I live in an area where the causes of autism in children seem to be rampant; the local rate is 1 in 47 children, the highest in the United States. This is frightening!
I seem to see an article or headline at least once a week about this topic. Each time I take my children to the doctor, between ages 1 and 2, I get to fill out a questionnaire that tries to determine if my children are at risk for this disorder.
It’s in front of our faces everywhere we turn. It seems to be the new FEAR that mothers place on top of their long list, the fears that we can’t seem to do anything about.
The Causes of Autism In Children
Cause vs. Association
One thing I need to explain is the difference between CAUSE and ASSOCIATION.
| Cause | Association |
| The Dictionary: a person or thing that acts, happens, or exists in such a way that some specific thing happens as a result; the producer of an effect | The Dictionary: the connection or relation of ideas, feelings, sensations, etc.; correlation of elements of perception, reasoning, or the like |
| My Explanation: something that has a direct influence on something else; when this happens, a result follows | My Explanation: something that occurs around something else; action that can be linked to another result but not necessarily a direct cause |
For example: we can all relate to getting a cold or the flu. We often get them when the weather turns cold, around late fall, early winter time frame. So someone that doesn’t understand the difference between cause vs. association may state, “The cold weather makes me get a cold.” The fact is the cold weather is ASSOCIATED with the occurrence of a cold.
The cold weather generally reduces the humidity. The viruses that are the source of a cold thrive more easily in low humidity. The colder temperatures that our body hasn’t adapted to yet can make our bodies’ immune systems a little weaker, thus allowing a viral infection to take over.
Does that make sense? Keep this in mind as we further discuss causes of Autism.
What Causes Autism?
That’s a really hard question to answer, and doctors and researchers are still trying to answer this question.
A variety of things are in the news and rumored every day about causes:
- alcohol
- air pollution
- vaccines
- lack of probiotics
- stress, anxiety and depression in the mother
- genetics
- c-sections and epidurals during birth
Now I cannot address all of these topics in just this post. But we’ll focus on the few that center around childbirth: cesarean sections and epidurals.
According to Autism Today mothers who gave birth via c-sections were more likely to have children with autism. But the main reasons those mothers had c-sections were because their babies had higher levels of distress during the mothers’ labor.
I quote their results below:
The autism group was characterised by increased maternal age, being first born, a threatened abortion before 20 weeks gestation, foetal distress and an elective caesarean.
Autism is unlikely to be caused by a single obstetric factor and the increased prevalence of obstetric complications are most likely caused by the underlying genotype or an interaction of the genotype and the (uterine) environment.
The word “characterized” is another scientific way to say “associated.” So this tells me that circumstances surrounding a baby’s birth (listed above) CAN play a part in a child developing autism.
Let’s look at another source. In the journal Epidemiology, a study titled Perinatal Risk Factors for Infantile Autism from 2002 provides more insight.
Their results and conclusion in the abstract state:
The risk of autism was associated with daily smoking in early pregnancy, maternal birth outside Europe and North America, cesarean delivery, being small for gestational age, a 5-minute Apgar score below 7, and congenital malformations.
Our findings suggest that intrauterine and neonatal factors related to deviant intrauterine growth or fetal distress are important in the pathogenesis of autism.
See, they use the word “associated” here. But they also reinforce the fact that the findings are “important in the pathogenesis of autism”. (Pathogenesis is a scientific word for development.)
So what this all means is that having an epidural or c-section during your childbirth has not been proven to DIRECTLY cause autism. But it does mean that these things play some sort of part, even though the direct links aren’t completely verified at this time.
There are SO many factors that play a part and we’ve only looked at a small aspect of this subject. Remember that just one study or one article is never the tell-all when it comes to aspects of biology and science. But they are reputable and should be considered.
What Can I Do to Help Prevent Autism in my Children?
Even though we cannot fully know what to do to prevent Autism for our children, we can avoid the circumstances discussed here that have been shown to be associated with the risks.
I’ve charted out the pathway of associated risks below, and also the factors feeding those steps:
From this visual, we can pick out the things that YOU as the mother have a DIRECT effect upon:
- Mother’s Health - choose to eat healthy and exercise. If you have pre-existing conditions that may pose a risk to your child, talk with your doctor.
- Download your free eBook Your Pregnancy Diet Plan by putting your email in the widget above if you don’t have it already.
- Strive to better your exercise routine. If you need help, read my Easy Pregnancy Exercises.
- Make sure you’re taking enough folic acid. Read why here.
- Environmental Conditions - these can be caused by you or not, depending.
- Don’t smoke, drink alcohol or use illegal drugs.
