What are the chances on baby number 3 having ASD?

[Barmymummy]

We are toying with the idea of having baby number 3....must be mad lol!

Anyway, DD1 (6) is NT and DS (4) has some ASD traits (speech and language probs, impaired imagination and mild oddities playing with other kids but nothing else) and I wondered what the chances are that DC 3 would have any difficulties? Is it genetic or pot luck and is having a boy more likely to have issues than having a girl? Sorry for asking so many questions!

Wondered if those of you who have had more than 1 child how things turned out for you?

Well I have DS1 who is 8 and NT, DS2 who is 2 and ASD, and DD who is 9 months, and we think she is NT (she has started to point and she claps and smiles)

I know that boys are more likely than girls to have ASD, but I dont know what the odds of having another child with ASD if you already have a child on the spectrum.

TBH it's ahrd to say in your case

Absolutely the overall odds are raised, but with one asd and one not it may well not be a passed on genetic cause (we dont know what the causes are obv, but it could be a genetic mutation in your case, or environmental rather than hereditary).

If you ahd more than one child on the spectrum (as we do) i'd have to say your chances were high but even then we took the gamble- our odds of ds4 having ASD are between 20 - 80% so even then pretty damned variable!

I posted something along these lines last week. Have a look at the responses I got

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/special_needs/784848-Constantly-worried-DS2-will-have-ASD-like-DD1-Advice-neede d

???
But here is a small positive story.
I know someone (well i haven't seen her for a longggg time) who had a ds1 (borderline asd), ds2 (moderate autism), then ds3 (NT).
So it can happen but no garantees just like everything else in life.

We have DD1 (NT), DS1 (dyspraxia and some sort of ASD), DS2 (dyspraxia and ADHD), DS3 (NT) and DD2 (think NT but has a lot of DS2's traits so the jury is still out)

FWIW I was relieved that number 5 was a girl as it is less likely she'll be affected than a boy.

I understood that, unfortunately, it is much more likely if you already have ASD in your family and based on genuine research (maybe check NAS website). DS is now nearly 14 and we were told 10 years or so ago that we had 1 in 10 chance of another child being "somewhere" on the spectrum and I'm sure numbers have increased since then. Also boys 4 times more likely to have ASD than girls but not sure if that holds true within a single family. DS has severe Kanner's ASD, a cousin has a son at the same level, I have an older sister with AS and probably 2 cousins (including the dad of the boy above) with AS. But DD, who is now 6, is NT although we were seriously unsure until she was about 2.5 for lots of reasons and I now think that maybe she could have gone either way but "pulled though" as we were cautious with food, jabs etc (although none of those affected DS but could have tipped her over iyswim).
The reality is that, if you're sure you want another, you'll take the risks but I believe there are serious risks. Even ASD triggered environmentally could be due to a genetic predisposition.

l know what asd stands for my first son has it but an new to this site and am lost as to what NT stands for could someone tell me please

neurotypical, preferred on here to the uncomfortable 'normal'

thanks for the reply

I have DS1 who is very bright and NT
I have DS2 who has severe ASD ( post jab regression at 18 months)
So when DS2 was about 7 we plucked up courage to try for another baby but only once we were sure that we would be comfortable with having another child with SN.
Because having gone around in circles with the probability issue we finally realised that the liklihood didn't matter at all. Even if the chances were 1 in 1000 then that risk would have been too great had we felt that our relationship/family would not cope with that added stress.
Once we were comfortable that we would take what we got very happily we tried and i got pregnant imediately.

DD has had no jabs and was gfcf for the first two years and exclusively breastfeed for as long as possible. I contuinued to feed her until she was nearly four
I took EFAs all through my pregnancy and a good multi vit and i ate well. And DD has a good diet plus vits and EFAs.

She is 6 nearly 7 and NT

Thank you all so much for your replies. I believe my dad is on the spectrum but my DS seems to be the only one affected iykwim. It wouldn't put me off having another one if they were ASD but it means I have to be realistic with being able to cope etc.

Thanks again.

It's worth looking into what you can do to improve the chances if you do ahve the baby- ds4 will have single measles as we live in Wales near the big outbreak (wouldnt otherwise), and like pag's is gf / cf, is still BF etc

If he is asd then so be it that we can live with, however we are a bit owrried atm as he is saying Mum with a Welsh accent and that we didnt bank on

since we had ds4 we've learned that ds2 is probably dyspraxic so there are other manifestations of the gene as well, many quite mild