Well – a new research says so. A new study came out couple of weeks ago that stated mothers that have been induced in their labor had a higher risk of their child developing autism.
See that study here.
Researchers at Duke University looked at live birth records in North Carolina. They analyzed about 625,000 school records and found 5500 of those children whose mother’s had induced labor had childhood autism.
When I first read this I thought of our Somali community. There are always lots of complaints from many Somali moms that they felt being pressured by their OB/GYN to give birth fast. As a result, these mother’s labor is being hurried up and induced. There are also lots of complaints from many Somali moms that they are being forced to have C-Section rather than wait for natural birth.
You see C-Section costs more and makes the doctor more money.
Many of these mothers tell me back home, there were hardly C-Sections or induced labor. Midwives were mostly used who took more time and nurtured the woman to take her time and give birth naturally. In this country, everything is hurried up, scheduled and fast even childbirth. This obviously is not natural and has consequences. There is clearly more research needed to prove this for sure, but how sad if induced labor can cause Autism. Clearly there is some kind of environmental risk factors to autism in addition to a predisposition genetic component. And, I really hope we find these risk factors before more children and families dreams are delayed or altered. Not knowing what causes autism exactly is very frustrating as a mom. When your child is sick, you want to know what is wrong. God Bless all moms who deal with autism on a daily basis.
America – the country of fast food, fast cars, fast life and now fast childbirth. It is not natural to be this fast. Breathe and take a moment to enjoy today.
This study was also published JAMA Pediatrics.
Thanks!
Idil – Somali Autism Mom and Minority Advocate