- Don’t take medications that may be harmful to you child. You can learn more about these from your doctor.
- Keep yourself away from harmful chemicals or things you could inhale.
- Stress and Anxiety - practice your relaxation techniques or take a class to be better prepared mentally.
- See what classes I recommend by clicking HERE.
- Talk with your husband or a good listener to help release those worries and tensions.
- Slow Labor Progression - don’t feel pressured by your doctor to quickly elect for a c-section just to stick to their timetable. This is YOUR timetable as far as you can control.
- WALK, WALK, WALK!
- Relax, relax, relax.
- Epidurals or other Pain Medications - simply choose to not have them. That’s why you’re here right? To get through this without those things.
- Practice your relaxation techniques you can learn about in your classes or from the Birth Relaxation Kit.
- Use other methods of natural pain relief:
- massage
- bathing/showering
- walking
- Elective C-Section - again, simply choose to not have it. Follow everything listed previously.
To Conclude
This is a massive subject that is always under scrutiny and I feel it will be for the rest of my lifetime. Please don’t fear for your baby if by your unique circumstances you will require a c-section. Some things are beyond our control and I completely understand that.
But do REMEMBER that babies born via c-section or from mothers who had an epidural still have, at the very worst, a 97.8% chance of NOT developing autism. I’m a perfect example!
My mother had an epidural with me. My sister and brother were born from c-sections that were out of my mother’s control, and they don’t have autism. I know we’re just one tiny example, but those are still good odds to me as well.
You can still do all the recommended things that you CAN control in order to reduce your associated risk.
Use This Blanket Proven To Block Radiation Risks To Your Baby
If you have any questions or concerns, your doctor or midwife is a very valuable resource about this kind of information. Don’t be afraid to ask him or her any and all questions you may have, even about sensitive subjects.
Victoria says
Thank you for this post. I’m feeling so dismayed because autism runs in my husband’s family (2 first cousins have it) and although I’ve always been slender I was just diagnosed with gestational diabetes, which increases baby’s risk for autism and my risk for a C-section due to macrosomia. As to the correlation doesn’t equal causation thing, this is a good example-gestational diabetes increases the risk for autism AND also for a C-section.
It’s truly amazing how so many things can run together, even though there’s no direct cause and effect proof. I just wish more people would think more long term about what medical practices can do to their bodies. Best of luck with everything Victoria.
Stephanie Seneff says
i’m a mother to be and the what can I do to prevent autism is very helpful to me. i think you will also love this podcast that I listen to regularly http://learntruehealth.com/cause-of-autism-dr-stephanie-seneff/ because its very informative and I think you have similar point of view.
Thanks Stephanie! I appreciate it.
There is a saying among statisticians that is hammered into the heads of statistics students over and over again. The is “correlation is not causation”. Apparently that message doesn’t stick because time after time we see government throwing money at controlling the correlations and ignoring any investigation into the cause. I think humans are biologically pre-programmed to assume that a correlation is a cause. It’s probably a good survival strategy.
If we take all the things relating to modern society such as air pollution, radio frequency pollution, weed killer in our food, hormones in our food, overuse of antibiotics, nutrition deficient food, light pollution, sonic pollution, decreasing magnetic fields, increasing cosmic rays, abnormal circadian rhythm, too much sugar, too little exercise, etc. etc. and lump it all together and call it “the thing” that causes our disorders, that may be as close as we can get to determining a “cause”. It isn’t just one of those things, it’s all of them.
So if “the thing” causes autism it probably also causes the need for a c-section, the need for an epidural, and the need for all sorts of other obstetric interventions. These interventions may all be directly connected to “the thing” but are totally independent of each other. I wouldn’t even call it an association. So avoiding any or all of these interventions would have no effect at all on reducing the probability of autism, because none of them are “the thing”.
Gary
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I agree with you Gary that there are mountains of other variables at play. The hard part is that we can only segregate one factor at a time in order to study anything in order to see a slight angle of the entire picture of health.
I know that even if I’m diligent in taking care of my body and my children’s bodies the best I can with the means I’ve been blessed with, we may still all end up with debilitating diseases in the future, or we may not. There’s no one way to be sure. But knowing that I did the very best I could through our lifetimes will give me the peace that I’ve done the right thing in taking care of my family.
Sure, I may be only able to control less than 1% of any sort of cause towards certain conditions, like autism. But what if that 1% of my efforts was what made the difference in the end? Who’s to say it wouldn’t have some sort of an effect?
Thank you so much for your comments. You may mind how a baby’s birth month ‘correlates’ to conditions later in life interesting too. 🙂
Have a great day, Gary!
