Drinking during pregnancy linked to autism
Dr Maggie Watts, vice chairman on alcohol for the Scottish Association of Alcohol and Drug Action Teams, suggests that moderate drinking during pregnancy could be “the hidden cause” of autism, attention deficity hyperactive disorder (ADHD), and other neurodevelopmental disorders in children. In particular, Dr. Watts makes the point that some children who have Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder(FASD) may be “misdiagnosed” with autism or a neurodevelopmental disorder; she notes that up to one in 100 Scots children - as many as 9,000 - could be suffering from FASD, whose symptoms include physical, mental, behavioral, and/or learning disabilities with possible lifelong implications. Notes the November 18th The Scotsman:
Official advice from Scotland’s Chief Medical Officer states that it is safest if no alcohol is consumed during pregnancy. However, controversial draft guidance from the health watchdog, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, states that after the first three months of pregnancy, women can consume up to 1.5 units per day.
Last week a review of existing research, conducted by Oxford University, found “no convincing evidence” that binge-drinking could harm the foetus.
Yet a recent study on low-level drinking by scientists at Bristol University found that women having as little as one drink per week had children with mental health problems.
Susan Fleischer, founder of the National Organisation on Foetal Alcohol Syndrome, said: “It is our experience that children are diagnosed with things like autism or attention deficit disorder before they get a diagnosis of foetal alcohol syndrome. A lot of children are misdiagnosed.”
It is thought that alcohol crosses the placenta and that the fetus is not able to process the alcohol: While alcohol is cleared from the mother’s body in twelve hours, a fetus is “is exposed for up to 72 hours because it does not have a properly developed liver.”For the record, this theory of autism causation is not the cause of my son being autistic: I drank no alcohol, and no coffee or anything with caffeine it in, throughout my pregnancy and during the thirteen months that I breastfed Charlie. In fact, I was scrupulous in following the suggestions of the doctor and the baby books for what to eat, etc., while expecting; a friend’s mother noted the same of her.
22 opinions for Drinking during pregnancy linked to autism
Regan
Nov 17, 2007 at 11:51 pm
Hmm.
My mother, and my mother in law for that matter, were encouraged by their OB-GYNs back in the 50’s and before to have a beer every day to stay relaxed. Not trying to make any particular point because I am sure that other factors also come into play. It’s just a matter of historical curiosity. I do find it kind of weird though if binge drinking was found not to have an effect, esp. after reading “The Broken Cord”.
Kristina Chew, PhD
Nov 17, 2007 at 11:57 pm
Agreed about binge drinking—-for maternal health too. My MIL also had her libations, I gather.
D's Mom
Nov 18, 2007 at 12:42 am
I have a son with autism yet I have never had an alcoholic drink in my life and I rarely drink caffeine. Alcohol obviously could not be a universal cause, if in fat there is a link.
Susan
Nov 18, 2007 at 2:26 am
While it may be a contributing factor in some instances, it certainly isn’t THE factor as I didn’t drink in my pregnancy at all!
Karen
Nov 18, 2007 at 2:55 am
Add me to the list of people who had not one drop of alcohol during my pregnancies. I used to work w/ children who had fetal alcohol syndrome and they had many other qualities that I do not know to be linked to autism.
chaoticidealism
Nov 18, 2007 at 3:01 am
My mom is a nondrinker, and I’m autistic.
I think that if anything triggers the genes that cause autism, it’s fetal stress in general–nothing specific. For example, I am the sole survivor of a twin pregnancy–my twin died of twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome at 20 weeks.
In some children, the genetics may be strong enough that no environmental trigger is needed… I am pretty sure my own family has such strongly autism-producing genetics, since out of five family members, four are on the Spectrum (including both parents). If you’re wondering, of three children, the one that remained totally unvaccinated still has Asperger’s; one of the two who was vaccinated is NT, the other (me) is autistic.
Kristina Chew, PhD
Nov 18, 2007 at 4:57 pm
Also, the Scottish doctor seems to be suggesting that “autism” has been applied to some children whose actual diagnosis is FAS—and that autism is not really what some children have.
chaotic idealism, some pretty strong genetics in my family too—-I have spectrum relatives (so far undiagnosed).
KimJ
Nov 18, 2007 at 5:29 pm
Like Lead Poisoning, “alcohol-caused” autism would be on the decrease, not increase or even steady rate. A lot of otherwise moral and boring people drank during pregnancies.
FAS went undetected for years, though if you look at its history, was suspected of a genetic deficiency. It was one of the hallmark reasons for eugenics in the early 20th century.
I don’t doubt there are kids in Scotland who are diagnosed with other stuff besides FAS. Who’d want to admit you poisoned your child, willingly? In fact, I believe one of my son’s classmates (in an autism clinic) is actually FAS.
MomtoJBG
Nov 18, 2007 at 5:46 pm
I agree with chaoticidealism about a combination of fetal stress and genetics.
My twins were “mono-amniotic”, with no membrane separating them. Their umbilical cords were tangled from the time of our first ultra-sound. Add to that autism on both sides of the family, and I don’t feel like I need to look for any other causes!
Despite their difficult beginnings, they are pure joy to live with (well, they are two years old, so almost pure joy).
Eleanor
Nov 19, 2007 at 12:04 pm
Just the latest spin on the old “blame-the-mother” game, I suppose. I get so tired of it. I didn’t drink at all during my pregnancy. Moreover, I’ve worked quite a bit with kids with fetal alcohol syndrome and don’t think it is easily confused with autism. I’m classifying this one right up there with the “bad mothers who left the TV and made the poor kid autistic” stories…
Regan
Nov 19, 2007 at 1:11 pm
New journal article relevant to the matter of distinctions of diagnosis.
