Could a problem birth be the cause of Autism

Genes imo play the biggest role , both my children had different births one natrual and one c-section both autistic. 

I too, I was early due to Heart problems.

Few Month old I had heart failures.

Whilst this may mean it not genetic based autism and I have been diagnosed 2/3rd Autistic. Autism but it not but am allowed to declare it as autism as most people find that easier to digest. But put firmly on the ASD spectrum and people now help rather than make things harder.

Hard to say that may have been born with it or the heart failurers defunct the brain and cause the effect.

Knowing the direct cause isn't really helpful for me as no one actually knows and if all cases of difficult births lead to diagnosiis of ASD then life be easier for those doing this kind of medical research work. Plus this ASD isn't true Autism if as some people think individual are born with 'it' rather than develop it through birth and first 6 month.

Research don't know enough about it to rule out any possible cause. It only just being widely acceptable and more diagnosis being made of those of us who been missed in the past because wasn't obvious  and not the right gender etc.

But does the cause of ASD help us to know how to manage our lives anyway?

I have often wondered if my sons birth was anything to with his condition too?. I had an awful labour of approx 28hrs. I had failed forceps and a failed vontouse Delivery! Both instruments were used on my sons head three times each. His head was an awful shape, just like a cone! he had several cuts to both the top and back of his head, along with bruised that lasted above a month. I have asked his Doctor if his birth could be linked to his ADHD and ASD. She explained that although nothing has been proven it does seem that a lot of children who have been diagnosed with ADHD & ASD do seem to have had difficult & assisted deliveries. I do myself blame my sons delivery for this outcome altho I could never prove it.

I was born two weeks premature in March 1957.

I was born in a small cottage hospital where they were no Doctors.

It was a difficult birth and the duty nurse did her best.

A GP came only after he had finished seeing his patients ot help deliver me into this world

I would have thought a New Born Baby is more important than the cases a GP is likely to deal with.  I do not know if I am on the Autistic Spectrum partly or because of my Difficult Birth.

Hi Fran,

At the time of our eldest sons birth we were both serving Police officers. Neither of our families have any history of ADD/ADHD or Autism.

My eldest son was over due by 15 days. My wife is allergic to general anesthetic.

My wife also has a fused spine after surgery in L4/L5 area where they use the Epidural.

We informed the hospital about the spine surgery and were informed that they would go further up. We also spoke about her allergy to general anesthetic. We were informed that all of this had been taken into consideration for her and our child’s delivery.

On her due date we went to the hospital only for her to be checked over and discharged. The hospital refused to admit my wife or induce her.

This went on daily for 14 days. They even refused to admit her over Christmas simply because of the lack of staff.

Eventually they admitted her on the 15th day. They induced her about 6:30pm that evening.

Hours after being induced and no sign of her waters breaking or our son wishing to come into this world they moved her to a side ward. There we stayed for another 10 hours.

Her waters didn’t break so they broke them. Then about an hour later they decided to take her to a delivery room.

They tried using forceps and then ventouse but still nothing.

By this stage she was in absolute agony. The baby heart rate monitor was going absolutely mad and when asked about it they said it was normal.

She signed a consent form for a C section.

This is when the trouble appeared to start.

We got to theatre where I got into a gown. I could hear my wife screaming but wasn’t allowed near her.

Out of the blue a female appeared that we hadn’t seen before stating that my wife’s spine was very hard and they couldn’t get the Epidural in and would be using general anesthetic.

I started to ask who she was and explain why they couldn’t get the Epidural in only for her to turn her back on me and walk away!

I continued to hear my wife screaming then nothing no sound at all. I tried to get to her to see what was happening but was not allowed anywhere near her. At some point I tried to get to her again and the porters and security called the Police.

The Police arrived, my shift where I sat with them outside.

I was eventually allowed in to see my wife and son; however, we cannot account for the first half an hour of his life.

When I saw him his face was completely de-formed, he had one eye lower than the other, he looked like the hunchback of Notre Dame.

