Hi, Im Pregnant and I need some advice about Autism and Folic Acid.....

[Tinybump]

Hello
I already have a son with Autism and Ive found out Im expecting again!

I havent taken Folic Acid yet but I realise I need to.
Im just scared of having another child with Autism and I wish I knew of any ways to prevent this.

I dont know what I should or should not be doing. I would really appreatiate if anyone has any advice of anything they did differently when they were in my situation.

Just bumping

I did take folic acid with all my children from the time i know i was and would recommand it for vital growth.However i have five children one of my sons,ds1 is adhd and ds2 is asd/adhd so folic acid didnt prevent that happening. I belive its genetic tbh. There are four asd children within the family.

I avoided thimerosal, vaccinations, gluten (for the first 2 years definitely longer with my little one), antibiotics unless life of death, cows milk with my youngest.

None of those were definite no-no's for ever they were just avoided where possible.

DS2 and ds3 are fine. DS1 who had everything is severely autistic.

I deppends on your family history. In our case there is no autism in either family, there are stacks of autoimmune conditions, so we took a biomedical approach. What is the 'right' approach for us might be the 'wrong' approach for you. All you can do is read lots, and try and pick out the bits that seem to apply to your family.

Thank you magic5 and yurt1 for the replies.
They have been very helpful.

There are no other cases of Autism in our families that we know of.

I have been thinking about Breastfeeding but in case Im not able to, I was thing about feeding the baby Sma Wysoy or LF.

Yurt1 was there anything different you ate, drank didnt do when you were pregnant with ds2 and ds3 that you didnt do with ds1?

Sorry for all the questions but I really do appreatite this and I know there is no full proof way of stopping Autism but I do want to try do things differently as I didnt know anything about this before I had my ds.

Hiya- I ahve 3 boys and am pg, ds1 has HFA, ds2 NT, ds3 has severe communicatins disorders and probable DX of ASD (this si about our 15th probable dx though LOL) and is currently being assessed. So I kinda suspect that being PG I have some idea of how you are feeling.

I'm also doing a gluten free thng when baby is born, if baby cant have Brest milk ( eldest couldnt for medical reasons) then he will have dairy free milk as well, as both seem to affect my boys.

Sadly though I am not sure there's much else anyone can do except hope. We're ebing followed by a research team in Lonodn to monitor Babys development but even that is just a watch see and maybe thing.

(BTW of those formulae, go for the wysoy- ASD is theoretically linked to casen not Lactose; ds's intolerant of casein and the LF doesn't help a bit)

Hi Tinybump- I was careful about omegas- because although they're good for autism, mercury laden fish oil isn't (so I checked my sources carefully). However I'm Rh- and so the anti-D was probably worse anyway.

DS1 was on wysoy for a bit and had some problems with it, he's not good on soya (this was post a year old). For ds3 I used nanny (which may not be available now). It has a different form of casein - which may not be implicated in autism (google A1 and A2 milk) and is digested more easily. Paul Shattock suggested i when I said I wasn't keen on soya. All the boys are on standard goats milk now and seem fine with it.

Hi yurt1 and peachy. Thankyou for the replies.

Congratulations Peachy and I hope everything goes ok for your little one.

Its the not knowing thats worrying me.

I do feel a bit scared, its not a nice feeling this way as it takes away a bit of the excitement of having a baby.

Thank you again for the advice and hopefully this time around things are different.

Congratulations on your pregnancy peachy and tinybump!

I had switched my son to soya (milk not formula) but was concerned after reading that many people that do GFCF also do Soy free for the same reason as its supposed to have a similar opioid affect. Now will try going Soy free as well. Also dietician said children shouldn't be on soy but didn't go into why.

I have no idea what Id give for formula for my next child (not expecting by the way just thinking ahead) as I had trouble Breast feeding my Ds and Id want them to be GFCF and possibly SF too. I dont think there is such a formula. Sorry for crashing your thread tinybump.

There was a study some time ago that showed Soy can cause early puberty! When I had DD and was NOT going to breastfeed due to my crap immune system, the Specialist and his team all seemed to be up on the issue of Soy having some problems. So I would say, don't breastfeed if you yourself have any sign of autoimmune problems or if there is a history in the family. If you bottle feed don't choose soy. We have lots of autism in our family and I took folic acid, much good it did us! But I also have autoimmune problems (Scleroderma). Who knows???? All you can do is get info and be careful. Good luck and congratulations.

Thanks for the messages staryeyed and Davros

TBH its hard to know what is the right thing to do.
Today i bought Santogen Pronatal tablets as i hadnt been taking any vitamins or folic acid.
Im now worrying about taking them too. I think Im just going to be worried for the next couple of years the way things are going.

I was going to say - try not to worry! - but its not that simple. Seriously though, be careful but try to relax and enjoy your pregnancy if you can....

DS1 is also reactive to goats milk (as am I0 so back then soya was the only option- there is of course nutramigen now but you'd have to get that on rpescription I believe. I ahve alsor ead about soy affecting hormone levels. However as ds1 wouldnt haev survived on dairy (he was losing weight so rapidly) I am grateful for the soy formula LOL! It HAS to be formula up to 3 for kids, as soy milk is simply too low in fat. e got ds3's on prescription until then, but obv.. he has the same issues as ds1, just we realised faster.

Yurt- I agree about the mercury in fish oild so haev beena voiding (as i craqved tuna in all pregnancies sadly, before guidelines were published)- I was wondering about flax oild though? they're veggie and high in omega aren't they?

