I think I caused/made DCs autism worse

[DaintyHippos]

I think it's my fault DC has autism.
If Id worked less in pregnancy, or realised what the plug was when I lost it DC might not have been so premature.
If Id not had PND Id have been interacting better/more with DC, and bonding sooner would have made a difference too.

I didn't do any of those things and my dd still has autism! If I wanted to beat myself up I could add a few of my own though.

Seriously, it's not any thing you did.

I think it's human nature to blame ourselves, even when there is no scientific evidence we caused whatever it is we blame ourselves for.

My DS1 wasn't premature, he was textbook pregnancy and birth, born the day after his due date.

He also has autism.

He wasn't planned though, so I wasn't taking folic acid, or vitamins, and had a big night out on the red wine before I realised I was pregnant... I ate A LOT of salmon, sometimes for lunch and dinner... so wonder about the mercury levels, and if that was the cause. It probably wasn't, none of it, but until a definitive cause is found we will always just be left wondering.

Don't blame yourself, it's pointless and very unlikely you could have prevented your child being on the spectrum.

Xxx

Another adding it's not anything you did. It's the way the brain develops.

none of those things cause autism x

As others have said, not one of those things cause autism, you are not to blame in the slightest.

Like others have said, it's vanishingly unlikely you were to blame. We do feel like this, there's a genetic condition in my family for which the parents felt tremendously responsible and yet all three children were born before the gene had even been identified.

Be kind to yourself, seek some support if you feel you need it.