You could still see the marks where they tried the forceps and the ventouse on his face and head.

I was so happy that both were alive I didn’t think anything of it.

I was stuck on for acting in a disorderly manner.

As a result of the hearing some 4 months later we found out that our son had been in severe fetal distress for almost 12 hours, the length of her labour after being induced. We also learned that his heart rate was so high at one point he almost died.

Since my son has been at school he has always shown signs of ADD/ADHD or Autism. His concentration levels are quite bad however he is exceptionally intelligent in certain areas. He is now 11. His hand writing is that of a 5 – 6-year-old and his drawing skills are that of a 4 – 5-year-old. He has severe trouble some days concentrating or doing the simplest of task that require him to remember. He has to keep things in order his way plus he has quite a bad temper.

We are now living in Scotland, my wife and I separated 2 1/2 years ago. Since being in Scotland he has been tested and examined. Today he has been diagnosed with possible ADD and my ex-wife has reluctantly agreed for him to take medication.

I am of the opinion that the problem encountered at birth have caused our sons problems.

Not yet looked at the post.

In my case hard to tell.

I did have a difficult birth over fifty years ago.

I fell out of a Pram.

It could have been Genetic.

I will probably never know.

David

I read a similar story where a baby suffered brain damage and had autisic-like symptoms, but not autism itself.  I have a line of relatives in my family, mainly women, dating back from my granny's auntie as far as we are aware, of autism problems.  So, the difference is that it can't be passed on through children.  I'm not really helping I don't think, but, hey

Personally, I was fired out in 45 minutes, my mother only went for a check-up... Definitely not a complicated birth, full term, 7lbs 4oz. I can't comment on my head size, I've never thought about it but never considered it unusual...

I don't know where my Asperger's has come from... No one I know has been diagnosed as being on the spectrum. My paternal cousins are very weird but no idea if any of them have been diagnosed with anything and I haven't seen them since I was a child... but my mother is the one that would appear to be most like me. I actually don't want her to have Asperger's though, because she's always been on the mentality that "if I can do it, so can you" and I'd like to have the Asperger's to explain why I haven't been able to... 

I have ASC and like Hope have a slightly small head.  One of my children had a robust head which she has grown into more and more so is less so now (more in shape than in size now) and is autistic but the other who is also autistic had a smallish/average head.  I think there might be autistic subtypes that have larger heads but it's certainly not for all cases.  Maybe it's also more applicable in the classic or more severe autism cases.

Autism is being considered more and more epigenetic.  This means that birth trauma could be one of the triggers for the relevant genes, along with other environmental factors.

Hi,

I'm new to the forum and just came to this question.

My son was a difficult birth for my wife, very long labour, and she was prepped for caeserian 4 times. each time the Locum Dr walked off and attended to somebody else. In the end the midwife grabbed him and said get the baby out or we will loose both.

My son forceps birth, and the trauma of this caused the skull to be twisted. The Hospital never checked him, and for 2 years he was as you were describing your grandson. It should have been an easy fix, they could have placed a helemt on his head which ould have straightened his skull.

A chance meeting witha cranial osteopath cured the twisted skull, but undergoing 6 months of cranial manipulation. She said that he had been living with the same as a migraine for the last 2 years.

His skull is now ok, but 10 years later he has just been diagnosed as being on the Autistic Spectrum.

It might be worth going toa Cranial osteopath and seeing if this is something that has happened.

Chris

Conaires dad

I had a very difficult birth with my daughter 21 hours of labour & eventually a forceps delivery & they said to me it was because she was just too big. I have always joked that she had a big head as I had to buy bigger sized hats etc for her when she was younger. I kind of feel awful now for joking about it if it is the case that she is autistic (not diagnosed yet but it's being thrown about) & that's part of the reason she does have a bigger head. 

the causes of autism. you get it from your rellies.autism is you/you child . The really scarey thing is witch doctors coming out of places like America peddling their snake oil treatment to vunreable people looking for cures . 