Tinybump, I think the next few years ARE going to be shaky for us tbh, on my antenatal thread so many mums seem relieved that trhey've passed the 12 weeks worry stage yet I fel stronlgy that I have another long bout of concern up until when baby is 3 (DS3 had a regression at almost 3 so am wella ware of that risk). Think though that hard as it seems, we have to just get on with it a bit don't we? Our baby will be our baby whatever, and no amount of worry will change that.

Oha nother isue with soy is sugar contrent- ds1 has lost several teeth to this, my cousin who is also a soy baby (eczma rather than ASD) lost all hers. So, whilst I HAVE to use soy as the only alternative to breastmilk (placing me in a bit of a catch 22 as we also have autoimmune isues in the family), agree that looking into the options is advisable.
It may be worth contacting the poepl on the AIA website? (allrergy induced autism), I am going to speak to the BIBIC utritionist on this in Januarya s well, if you can remember chae me up afterwards and I will feddback- karen is very hot on this sort of thing.

Hi Peachy thank for the message.

I fully agree that it is our baby no matter what happens.
I know people are glad about reaching the 12 week mark but I feel the same as you in the worry that it could happen again.
My son has Autism and allergies also so thats why I am worrying.

Before my ds was diagnosed I didnt have a clue about Autism whatsoever, but reading about Gluten and Dairy and Vaccinations makes me think that it is possible one or maybe more of these things (and maybe genetics too) helped cause the Autism.

I never knew about the sugar content in soy.
Also I will be interested to hear what you find out from the Nutritionist in January.

I hardly drank anything while I was pg with DS3 but I did drink while I was breastfeeding him and now am absolutely crucified with guilt over that.

I thought that folic acid was meant to help prevent neural tube defects. I hadn't heard it mentioned in connection with autism.

There is a theory that folic acid doesn't prevent ntds, but merely boosts the body's inbuilt reaction to an abnormal foetus causing the mother to miscarry. In a way it does stop ntds but only by encouraging the body to abort the foetus, so fewer babies are born with the condition.

Dinosaur, dont be feeling guilty about having a drink while breastfeeding.
I think once we realise our children have sn we start to feel guilty and blame something we have done, drank or eaten.
It is hard not to feel guilty but we shouldnt blame ourselves.

Freckle I googled Folic Acid and Autism and there was a little bit about it.
About Scientists were looking at a possible link between the two and a few other theories.
Im not sure what is right but Ive started taking Santogen Pronatal anfd there is folic acid in it.

I would take the special pregnancy vitamins (pregnacare?)with Omega 3 added as there is some evidence in can help in the very early stages of brain development. Good luck with your pregnancy!

If you do a bit of research, you will find that the very small amounts of folic suggested by your doctor are wholly inadeqaute.

i will try and find the link to the article that says that the folic should be greatly increased.

you could also try folinic acid for yourself, its a b vitamin as well and helps with detox.

dont smoke, dont drink (obvious) dont go to the dentist, DONT EAT FISH, dont drink well water, stay away from ALL pesticides, eat organically, dont do anything new to your house (like we did, i inhaled so much paint when i was pregnant) Dont install new pvc windows or anything pvc.

dont decorate period. and if you do, use the smell free paints.

there are lots of do's and donts you can find for expectant parents on the foresight webpage.

but in terms of what you ingest, we are already walking toxin factories just from what we ingest and breathe normally. so think very carefully about what you put in your mouth.

when baby is born, breastfeed as long as you can. if you can breastfeed long enough, there would be no need for milk at all. you could move on to solids, or for drinks you could move on to rice milk. Soy is bad for everyone apparently, and particularly bad for babies according to much research.

we are thinking of having another child and i worry about getting myself "clean" before i conceive. Having amalgams removed and getting plenty of fresh air and clean food (as clean as possible anyway)

good luck

mamadada- also want my amalgams removed do you have any info on that? How long does it take to get the mercury out of our system after a filling is removed?

BTW transfer factor has been really good for our Ds thanks for that info.

I have two boys aged 14 and 11 - second son ASD.
DH and I decided to have another baby five years ago.
Like yurt I avoided all vaccinations ( including anti-d for me as i am a neg mother ). I tried to avoid gluten and dairy as much as possible during pregnancy and I breast fed but made sure I ate well and had extra EFA's .
DD is five now and totally NT.
Just what I did...

I have had 3/4 of them out. they cost about £70.00 each to replace and cost about 50 to get out so quite pricey, considering i had about 15 of them.

once the amalgams are out there are a number of detox protocols to use to "clean" yourself up, including mega dose vitamin C.

My doctor actually suggested vitamin c intravenous to detox but i hate needles.

once they are all out you can chelate yourself just like parents do with their children who are asd.

thats what i intend to do.

re: transfer factor, glad it worked out. its great stuff!!!

oh, forgot one other thing whilst you are pregnant - VITAMIN D3.

this link will tell you all you need to know
www.vitamindcouncil.com/health/autism/

there is fast and furious research going on about vitamin D and parents who are supplementing it to their children with autism are seeing huge positive changes.

do some research and you will come up with quite a lot of info to digest.
it has been postulated that autism may in fact be caused by low vitamin D during gestation.

it wont hurt you and you can take up to 2000 iu per day. It would take 100s of times that to hurt you.

I've never taken folic acid and none of my 3 have autism ADHD.
I understnad your fear though xxxx