Cathy says
Hi Sarah! Not only do you have a fantastic site, I love this article on autism and how decisions we make can have such a huge and devastating impact on our child. You have so many people who have commented … it seems to me this can be a whole website in and of itself because it’s such a huge issue today. Thank you for everything you’re doing here and God Bless! ~CathyS
Thanks for your kind words Cathy. Autism could definitely be a topic for a site all on its own, but I don’t feel expert in the area enough to have the confidence to devote an entire site to it. But there are excellent resources on Autism Today and multiple other places on the web. I appreciate your feedback and comments too!
Hi Sarah,
You have broaden my understanding about autism from the scientific point of view and certainly got me thinking a lot about preparing for pregnancy.
Although I eat healthily, my work constantly exposed me to hazardous chemicals and high level of stress.
It’s something that I have been trying to manage, but I see no better alternative than to change to a better working environment.
Thanks for the comprehensive research.Many moms will appreciate you for it.
Cathy
I’m glad to have been of help, Cathy. It certainly helps to look at such complex situations from all points of view, as broadly as possible. Then the finer details can be better understood. I appreciate your comment.
Calvin says
This is a great article! There’s certainly nothing “wrong” with a child that has autism, but it’s a big challenge for both him and his parents. I know it’s outside your niche, but a post on recognizing the signs of autism in infants would be a great follow-up.
I’ve thought about expanding into the area of post-birth, growing infants and breastfeeding, etc. I’ll see where things go, because that’s the stage I’m in myself. Thanks for the suggestion, Calvin. I appreciate your comments!
This is good to know, so future mothers can decrease the chances of their children developing autism. I hope that I won’t need a c-section. Such a scary thought! Knowing that it’s linked to autism only gives me more reason to not get one unless I absolutely needed it.
Remember though that a DIRECT link with autism has not been proven to exist. Only an ASSOCIATION between them has been shown. It’s such a complicated issue with so many different variables. But if you choose to reduce your risks for you and your child, then that is heart enough, no matter what happens in life.
Thanks for your comment Martina.
Hi Sarah. Do I think that these thinks are causative? No but there is an undeniable correlation in the rise of c-sections/epidurals (and vaccines) and the rise in Autism. In fact I don’t know if you saw the news today that an Italian court ruled that a vaccine cause autism in a child. That is huge (of course in America we have a secret court system set up for those who suffer injuries from vaccines but they have to keep hush hush about it). This is a controversial topic and you did a good job describing it.
Hi Jared. When I first approached the idea of having my own children naturally, for me it was all about the research, studies, statistics, etc. I’m a scientific thinker. So for me to believe that something like epidurals directly causes autism or other disorders, I need to see the proof, scientific proof, data to back up the claims.
The problem here is that data is suggestive and can fully support only the limited number of individuals studied. The only way to truly know would be to sample the entire human race. But that’s where things are impossible to fully know or understand.
But when there is evidence of an association, that is enough for me to want to prevent that association for myself and my children. Even if the risk is small and not validated as a direct cause, if I can do something about it, I will. Which is why I support mothers who educate themselves and prepare by learning about Dr. Bradley’s methods and taking courses.
I mentioned that I live in an area with high Autism rates. There are studies and discussions also backing the theories that air pollution is a major cause. But again, the studies show an association only, not causation. That’s a main reason why I chose to explain the difference between direct cause and associations because many people may not understand and that.
You bring up excellent points of view and I look forward to your comments, Jared.
Michelle says
Hi Sarah. I am shocked and saddened that you live in an area with such high autism rates. I also was not aware that epidurals and C-sections could increase the rate as well. Great article with lots of important information for expectant parents.
Thanks Michelle. This is just one small reason why I want to help mothers achieve natural baby births. I’m all about prevention when it comes to my health and the health of my family and this is where it starts.
Muriel says
Hi Sarah! You wrote an interesting post on this subject. I’m autistic myself and I’m inclined to think that it has a lot to do with genetics and perhaps with the kind of food a child gets.
I have my doubts about the food part because my mom has given me healthy food all the time. Autism runs in my dad’s family, but none of them has ever been officially diagnosed except for me.
I’m not sure whether my mom got an epidural when she delivered me or not. My mom has had a healthy lifestyle throughout her entire pregnancy of both my brother and I. Anyway, you did a great job writing this article!
Thank you for providing such a fresh perspective, Muriel. I have never known anyone autistic and I thank you for sharing your story.
You reinforce the hard part about all this: that we can do everything properly based on current research, and still have things affect our families.
I appreciate your candor.