Autistic Children born by Csection - any link?

[Claire2009]

Hi all, Haven't posted in a while as lots going on, my son (5) is autistic and has speech & language difficulties, today someone mentioned that as he was born 41+6 by section that was to play a big part in the autism, I have read about the 'myth' almost, regarding the section issue but I'd not heard of the after-term one. I was wondering, for those that have children with extra needs, were they born before/after-term, were they by section?
Thanks

In my case there's no pattern at all.

Neither of mine with ASD were born by c-section. One was a week late. One was over a week early.

I had one child born by c/s but they show no signs of ASD yet. My other child with no ASD was born a day after their due date.

Tbh, it is my belief that the birth process can be a contributing factor in triggering autism in a genetically predisposed baby, as can many environmental influences.

However, there are plenty of post-date c/s babies born that do not develop autism and I think if th link was that straightforward it would be very well known about now.

There are plenty of babies born vaginally that have autism also. I really think it is unlikely to be the whole story if even a part of it.

There is one theory (which I don't like personally) that babies with autism are unable to take part in the mother-baby interaction that is required for a smooth birth, meaning c/s more likely, as is going overdue.

Thanks for the replies.

I think I am just over analysing stuff (again) and wondering 'Why?'.

Ds was over due, not born by c section, difficult birth though, needed resussitating, horrible pregnancy took quite a lot of medication in first trimester and there is a family history of autism. I guess any of these factors could be the cause, but oddly I never really give it much thought. It is what it is I guess.

all mine children have been born by c-section - dd1 (nt) emergency, the rest electives & all by 38 weeks. I'm part of a little group of parents who HE their children who have ASD (convoluted sentence), there are 8 families involved & I'm the only one who has had a c-section (more homebirths).

I think if there were any clearcut causalities they'd have been established by now tbh.

Neither of mine were.

I've not had a c section, DS was born at 40 weeks exactly, DD at 41 +3, DD's the NT one.

But then I'd skew loads of studies, maternal obesity, I was much bigger when I had DD, advanced maternal age - I was 17 when I had DS, oxytocin - I had skin to skin straight after birth and bf DS, DD was taken away to be heated up and was never bf... What else is there? Oh parents with engineering degrees was one being researched wasn't it, fail on that too, lol.

DS was 'planned' section (by the hospital, not me) at 41+6, i was 23 preg with him, 24 when he was born, put on 4 stone during the preg (same with dd but lost it quickly after) he was born weighing 9lbs4oz, i was in recovery for 6hrs (reacted bad to the morphine) so didnt get any skin to skin for a while, he was bf for 4wks... also the older mum/dad thing i've read, his dad is a lot older than me..... oooh all these conspiracies, you're right, what will be will be....

Both mine were sections both born prem.One has ADHD and some AS traits. The other is waiting to be assessed for mild autism

Nope. Mine were both vaginal deliveries.

1st 10lb4oz, 2nd 10lb5oz. both induced about a week after their due date

• although I dispute my eldest's dates by about 2 weeks. I know when I conceived!

My children are autistic because ASD runs in my family. It's clearly genetic here.

Not in our case. Both children born naturally, Ds1 40 wks+3 NT 6lb 11oz, Ds2 40wks+4 ASD 7lb 12oz. No family link.

Twin ds's born 37 weeks, via planned cs.

ds1 ASD (5.12lb), ds2 NT (5.6lb).

DS was a vaginal birth on his due date. I'm an older mother but I've not bought into that theory!

Try to stop asking yourself "why" as it will dirve you mad - at the end of the day it will not change anything.

emcs ds1 NT 3.5 lbs
vbac ds2 ASD & LD 7.15lbs
elcs ds3 ASD 7.6 lbs

Nothing to do with the delivery method imo

both my girls were delivered by c section.

dd1 is severely ASD
dd2 walks a fine line between AS and NT - lots of traits, but very bright and quick on the uptake, so hard to tell how much she is masking/adapting, iyswim; only time will tell.

due dc3 in a few weeks, again by c section. time will tell there too.

plenty of broader (AS type) traits in my fmily though - my eldest brother and I are both borderline (at the very least), and my middle brother is a lot like dd1 (less of a language disorder though). my father clearly had a lot of traits too.

I think environmental factors played a huge part in the severity of dd1's ASD (part of why, imo, she has responded so well to biomedical interventions).

No link in my experience. DD straight forward pregnancy and vaginal birth and has ASD and other difficulties. DS straight forward pregnancy, elective c-section, no problems at all.

ds1 was 2 weeks late, vaginal birth, he has HFA

we suspect DS3 will also be diagnosed with asd of some form, he was a week over, born naturally too

I would have thought if anything birth trauma rather than surgery was more likely to trigger something - people do assume that the two are the same. you can have a traumatic natural birth and a wonderfully calm, straightforward elective CSec. Anyway I don't believe there's any link to autism, just another myth to entrap women in their own natural maternal guilt. Genetics yes, but there are so many permutations egg and sperm from one couple that it's perfectly statistically reasonable to have a mix of NT and ASD kids - the more kids a couple have, the bigger the pool to make guesses from. We should test Mormons!

DC1: NT, 38wks emergency Csec due to traumatic labour
DC2: AS, 39wks elective CSec
DC3: PDA, 39wks forceps labour

Agree with you silk. 3CS - all 'older mother' age 1 EMCS, 2 planned.
The ECMS was because DS1 was stuck.
Although Aspergers was queried initially, he has dyspraxia, SPD and I do believe that the length of time his skull was squished, not being able to move (established labour 71 hours) - played a significant part in this.

DS1 forceps delivery after 8 hours labour, 8lb 8oz, I was 32. He's NT but geeky.

DS2 natural birth after 4 hours labour, 8lb 6oz, I was 34. He has ASD DX.

DS3 natural home birth after 20 min labour (true, I was asleep until 20 mins before he was born) 8lb 6oz, I was 37. Quirky as anything, but officially NT.

No DXed autism in the family, but lots of eccentrics, geeks and oddballs!