“Somer Bishop, Sheila Gahagan, Catherine Lord (2007)
Re-examining the core features of autism: a comparison of autism spectrum disorder and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 48 (11), 1111–1121.
doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2007.01782.x
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2007.01782.x
Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) are both characterized by social difficulties, but overall clinical descriptions of the two disorders are different.
Method: Twenty-nine children with autism and 33 children with pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS) were compared to 29 children with FASD of equivalent age and full-scale IQ. To isolate social deficits that are most unique to ASD, all participants were administered the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS). Parents of the children completed the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R).
Results: Difficulties in initiating social interaction, sharing affect, and using nonverbal communication were common in children with ASD but rare in children with FASD. Socially inappropriate behaviors and difficulty with peers were common in both groups.
Conclusions: These findings suggest that whereas propensity for social interaction appears to be a differentiating factor between children with ASD and those with non-spectrum disorders, impaired quality of social interaction may be less diagnostically discriminative.”
fitaloon
Nov 19, 2007 at 6:27 pm
I have commented on my blog about this story. When you read the whole article the only person linking alcohol as a cause of autism is the hack journalist who wrote the story and the newspaper editor who allowed the dishonest/sensationalist headline to be printed.
Becky
Nov 19, 2007 at 6:56 pm
I think this is a bunch of hogwash! I have never drank alcohol in my life, don’t like the taste of it and surely would not be stupid enough to drink while pregnant! So saying alcohol could be a contributer to autism in our case is very very untrue!
pickel
Nov 20, 2007 at 12:25 am
My son was evaluated for FAS and Autism at the same time back when he was three and I have known for a long time that FAS and Autism symptoms overlap. In fact, they overlap so much so that in our case we can not tell if our son has FAS or if he has Autism because we don’t have much history on his birth mother.
Note that I said symptoms.
Children with FAS can display symptoms of autism, ADHD, aspergers, tourettes, and many other disorders.
Unless you have experience with both and have done your research on both topics please don’t be so quick to throw this out. Most mothers don’t drink while pregnant but some do, unfortunately.
I know what the symptoms of autism are and I know what the symptoms of FAS are and I can’t tell the difference in my son. I sure wish I could because then I would have an answer…a diagnosis.
pickel
Nov 20, 2007 at 12:26 am
You can also read more about his orphanage life at A Child Chosen…
Eleanor
Nov 20, 2007 at 1:48 pm
pickel: the reason I said that I didn’t think that FAS was easily confused with autism is that quite a few children with FAS have very distinctive facial features, particularly around the upper lip area. But I suppose there can be confusion where a child with FAS lacks those features, or a child with ASD has those traits. Also, it wouldn’t surprise me if the conditions could co-exist. What irritated me about the article (really the problem was the headine) was the suggestion that autism is the same as FAS.
Kristina Chew, PhD
Nov 20, 2007 at 2:39 pm
When Charlie was a baby (and yet undiagnosed), we were at the house of friends; the mother was nursing and had a beer, and assured me that “this was now okay.” I was a little unsettled by this; I o think it’s all a reminder that babies and alcohol equals a not so good combination. imho.
pickel
Nov 20, 2007 at 3:06 pm
Kristina and Eleanor, totally agree. We had our IEP today and because he is doing so well his teacher (off the record of course) does not think he is on the spectrum. The question I did not ask is…what if I took him off the GFCF diet, and stopped the yeast treatment, and stopped giving him his clonidine?
What would happen then? Would he still be classified as a possible FAS kid or would he be checked again for PDD?
There have been new studies about the pump and dump, btw. I guess if you wait three hours? No experience here so I can’t comment
theasman
Nov 20, 2007 at 3:13 pm
he is doing so well his teacher (off the record of course) does not think he is on the spectrum.
====
Are we defining autism by behavior? or how well they conform to expectations? I would surmise that most people would agree by expectations who be a huge step backward
Kristina Chew, PhD
Nov 20, 2007 at 3:18 pm
The mother in question did not wait—–noted that it sure helped the child to go to sleep….
Sue Miers
Nov 29, 2007 at 3:07 am
My understanding of the article is that Dr. Watts was saying that some children with FASD may have been mis-diagnosed with ASD. I believe this to be the case in Australia because our health professionals have not been trained to diagnose FASD and the symptoms of ASD are very similar.
However, I am definitely not suggesting that parents of children with ASD drank alcohol during pregnancy.
Also, for those that are interested some further facts:
Only 10-20% of children with FASD will have distinguishing facial features - the others just have hidden brain or other physical damage.
It is important to have a correct diagnosis because FASD is preventable and also, if the child does have FASD there may also be other underlying physical defects in organs such as the heart, kidneys or liver.
Addressing alcohol use in pregnancy is nothing to do with laying blame or raising guilt in pregnant women - it is about giving information that enables them to make informed choice.
Many women might say they didn’t drink in pregnancy but some of the greatest harm caused by alcohol occurs before the women knows she is pregnant and so even though she stops drinking as soon as the pregnancy is confirmed and therefore considers she definitely didn’t drink in pregnancy the damage could have alread been done. That is why education is so important.
Not every woman who drinks during pregnancy necessarily causes harm - what must be remembered is that every woman is different - some will drink only once during pregnancy and cause harm, others may drink many times and cause no harm.
I encourage every woman of child bearing age to learn more about alcohol’s possible effects during pregnancy - no one knows which fetus and which mother is going to suffer the poison effects of alcohol.
The only responsible message in pregnancy is no alcohol = no risk.
Drinking While Pregnant Linked to Autism
Mar 23, 2008 at 3:00 pm
[...] alcohol during pregnancy, today’s Times notes. This topic has come up before: Back in November, it was reported that moderate drinking during pregnancy could be “the hidden cause” of autism, [...]
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