasonably large study but it's only based on association/correlation - so they can't say HG has caused the ASD. Importantly the type of treatment made no difference so it isn't an effect of the meds used in HG; they say it's the effect of HG on nutrition.

BUT it's only increased the rate from 1.71 per 1000 to 2.87.

In other words, that is a 0.3 percent chance of having a child with ASD if you have HG - absolutely tiny! It's the sort of thing one might think about when doing an assessment for ASD with a child (Hmmm... I wonder if mum had HG...) but as others have said ASD is a neurogenetic condition that you can't do anything to cause or prevent.

So I really wouldn't worry - just get the HG treatment you need and look after yourself.

Hey everyone thank you for your responses!

@MissChanandlerBong90 yes you are absolutely correct!

@georgarina thank you, thats good and proactive advice

@bigbeatmanifesto yeah I agree with you, it seems very complex. I think this article just freaked me a little without me really thinking about the complexity of it all.

@L1ttleb1t no not that study, its this one (attatched to the webpage)

Perhaps you can help me make more sense of it? They discuss it here on the HER foundation website

www.hyperemesis.org/news/world-autism-awareness-day/

I suppose again its that correlation rather than causation right? Which are two different things.

Would appreciate your thoughts

Never had HG. Have 5 children atm with another due, 5 girls & 1 boy. The girls are all NT.
The boy had a slow labour, 6 days from being 1cm to birth and meconium in waters. Currently on the waiting list for ASD assessment, he's very intelligent but shows many autistic traits.

Of course the 5th girl we'll see in time, only 30wk atm

Hg in pregnancy 1, dc autistic. Didn't take the medicines because I was scared by them. Vomited several times a day for 7.5 months then premature Labour.

Three mc

Even worse hg in last pregnancy along with gestational diabetes. Took every medicine going - 7 or 8 different anti emetics over the course of the pregnancy. Vomited several times a day until induced. Dc neurotypical.

Asd in my family - imo asd is genetic variation in brain structure, not due to hg.

@RubyNZ

Hey everyone thank you for your responses!

@MissChanandlerBong90 yes you are absolutely correct!

@georgarina thank you, thats good and proactive advice

@bigbeatmanifesto yeah I agree with you, it seems very complex. I think this article just freaked me a little without me really thinking about the complexity of it all.

@L1ttleb1t no not that study, its this one (attatched to the webpage)

Perhaps you can help me make more sense of it? They discuss it here on the HER foundation website

www.hyperemesis.org/news/world-autism-awareness-day/

I suppose again its that correlation rather than causation right? Which are two different things.

Would appreciate your thoughts

Hi

Ah yes - okay - well imho that's a pretty small, badly designed research study. It is a tiny sample, has a lot of potential for response bias, and the ASD rate is suspiciously high compared to other studies - like the one I found.

To give you an idea, the study I found examined 470,000 children - this study examines only 360.... and the parents themselves said whether there was a diagnosis or not, which is a method that is notoriously likely to give a lot of false positives (parent's saying they have when it's not actually diagnosed formally - which happens for all sorts of reasons).

This study recruited through a website for people seeking support for hyperemesis - I wonder if this means they recruited a particularly sick/affected HG subgroup? Also those whose children were affected may be more likely to participate as it would be of interest to them naturally.

Anyway, massive pinch of salt with this I think! Great of them to raise awareness but.... don't lose sleep over it :)

@L1ttleb1t

Thanks so much for your response - all of your points totally valid. I appreciate you taking the time to read it and respond. Have a lovely evening!