Hi, Im trying to do some research around birth trauma and autism. I have asked professionals and they just seem to frown and not really know whether there is a link or not. I would be really grateful for any thoughts or personal experiences as I believe that there may be a link somewhere.
Many thanks
Like many, I believe Autism is multi-factorial. I think birth trauma is a huge contributor, though. My son was born with a left side congenital diapragmatic hernia (CDH) and was on ECMO for 17 days, on a ventillator until 45 days, and finally left the hospital after 72 days.
CDH is also mutli-factorial, they do not know what causes it. A lot of children born with CDH have Autism. CDH has to do with the bodies development of the diapragm. It doesn't close up early enough. Certainly, in these cases, it cannot be said that Autism caused the CDH. It's an inherently independent physical condition. However, it created a lot of stress and trauma which I believe contributed to his Autism. (Just showing a counter example, not trying to argue - it's possible that feet down babies, or babies who get wrapped up in the cord could've been autistic first)
Also, the statement "most babies who had traumatic births do not have autism" is rather meaningless. The same way that "most people who use tobacco do not have oral cancer" (less than 1% of tobacco users, actually!) and "most people who smoke do not have lung cancer" (This one is true at least until you limit it to certain ages - it takes time to develop lung cancer after all)
The question needs to be asked the other way around, and a little more general. Did a large proportion of Autitistic Children have traumatic births? Comparing again to the tobacco example ... the vast majority (75%) of people over 50 with oral cancer use tobacco regularly. Yes, some things could be lifestyle related (is a tobacco user more likely to get HPV which can also cause oral cancer? Not going into that here...) but here you can see there IS a link, though there didn't appear to be one in the previous statistic.
My overall point: Oral cancer is rare, so is CDH, so is Autism(though much less so than the other two, and becoming less rare) - so if you say "most people who _____ did not have Autism/CDH/Oral Cancer" you could fill in the blank with anything you want and it's probably true. Even after we finally discover the true cause(s), you could put any of those now known causes in that blank and it would still likely be a true statement.
I've seen a report that stated that 80% of children with developmental issues (Autism, ADHD, and others grouped together) had traumatic births. The same report says some other things I find questionable, so I'm not sure of it's veracity - but if it's true it certainly appears to be a huge contributor.
I think even those who aren't genetically dispositioned to Autism, if they have enough trauma in the right areas of the nervous system/brain, they can develop Autism. Based on genetics, it may take more/less of that trauma to create it and really, since it's a spectrum you could just land lower/higher on the spectrum depending.
That being said, I think I've simply outlined ONE mechanism for Autism to occur in people. I'm sure there are others.
I also have a nephew who was a premie, on a ventilator, and is Autistic. It's not as clear cut for him though, there were other factors I won't discuss here that may have played a part, too.
Like many, I believe Autism is multi-factorial. I think birth trauma is a huge contributor, though. My son was born with a left side congenital diapragmatic hernia (CDH) and was on ECMO for 17 days, on a ventillator until 45 days, and finally left the hospital after 72 days.
CDH is also mutli-factorial, they do not know what causes it. A lot of children born with CDH have Autism. CDH has to do with the bodies development of the diapragm. It doesn't close up early enough. Certainly, in these cases, it cannot be said that Autism caused the CDH. It's an inherently independent physical condition. However, it created a lot of stress and trauma which I believe contributed to his Autism. (Just showing a counter example, not trying to argue - it's possible that feet down babies, or babies who get wrapped up in the cord could've been autistic first)
Also, the statement "most babies who had traumatic births do not have autism" is rather meaningless. The same way that "most people who use tobacco do not have oral cancer" (less than 1% of tobacco users, actually!) and "most people who smoke do not have lung cancer" (This one is true at least until you limit it to certain ages - it takes time to develop lung cancer after all)
The question needs to be asked the other way around, and a little more general. Did a large proportion of Autitistic Children have traumatic births? Comparing again to the tobacco example ... the vast majority (75%) of people over 50 with oral cancer use tobacco regularly. Yes, some things could be lifestyle related (is a tobacco user more likely to get HPV which can also cause oral cancer? Not going into that here...) but here you can see there IS a link, though there didn't appear to be one in the previous statistic.
My overall point: Oral cancer is rare, so is CDH, so is Autism(though much less so than the other two, and becoming less rare) - so if you say "most people who _____ did not have Autism/CDH/Oral Cancer" you could fill in the blank with anything you want and it's probably true. Even after we finally discover the true cause(s), you could put any of those now known causes in that blank and it would still likely be a true statement.
I've seen a report that stated that 80% of children with developmental issues (Autism, ADHD, and others grouped together) had traumatic births. The same report says some other things I find questionable, so I'm not sure of it's veracity - but if it's true it certainly appears to be a huge contributor.
I think even those who aren't genetically dispositioned to Autism, if they have enough trauma in the right areas of the nervous system/brain, they can develop Autism. Based on genetics, it may take more/less of that trauma to create it and really, since it's a spectrum you could just land lower/higher on the spectrum depending.
That being said, I think I've simply outlined ONE mechanism for Autism to occur in people. I'm sure there are others.
I also have a nephew who was a premie, on a ventilator, and is Autistic. It's not as clear cut for him though, there were other factors I won't discuss here that may have played a part, too.
