Selective Elective C-Section Delivery Creates Greater Risk of Autism and Special Education Needs for Child
1:25 PM Posted In autism , deafness , dyslexia , early term birth , elective c-section , poor vision , preterm birth , research , special education needs Edit This 3 Comments »
I have never liked the idea of selective elective Cesarean deliveries. It is one thing if your health is at risk and you need to have a C-section early, but many parents are pressuring their OB provider to schedule early C-sections for convenience sake….for example, a husband that works away and might miss the delivery.
Now comes a new study showing giving scientific backing as to why selective elective Cesarean delivery is not really a wise thing to do. It has been clear for a long time that extremely preterm babies, say 25 weeks gestation or so, have a much higher risk of special education needs. However, later term early deliveries, say 37-39 weeks gestation, have never been examined in relation to risk of special education needs.
The birth history of 400 thousand school aged children was analyzed by Scottish researchers. They found that autism and or special education needs (dyslexia, poor vision, deafness, etc..) were 1.16 times greater for babies born at 37-39 weeks than those born at 40 weeks.
Sources:
NHS: Early Babies and Special Needs
PLoS Medicine: Gestational Age at Delivery and Special Educational Need: Retrospective Cohort Study of 407,503 Schoolchildren
Medical News Today: Babies Born At 37 To 39 Weeks Have Higher Risk Of Autism And Special Educational Needs
Now comes a new study showing giving scientific backing as to why selective elective Cesarean delivery is not really a wise thing to do. It has been clear for a long time that extremely preterm babies, say 25 weeks gestation or so, have a much higher risk of special education needs. However, later term early deliveries, say 37-39 weeks gestation, have never been examined in relation to risk of special education needs.
The birth history of 400 thousand school aged children was analyzed by Scottish researchers. They found that autism and or special education needs (dyslexia, poor vision, deafness, etc..) were 1.16 times greater for babies born at 37-39 weeks than those born at 40 weeks.
Sources:
NHS: Early Babies and Special Needs
PLoS Medicine: Gestational Age at Delivery and Special Educational Need: Retrospective Cohort Study of 407,503 Schoolchildren
Medical News Today: Babies Born At 37 To 39 Weeks Have Higher Risk Of Autism And Special Educational Needs
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3 comments:
I have a hard time working out why anyone would choose major abdominal surgery! And certainly because husband / Dad was going away on business, he should damn well wait (-:
My son was born by caesarian, after I was in labour for nearly 3 days and his heartbeat showed distress. I wouldn't have chosen it.
Same here LondonGirl. My second was an emergency C-section....and I sure would not have opted for c-section otherwise. Babies should not be forced to be born early unless the mothers' health is at risk. A little convenience now for lifelong problems for the baby doesn't seem like a very good trade....so I have to assume that parents are doing this out of lack of education.
Mother's health, or baby's health - sometimes a baby needs to be born early, if there are growth problems, or placenta collapsing, etc. But certainly not because it's handy for the parents' diary arrangements! They're going to learn pretty quickly anyway that babies don't care about diaries (-:
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