If they can leak in through human milk, they can leak in through cow's milk. I think formula is actually concentrated cows milk, so if this were true, then most of the kids with ASDs would be formula fed, not human milk fed. I don't buy it.I breastfed both kids - one has autism and the other is NT. In fact I weaned ds earlier than I did my dd. He nursed for not quite 13 months and dd went for almost 15 months.
one more thing to feel bad about!!!!!
R is 2.5 and still nursing
ANother day another reason !
Thought I have to say if Bfeeding were the big cause of ASD then ASD in countries like India would be reducing dramatically as breastfeeding rates fall - instead its rising like everywhere else in the world
I apologize if this has already been discussed, but there is a study that claims that toxins can be released through breastfeeding, thus causing autism. A link to the article is below.
Just curious- were all of your kids breastfed and do all of the have an ASD? I BF'd my son...
I breastfed my twins for 3 months, then weaned them since I was going back to work. 1 is ASD and the other NT as can be.
Everyone in my family, and my husbands family, and all of my friends except 1 breastfed and I'm the only one with a kid on the spectrum.
very interesting read I have to say. I would love there to be a reason, therefore a cure for the future, although, the guilt I put on myself already needs no amplification. Was it the aspirin that I took before I knew I was pregnant, was it the ambien that my ob prescribed at 34 weeks because I dislocated my hip and the pain and loss of sleep was causing preterm labor, was it the breast feeding. Who knows. I will continue to partially blame myself because I am a mother and that is what we do against all rational thinking.
Sorry for the rant
Yes, I breastfed both kids one NT, one ASD
[QUOTE=AnamCara]The benefits of nursing still far outweigh the benefits of formula.
[/QUOTE]
Although breast tissue acts as a filter for nursing mothers after birth, the placenta acts as a sponge. (Not to say that Mom needs to be ingesting anything unhealthful at any time during either of those time periods!) Given that, if the PCBs they're claiming are being absorbed by the child through breastmilk is 5-6x what the infant's system is capable of handling, the toxins delivered during pregnancy through absorption via the mother's ingestion would be far greater...and not something that the study took into account at all.
I tend to agree with a previous poster's comment - if this kind of study wasn't sponsered by a formula company, it will certainly be endorsed by one, at the very least. The benefits of nursing still far outweigh the benefits of formula.
I breastfed Sharlet until she was 5 months when she refused over night at the same time a lot of her symptoms were becoming obvious.Stupid Guesses. EXACTLY what this is.
I am glad in some ways I adopted T so I had no control over her earliest environment!!!
We'll probably discover in 50 years (or more) that 99% of cases are caused by transient prion infection (like Mad Cow) ... or some such thing we had NO knowledge or control over!!!
I don't buy this one!
If my breastfeeding did happen to be a possible cause of his autism then that is very sad and unfair to say the least!
I didn't read the article because THIS MAKES ME MAD!!!!
I'm sick and tired of people blaming parents and us blaming ourselves for our children's autism. Autism is a disorder of hardwiring of the brain. Our kids are BORN with it. Can environmental insult exacerbate things? Possibly. That has not yet been proven, but it could be true. We don't yet know. But medical science KNOWS that autism is genetically based. Did we breastfeed and cause autism? Did we fail to get ABA so our kids weren't "cured"? Did we choose to live in an autism "hot spot" and that gave our kids the disorder? NONE of these things gave our kids autism. The debates nowadays about the non-genetic causes of autism (all of them, to date, baseless) are the modern version of the REFRIGERATOR MOTHER THEORY. That theory blamed autism on cold mothers. I see no difference now that we are blaming autism on breast-feeding mothers. If the money, energy and emotion that is spent on all these studies that just support denial, IMHO, were instead spent on methods that are KNOWN to help, autism wouldn't be the scourge it is. If every child were screened for autism for free by experts at age two, if all the children who were found to have any autistic tendencies were immediately given ABA and their parents were trained in RDI (both research-based methodologies), if schools were able to create small but higher functioning classes for kids on the higher end of the spectrum, I firmly believe the effects of this genetic disorder would be minimized. If the money spent on chasing shadows were instead put into scientifically proven treatments and education so more than the rich could afford those, our kids (and we) would be far, far, far better off.
Breastfed kids are less allergic, less sick, less overweight than their bottle fed peers. I would hate to see moms stop giving their babies what God meant for them to give their babies. Cow's milk is for calves. A breastfeeding mom certainly has to be careful about what she eats or puts into her body in any way, but most moms are careful. And their babies get the sort of nutrition Nature meant for them to get.
I breastfed two out of four children. The formula-fed one has issues, too.
Nothnig is perfect but breastmilk is best. Nurse if you can.
Same here Chaos, we have ASD all through my DH family.Well Dh has Aspergers and I didn't BF him
Nursed all 3 kids between 3 weeks and 3 months, and not even exclusivley at that. Wasn't very good at it. My two boys have the disabilites, and they were that way FROM BIRTH. I could tell my ASD son was this way in utero, and ASD runs in my DH's family.
So all these studies trying to pinpoint how we did it to our kids after they were born prove meaningless for us.
Go figure????
I truely think that in some cases where the mother is highly toxic (has a very high heavy metal burden), then bf may not be a good choice since the baby is getting it through the breastmilk. But, I really feel that breast is best because of all the other things it provides.
I breastfed both kids for at least 2 months. Both have autism, but they developed it slightly differently. My #1 showed signs since infancy, but did regress after 12 mos. My #2 showed no red flags and regressed after 12 mos and again after 18 mos (after his vaccinations). This puzzled me because if it was the vaccinations that caused the regression, then why didn't they regress prior to 12 mos. Our DAN had asked if I bf and when I stopped. Interestingly, with #2 I stopped before his 12 mo vax. W/ #1, I stopped around 12 mos, but can't remember exactly when. He said it was a possibility that during the 1st 12 mos my kids had the support of my immune system through the breastmilk. Remember that children's immune systems are not fully developed until they are around 24mos.
I found it interesting. When both my kids had their heavy metal burden tested, they were higher than DH, myself and our parents. Their bodies are unable to get rid of the toxins adequately like us...so the metals and toxins just build up in the tissues.
NO NO NO!
This is DEFINATELY NOT TRUE!
This ranks up there with the other stupid guesses as to what causes autims, like 'too much meat' ' not enough meat' 'mom had too much folic acid' 'mom didnt have enough folic acid' 'mom didnt talk to child in utero' and every other dumb reason you can imagine!
This is just another guilt trip, ladies so don't go there!
I breastfed all three of my boys for at least 12 months and I only have one with autism!I tried to post to this the other day and my computer kept acting up so if I have a post on here before this please disregard this. With my boys they were both breastfeed and formula feed. Because I was so ill during and after my pregnancy with my first I had to have several surgeries so my oldest was breastfeed on and off until he was 14 months and had formula to supplement. He was on the expense speciality formula because he had GERD and sleep apnea. My youngest also suffers from severe reflux and a stomach that is slow to digest so he was mostly on formula with breastfeeding for about 4 months before they told us to just feed him baby food. So I don't know how that really ties into because it is looking like my youngest with likely be diagnosed with autism as well before the year is out. i breastfed my son for 12 months. The boys could not latch on I tried everything too. They were premature though and there were 2 of them so I chalked it up to that. I did pump and give it to them in a bottle supplemented with formula until they were 9 months. My NT daughter on the otherhand was exclusively breastfed and wouldn't even look at a bottle. And she is as NT as can be. My boys weren't breastfed.. I stay on too many anxiety medications for it to be safe. Daniel PDD-NOS...