autism and 2nd children [Archive] - HealthBoards Message Boards

laurie1878

01-12-2006, 10:56 PM

I am 35 years old and have a 7-year old daughter from my first marriage who was diagnosed last year with PDD-NOS. I am divorced and now in a new relationship. I was wondering what the odds were of my having another child with autism with a different partner. I dream of having more children, but are my chances of having another child with this condition doubled since I already have one-- even if it is conceived with a different father? Have there been any studies or statistics to indicate that this condition is passed on through the mother primarily? I am scared-- Please help!

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PinkPiglet

01-13-2006, 02:29 AM

I have one with Aspergers. He's my firstborn. My younger two do not have any signs of autism at all.

Jeannie

bercol1

01-13-2006, 07:50 AM

Hi
If you look further down there is a thread that discusses this, there is also another thread discussing MMR you might want to read some people talk about genetics on this.
i think the best advice would be to get geneitic councelling. Speek to your GP.
i have two children my first is a girl who has no developmental problems and my second is my son Anthony who was dx with Autism

geezermom

01-13-2006, 11:14 AM

For a quick, accurate answer on the odds, do a google to find the big, national autism sites. There's gobs of factual information there, and I'd guess they discuss the likelihood of autism with a sibling...the new daddy might "dilute" the likelihood.

If you guys are serious about babies, DO see a genetic counselor but make your fiancee research his second cousins, etc so you can accurately inform the doc.

FYI, my 5 yr old boy is PDD NOS and his nearly 3yr old brother is a regular Oprah Winfrey...never met a stranger.

Jana2676

01-16-2006, 04:36 AM

I recently read on a national website, that is the likely hood of having another child on the spectrum is between 5-10%. My 6 year old daughter is on the spectrum, while my 3 year old son is typical. My sister has a 3 year old typical son, and a 2 year old son on the spectrum. My aunt's oldest child is on the spectrum while her younger two are not. I think its just a numbers game. But I am glad we didn't know my daughter on the spectrum when we decided to have another child. I don't know of that would have influnced our decision, but I am thankful for my sweet little son.

Cantdoitagain

01-16-2006, 12:51 PM

I have four children and my 3rd may be autistic. When I got pregnant with my 4th we were only just noticing that my third child was not typical.

I am sooo glad we had our fourth. She is teaching my 3rd so much. It is so good for him to have someone to play with. I wouldn't change it for the world.

It scares me to think and look back and know that I would have considered not having a fourth.

I wish you all the best in your decision.

marissamm

01-16-2006, 06:03 PM

i have a 17 year old hfa son with behaviors that go with it. my 13 year old daughter is normal she has slight learning disabilities, but an avereage teen , when she was younger she had major blow up fits that suddenly stopped when she started her period last year, so take a leap and have another it will do you good to have another , she does however mothers my son all the time, we used to tell her to stop but she doesn,t but she is a big help especially if i have to shower or use the bathroom.

Rickysmom

01-18-2006, 07:03 PM

My 13-yo son didn't get diagnosed with AS until he was 12. Fortunately, I didn't know sooner because I had 4 more children, none of which have autism! :eek:

Day2Day

01-18-2006, 11:58 PM

I am entering my first on this wonderful website. I am very glad I found this because it can get real lonely with what we are going through. I am the mother of a 3 year old son with HFA and an 8 year old typical son. The 3 year old has our household in turmoil 24/7 and it is now really wreaking havic on my 8 year old. He is struggling in school and home to try to "fix" everything and is resulting in panic attacks. I don't know what to do for him. Any advice?

ThreeBoys

01-20-2006, 02:57 AM