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TheMatrixHasYou
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05 Nov 2011, 2:50 pm

I was wondering if there was any link between autism and premature birth- there seems to be a lot of evidence to suggest this. I was born at 28 weeks and had a birth mass of 895 grams. Were any of you born prematurely, and if so, by how many weeks and what was your birth mass?



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05 Nov 2011, 2:55 pm

I wasn't premature, rather I was carried for 10 months and weighted almost 11 pounds (5 kilos).



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05 Nov 2011, 3:12 pm

Yes, I was premature, but not by much. A couple of weeks, I think--I was home from the hospital in the same time that any newborn is. I was on the small end of the typical newborn weight range. I was born with congenital hip dysplasia, but that resolved itself with some time in a brace, as it usually does.

You'll probably find a somewhat higher rate of prematurity and low birth weight on the Spectrum, since autism is associated with developmental delay and developmental delay is strongly associated with both prematurity and low birth weight. I expect the correlation to be stronger the more obvious and pronounced the autistic traits are, because people who are profoundly autistic tend to be more likely to have other genetic and congenital problems as well.


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05 Nov 2011, 3:44 pm

I was 10 weeks early and weighed 2lb 2 oz.



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05 Nov 2011, 4:55 pm

I was born one month early and my mother said I was a "skinny" baby. I cried a lot.


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05 Nov 2011, 5:12 pm

I was born 6 weeks early and weighed 3.5lbs, but I was healthy. I don't think that really has anything to do with my brain though. Asperger's appears to run in my family, as I suspect my uncle and my dad to have it as well.



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05 Nov 2011, 5:14 pm

I was born on time and weighed 7 pounds 1 ounce. I was a fat baby until I started walking.



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05 Nov 2011, 5:45 pm

I can't say I know of anything that says there is a connection.

I was born 3 days late...as my mother kept reminding me, as I was due on her birthday and so my being late (if I was in fact late, given as even today doctors still use the birth chart wheel) and having to be induced ruined her birthday :roll:


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05 Nov 2011, 5:58 pm

It's possible but I doubt the two are mutually exclusive. However, I seem to be austistic (AS diagnosis is being ignored at the moment til more better testing can be done in a month or two) and I was born preterm.

I was born at 28 weeks(3 months early) and was 1 lb 12 oz at birth(the doctors weren't sure I'd live). We have pictures of newborn me laying along side my dad's hand to show how small I was back then. I was in the hospital for a long time and back again when I was about a year old or so. Each doctor visit back then pushed back my development it seemed and all the doctors said I would be delayed developmentally. I'm almost 27 now and for the last three years my mother and I have been working on getting me a proper diagnosis.

There are a number of developmental issues caused by being born preterm and some are also traits(?) of autism. I don't know one would decide which are from what.

Infants born prematurely often have trouble breathing since the lungs are the last organ to develop in the womb. They also often suffer from eye problems (I forget the exact reason why but the eyes don't start working much til after birth as there's nothing to see in the womb as it's dark in there).


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05 Nov 2011, 6:12 pm

I had a perfectly ''normal'' birth. I was born into an NT family, was due about 4 days late from the predicted due date, and I weighed 7 pound something. So I really can't understand why I had to be born with this AS.


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05 Nov 2011, 6:14 pm

I think in 10 months I had extra time to develop my awesome intellect and pyrokinesis skills.



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05 Nov 2011, 6:19 pm

I was 3 months early and weighed around 1 pound.


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05 Nov 2011, 6:23 pm

I was born on my due date and I weight 6lbs even.


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05 Nov 2011, 6:32 pm

I was born exactly one week before my due date, and think I was 7 lbs 11 ounces



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05 Nov 2011, 6:48 pm

Sparx wrote:
I was born 6 weeks early and weighed 3.5lbs, but I was healthy. I don't think that really has anything to do with my brain though. Asperger's appears to run in my family, as I suspect my uncle and my dad to have it as well.
I agree that the correlation between ASDs and prematurity is probably not a cause-and-effect relationship. I think it's far more likely that some underlying genetic factor makes both things more likely, especially since the correlation itself is fairly weak and also applies to many other developmental disorders.


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05 Nov 2011, 6:58 pm

I wasn't premature but I did get tangled up or something & stopped breathing during her labor & then my mother had trouble breathing. So I was a C-section & had to be hospitalized for a few days until they were sure that I'd be okay. My mom said that I didn't cry much and wasn't a bother.