Did your DC have any of the "risk factors" for ASD?

MaybeBabyTime

My sister called me this afternoon to tell me of the news of her "big" ultrasound. They did a medicated cycle with IUI (intrauterine insemination). She has been consumed by risk factors of Autism. I tried to ease her concern because frankly, at 21 weeks gestation there is nothing she can do to "help" or "prevent" the risk of Autism. We do not have any family incidence on our side and I do not believe my BIL's family does either. My sister's fear lies in that she is having all boys and they will be "super twins" and a high possibility of prematurity as she has already had cervical shortening issues.

So, my question, once your DC got diagnosed, did s/he have any risk factors?

I completely tried to ease my sister on the phone. But, I have no experience on this,

Thanks so much for your input.

mommyof4boys

My son has a genetic syndrome that has a high incidence of autism spectrum disorder within the syndrome.  He has 16p11.2 duplication syndrome.

I also have twins who were premature via IVF.  I had IC, a cerclage, low birthweight babies.  My son who is diagnosed, however, was not the product of the twin pregnancy.  We are going to start genetic work on the entire family to see who of our children is affected by the syndrome.  We do believe that one of our twins has the same genetic syndrome.

breezy0629

Loaded question in that no statistic really helps her. If the statistic was 50/50, in a couple years, it'll be 100% whatever it is and 0% whatever it's not. I hate there's really no good answer..... 

Either way, she'll love those babies and do anything for them. Autism is just one of many risks. Turns out, my boy does have autism. And, he's just the most awesome little guy ever. When he makes an achievement.... I don't just get to celebrate with him.... I also get to see how hard he worked for that and I get to shed tears for him and give him big hugs. Sure, he's got hard stuff..... but he is worth it.  And my beautiful daughter, typically developing, has a whole set of different stuff. I get to celebrate with her too and watch her grow and learn.

I will pray for her comfort as all the random thoughts of the unknown go through her head. There will be plenty more where that came from, I'm sure... 

hopanka

Not sure what all of the "risk factors" are, but just from your post:

My son was full term, single baby, over 7 lbs, high apgar scores (9 out of 10 both times), smiled at 5 weeks, had perfect eye-contact and attachment to me, was breast-fed long term.

I guess the only risk factor was that he is a boy....?

Glendi2.0

hmmm... DD arrived 3.5 weeks early. Not technically premature according to the docs, but still early. She was perfectly healthy, though. I do remember it took her a while to smile (about 10 weeks?) and she never took milk from a bottle, which I've since learned is rather common in ASD kiddos. Overall, we did observe that she was a more "serious" baby than her big sister was, but I hesitate to label that alone as a sign of ASD- I mean, not every kid could be as "jolly" as DD#1 was.

And ditto every word of Auntie's last paragraph. Parenting is going to throw her SO many curve balls, she might make use of her time now to learn how to manage the stress and anxiety of the inevitable challenges she'll face, ASD or otherwise.

Sobachka

None whatsoever. No history in families, later maternal and paternal age, great pregnancy, great delivery, great baby.

I think in a few decades we may know what caused it (and it woudl be something very commonly used - like food additives, deodorant ingredients, plastic bottles, etc). My theory though, not validated by any research.

lolacake

wait- I've never heard of risk "factors". Can someone list of link these for me? not that it matters (obviously), but just curious.

thx.

BTW- to answer, twin pregancy, Clomid IUI (prb not what you want to hear), 35 at birth, perfect birth. My DD has ASD, DS is typical.

earthycrunchymama

Mines not born yet (due July) but there is a high genetic risk for her... I have mitochondrial disease (with a 50% chance of passing it on). and 7-20% of kids with autism have mitochondrial dysfunction. PLUS all of my cousins are on the autism (my dad's 3 sisters kids) as well as some of my dad's cousins kids.

for us it's probably the underlying mitochondrial issues in the family playing out differently for people and the kids seem to all be born with autism. older generations deal with it differently like hearing loss, diabetes, thyroid issues, cardiac issues/strokes, alzheimers, etc...

 

hanson4

Auntie,  what is your opinion of (or have you heard about) the study linking firstborn, breech births to autism?  I've read the author of that study says that a breech baby is TWICE as likely to be diagnosed with austism.  Since LO is a boy the 1 in 70 already freaks me out.. since he was breech I feel like the numbers are closing in on him.  Yes, I'm a worrier.

On the other hand, I could see that more preemies are born breech (b/c they have the room to flip) and that prematurity is already independently linked to autism.  I don't know if they controlled for that.  I was just curious if you had any thoughts since you are so knowledgeable about this.