Terrified I’ve harmed baby through stress after doing some reading

[Brokenpiecs]

psychcentral.com/autism/maternal-mental-health-linked-to-autism#mental-health-during-pregnancy

I have been horrendously stressed since day one and I’m not 5.5. I am tearing myself to pieces over this. Has anyone been horribly stressed in pregnancy or know anything about this link?

My sister was six weeks pregnant when our mum died....and my niece is a healthy 7 year old with no issues. honestly everything has a link to autism. don't stress and stop reading

This is another link

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6369590/

You need to step away from google. Are there ways to help relieve your stress? Talk to your midwife

@toomuchlaundry yes I am speaking with the mental Heath team. Just so worried about wha harm I’ve caused

according to the article around 83% of autism is heriditary. so the chances of just stress affecting it is very very low. please stop driving yourself mad

Hmmm my mum died when l was 28 weeks pregnant and Dd 15 is waiting for an ASD assessment.

Having said that, she’s bright, lovely and engaging. Lots of friends, but has the sensory issues and anxiety. What I’m saying is either way it doesn’t have to be the end of the world.

You don't have to tell us OP but what kind of stress are we talking about? Because of the studies I was aware of they mean war, deep loss, stress of possibly not having any food to eat..... and even then it mainly translated to slightly lowered IQ levels 🤷🏻‍♀️

Women have healthy babies in war zones. Reading about stress will just make you more stressed. Make sure you get mental health support and look into pregnancy yoga and meditation to try to help you relax.

Exactly. So if the reports were true every baby born in the early 40s in the UK would be autistic!

Think how many pregnant mums all over the world experience stress for so many reasons: war, grief, abuse, poverty, relationship breakdown..
Think how many babies would be affected if this were true.
Your baby will be absolutely fine. Stress can be unavoidable for lots of pregnant mums unfortunately. It's horrible for the mum and if you are able to change your circumstances to reduce it, then do but please don't worry that your baby will have been affected.
I was under immense stress during one of my pregnancies and my DC is wonderful, we have an amazing, close bond. Babies need loving, nurturing mums which I am sure you will be. Please don't worry!

There is a lot of time for things to change. Don’t get more stressed thinking about the stress you’ve been under previously. Focus on planning in some things the help regulate and calm you.

All a person's traits have an environmental aspect to them, that's basic genetics.

If you read through the studies you've posted properly, they relate to women in their late 2nd and 3rd trimester. Your little baby only has a couple of blood vessels and a central tube - it's not anywhere near developed enough to be harmed by stress!

I’m not worried about your baby, but I am a little worried about you if this is the type of thing you are googling and worrying about. I’m a worrier too so I can recognise your thought patterns as problematic! You’ll have to work hard to change this way of thinking.

Without getting too deeply into it, while those studies are interesting, there’s nothing very conclusive about this link with stress at an individual level. Some very very obvious confounders don’t even seem to be mentioned in a couple of the studies which I am therefore taking with a massive pinch of salt.

The original article you linked to on PsychCentral may have been “medically reviewed” and have a lot tick marks next to their references, but it’s not a good information source. It is not only misleading but I can readily identify at least 2 factual errors in it. It’s quite trashy! It’s there for clicks, not to help you.

I’d recommend the book “Expecting Better” to look at various risks in pregnancy in a very calm, scientific and rational way.

I know so many women who have lived through extremely stressful situations during pregnancy and their children are fine. You will do yourself far more harm than the baby- please take up any offer of help that you can and follow the advice the mental health team give you. Number 1 I’m sure will be to stop googling. There will be studies proving anything if you type in the right search criteria, for example if you type in ‘miscarriage’ and then any food item some crack somewhere will have done a study proving a link. Don’t Google, just use advice from doctors, midwives and pregnancy books.

Just to add; myself and my husband both have autism, we accept the genetic link means our child will likely have autism too. It’s not a concern for me, it was a consideration when we decided to start trying but we made the decision that was right for us. Autism isn’t a death sentence and really isn’t as to be feared as people make out. Most people myself and my husband talk to have no idea we are autistic, the spectrum is very wide ranging.

As the autistic mother of an autistic teenager I'm quite offended by your post. Autism isn't the end of the world.

Aside from that, I think it's very unlikely that stress causes autism in most cases.

I note that the first link requires me to consent to handing over data for access to research info.

Step away from google and the 50 million books telling you the many ways that anything and everything that happens to your child is your fault.

When I was pregnant the first time there were still papers like this doing the rounds which claimed that stress in pregnancy caused homosexuality (but only in men apparently!).

Even that paper says there are lots of factors involved and fails to give a consistent view of what is classified as "stress", overall the picture is simply not clear one way or the other.
The level of policing on pregnant women and blaming them for everything that happens to their child seems to get worse, not better. Try to step away from it all and just enjoy the prospect of your new baby.

ideally try and relax but as pp have said, women have babies in terrible circumstances.. your baby will be fine. Do address your anxiety though and stop googling! I found guided meditations by Louise daniels really good during my pregnancy! Have a look on Spotify for ‘Louise Daniels hypnobirthing’ xoxox

My oldest friend was 4 weeks pregnant when she found out her husband was cheating and he kicked her out, to move the OW in. She moved back in with her Mum, at 6 weeks pregnant, her Mum died in her sleep. She found the body, did CPR etc, she didn't make it. At 9 weeks pregnant, the council demanded the house that was her Mum's back. She ended up homeless, with no money etc. She now has a 3 year old, and is doing exceptionally well. It's just a risk factor, it doesn't mean for sure something will happen to you. Please try to relax, easier said than done I know