But - I have to say a few things. My first born child is autistic, he also has 3 younger siblings. It was scary as heck being pregnant with my second child - wondering and worrying all the time. I watched him so carefully when he was first born, and truthfully I remember when he was about a month old thinking - if he is going to be autistic he is going to be much worse than Keannor. My oldest had been an absolute joy as an infant - smiled at me the day he was born, not his little brother. He was just a grumpy serious little thing. He did not smile at all for about 2 months. I did nothing different with him - I breastfed, coslept and carried both of them pretty much 24/7. Here is the difference though. When my oldest was a baby,during labor I had Pitocin and an epidural then he had his Hep B shot at the hospital. My feeling is that the Pitocin probably taxed his liver causing him to not only be jaundiced but not to be able to rid his tiny little body of the mercury in that shot. Then his 2 month shots and 4 months shots with bad reactions (in my opinion- doc thought he was fine) but it was enough that I switched doctors and ended vaccinating him. I feel blessed that I did that as I feel it contributed somewhat to him doing fairly well with language,and social ties. He does pretty well. When he was diagnosed at 2.9 years as ASD, I started my research on vaccines. The thinking at the time was that the DPT shot (which is different from the DTaP shot given now) was possibly to blame.Because I wanted to be sure I did absolutely everything to avoid WHATEVER it could have been that caused my son to be autistic I went to a midwife/birth center for all my other children and had no pain drugs whatsoever (a very scary decision given my first labor)
when my second child was born I allowed him to get the HepB shot at birth, and the Hib shot at 2 and 4 months. It was then that my second son really began to worry me with his lack of interest or joy I had seen in my oldest. I started researching like crazy and to my dismay - it was not just the DPT that was thought then to be the trigger - but the mercury in the shots. I discontinued vaccinating him at that point. I again feel blessed to have found this information, as I just feel so strongly his path would have been so terribly different form the one he is on now. He is not autistic, but has had some sensory issues especially wrt eating. He has some OCD tendencies and is socially very awkward. He is however just brilliant and a little love to me, it is very difficult for him to be affectionate with others. He only began being able to hug me when he was about 5. My next child was a girl - no vaccines - no issues (aside from being extremely willful!) and my last- a little boy no shots and only slight OCD issues. No social or sensory problems.
What I have taken from my experience (and mine only) is that it seems likely the reason boys are more likely to be autistic than girls is that they simply most likely have more factors predisposing them to be sensitive to whatever enviornmental factors come into play. Research actually does show testosterone inhibits the excretion of mercury, while estogen seems to have a beneficial effect. I have three boys all with the predisposition for ASD , my oldest with the most triggers (shots and possible exposure to mercury via breastmilk and prolonged nursing) got it the worst, my next - same predispostion, but fewer triggers, sensory and social isuues, my last even fewer triggers - only very slight OCD issues. My girl who just does not have that predispostion is unaffected.
The reason I write all this instead of just saying you should or should not try for another child is this _ i truly believe autism can ALMOST always be PREVENTED. I believe with ASD in the family - even in the extended family one needs to be super cautious with mercury exposure, and also allergies in infancy, which can also be involved with ASD. I would research like crazy all the time the theories of the causes of autism - and do not dismiss anything - you can not be too cautious when a child's life is concerned. If you will be breastfeeding and have mercury fillings - I would find a reputable dentist who will carefully remove and replace those fillings and then wait a good long while (not sure what is recommended) before trying to conceive. I would avoid drugs if at all possible during labor. I am not saying that the drugs given during labor cause autism, I just feel that it may get the ball rolling in the wrong direction. None of my other children were jaundiced. It is my opinion that then drugs do tax the baby's liver - which seems to make perfect sense. A taxed liver is less likely to be able to keep up with what it needs to do causing the baby to become jaundiced. The jaundice further taxes the liver and then we introduce mercury or even a vaccine in general at that point? How can we not expect something to happen? Anyway off my soap box -
having younger siblings has been such a blessing for Keannor - other children would not put in the time and effort to draw him out - they do . Some ASD kids need to be literally forced to play with others - who else but a sibling will do that? Who else will shower an older sibling with love and attention even when he thinks he does not want it? My son has learned more from his daily life with his siblings about how to play, learn and even be naughty (which he finds terribly amusing) than he could ever learn at school. I could not imagine his life (nor mine ) without them. I wish you the absolute best of luck in whatever you decide. I hope noone is offended by anything I have said -
editing to add -
my oldest son is 12 now, I just thought that may be important - I know some people feel the vaccine thing is just something some people cling onto when they hear it so they have a REASON for what happened to their child. I knew 12 years ago the shots did something to him - I just did not know what. Research is only now beginning to bear that out...
California autism rates have declined for their first time in over a decade. Just one positive thing!