Very interesting comments about big heads and also whether any issues at birth can cointribute to the onset of autism.  My little boy has a head which is literally on the 99.9th centile, it is seriously enormous but luckily he loves his grub and is a stocky little "bruiser" so it doesn't look as bad as it did for about 6 months after he had pneumonia when he got quite skinny.  He can more or less get away with it, as it were!

His birth was pretty quick although at one point there were concerns about his heart rate which dropped and the student doctor, thankfully, noticed (at least someone did) so within seconds about 8 people came rushing into the room with the ward sister shouting that they needed "to get this baby out now!"

I agree that it's genetic and I can see the genetic predisposition in both of my parents (and, yes, if I'm honest, probably in me too).  I do think my boy has a double or even triple whammy, as it were, since my husband didn't speak clearly until he was 5 so I suspect he's got the autistic genes PLUS general speech and language difficulties.  However, I do subscribe to the environmental theory (ie genetic predisposition plus something in the environment) as I'm convinced that pneumonia at 20 months, temp of 40+ that would not go down and eventually being admitted to hospital was what brought on the autism for him.  

Of course, whether I'm right or wrong is of no consequence but I don't suppose it stops many of us parents wondering what caused the autism.

all toddlers are "little "angels " until they reach 2 and then a determined personality develops. Autism is genetic i wonder if babies do suffer something like post tramatic disorder from birth experiences.

I have heard about the big brain theory, and this may well apply in some cases. The idea is that Autistic brains grow too fast during the first few years of life, with too many connections and not enough pruning back of neurons. But after this point brain growth can slow down and head size becomes more typical or even smaller than average as the child grows older. However, my head has always been very small, even as a young child, so there are always exceptions and I think the cause of autism is likely to vary in each case and across the spectrum. Genetics certainly play a big role, but perhaps more so in some cases than in others. The cause is still hotly debated, and it is unlikely that there is one cause for all cases. Autism does not run heavily in my family, although there is a case in the extended family, but autism is so common that most familes probably have a case somewhere down the line.

My Grandmother was diagnosed with terminal *** cancer when my mother was 4 months pregnant. A few weeks after she found out this bad news, I stopped growing in the womb. She was advised to take bed rest and even to have an early birth, but she was determined to carry me to term. I did begin to grow again and she experienced no more problems, the birth being an easy one with no interventions. However, the extreme stress she experienced could have triggered my Aspergers.

 My younger brother was born after a stress free pregnancy. He has sub clinical Asperger traits, but is basically 'neurotypical'. He might carry the genes, but did not face an environmental trigger. This is perfectly feasible, although not scientifically proven by experts.

I was born weighing only 5 pounds 4 ounces, although I was a very healthy baby and no problems were identified until my 18 month check, when my motor skills were flagged up as a cause for concern.

I think there is evidence that people with autism tend to have larger than average brains and heads.  So I guess this might be a related factor to a difficult birth.  It could be that difficult birth is linked to autism but not a cause for it. Eg my son had a big head, we had a difficult and long delivery, I always wondered whether he just wanted to stay inside in a sensory numbed environment because he was autistic.

hi - I can understand why you wonder.  I didn't have a difficult birth but still feel I could have been looked after better. Monitors didn't work.   My son's head was squashed a bit, with his features in the bottom 2/3rds of his face for a few days.  He has a rather large head so it'd got squashed a bit during birth.  No forceps used. The 1st time my son got really seriously upset was when he was 3-4 days old.   The 2nd time was when he was 3 wks old.  It didn't settle down after that and looking back it was the autism asserting itself. Scorpion is correct, there is a definite genetic component to autism.  I don't know of any family history of autism, but there are big gaps in our family history.  We all look for a cause, I think.  bw 

There may be environmental factors involved, but Autism is primarily a genetic condition.

His difficult birth may have brought on the symptoms a little sooner, but it will not have caused his Autism.