Low birth wweight linked to autism

[Autumn]

I saw this in my webMD feed from google and when I read the article I found it intriguing except for the way the stats were presented.

If there is a 1% risk of a complication then a three fold increase in that complication only represents a 3% risk of the complication...

Although I'd love to know if the kids here with autism/aspergers were premies weighing less then 5.5 pounds...

http://www.webmd.com/brain/autism/news/20080602/autism-linked-to-low-birth-weight?src=RSS_PUBLIC

Link checked and functional but if anyone wants to fix my spelling error in the title I'd sure appriciate the kindness. Thanks...

[Cloaked Raven]

My four year old son was only 4 pounds, ten ounces when he was born. He was born 19 days early and had Intra Uterine Growth Retardation, meaning he was small for his gestational age. I had high blood pressure during my pregnancy which caused him to be so small, according to our doctors.

He may have a mild form of Autism, but we're only in the process of finding an answer right now. I will let all of you know if he has it or not when we find talk to a psychologist next week.

Thanks for posting the link, Autumn. :hugz:

[Dr. K]

My younger brother was born very premature, he was only 4lbs 3oz and has autism, so maybe its right. All I know is that my brother (who turns 21 this year) has always been a very special person, there where times that were very hard but he is amazing individual.

[WitchOfEndor]

Both my girls are Autistic & the both weighed over 8 pounds . I've noticed alot of the Autistic kids that I see at my daughters school (burger school of autism) have larger than average head size, I've been told that is not uncommon with Autistic kids.

[Cloaked Raven]

WOE, that is an interesting tidbit of info. I'll ask my son's psychologist about that the next time I see her. He does have Autism, we're just not completely sure where he is on the spectrum yet.

[cheddarsox]

My son (now 21) with Asperger's had a birth weight of 7 lbs 9 oz.

[watersprite]

I think that RIght now people are looking for ANY cause besides the Vaccine cause.
Babies in Neonatal ICU Have MANY problems and are quite fragile. When I first started working in there, we were told that touching them tires them out. (quite some time ago) Then it was found that touching or letting them grasp your finger and talking to them in a soothing voice relieved some of their stress. DUH!. Then they finally had the mothers holding them as early as possible, and touching them and talking to them. Even bigger DUH! There seemed to be less brain bleeds and calmer babies in the unit. (except the drug addicted babies. A whole different tact was taken with them.
We had a nurse where I worked in the early days who would touch and sing softly to the babies while she worked with them. They seemed to do better, I noticed. Now there is work going on to make the units quieter and more baby friendly. I am so glad to see that the machines are making less noise. That can also be quite disturbing after being in a nice, protectively environment. All that noise was a shock to their little systems.

[Lunacie]

My six year old granddaughter has a tentative diagnosis of Autism PPDNOS from the family therapist (we are looking into getting a proper diagnosis from a professional). She was not born early, although her mommy had preeclampsia/high blood pressure, and she weighed only 5 pounds and 5 ounces at birth. Lots of babies are born small for many different reasons. I doubt they will find a definite coorelation between low birth weight and Autism.

Some are also suggesting that the toxins in the food we eat and the air we breathe are causing the increase in Autism. However, research is showing a definate link in families with neurological disorders beyond the known link for bipolar, including things like ADHD, Autism, Asperger's, and even Depression. The question seems to be why more children born into these at-risk families are presenting with these disorders more often.