Link Between Pitocin and Autism?

Pit does not cause autism any more than the MMR does. I had pit with both of my boys at 42 weeks, they are great and intelligent little ones now, age 5 and 6. Next thing you know they are going to be saying water causes autism! I understand people feel the need to have someone to blame when their child has a problem, but sometimes we are just born that way, and there really is no one to blame.

I have 3 children all born with help from Pitocin. My oldest has Aspergers and the other 2 are not on the spectrum. My children also all received their vaccinations, all ate non-organic foods, all drank tap water, I drank diet pop when pregnant with all 3, and none of them were exclusively breastfed. I have all kinds of things I can blame for the Aspergers :-)!

Good luck,
K.

I had pitocin with my now 7 year old. He is a typical kid no complications. I read an article trying to link pitocin to "autism", I think it is yet another drug company trying to make claims against a drug(pitocin) so they can introduce their new drug to the world. I stopped reading all these claims or else I would be one paranoid momma.

Pitocin used to be standard treatment. As in EVERY baby born in a hospital for over a generation was birthed with pitocin. Since Autism didn't take over an entire generation, the correlation is highly unlikely.

People REALLY want to assign blame to things they are afraid of. Unfortunately, it's just not that simple.

Take the whole immunization thing. In the medical community we knew that was bunk years (over 10) ago. Most knew it was bunk the moment the studies came out and hit peer review, because the studies were done wrong. One of the studies actually included a school for autistic children in the sample group. If, instead, they had included a school for gifted kids the "result" would have been that "immunizations cause giftedness". Totally bunk study, because it was done incorrectly. BUT people latched onto it, because it's a "controllable & blameable" thing. Meaning that a parent could "save" their child from autism by not doing x... which also translates into another parent having done something wrong. It's a human thing. THEY slipped because they're clumsy, *I* slipped because I stepped on an icy patch. It's a defense mechanism, to assign blame, found across every culture. Also, because of the regression that naturally happens around age 2, right when kids were coming into the docs, it created a false "positive" for people to see as "proof". Now... 1000 other things ALSO happen at different ages. If the regression happened at age 5, K would get blamed. If it happened around age 1 babyfood would be blamed. There's ALWAYS something else going on milestone or culturely at *any* age that something happens. That's why correlation isn't cause. MOST babies are born in hospitals... does that mean that hospitals cause _________? (fill in anything scary). No. It doesn't. For it to be causal the *majority* of people (or a strong percentage... like the percentage rates for Downs amongst "older" women is easily trackable, the percentage changes *noticeably* across the board) would have to be affected, instead of the standard %.

Since the immunization thing was *finally* debunked in the general public, there will undoubtedly be 5-20 new "things" that people are latching onto trying to find a cause for.

But it doesn't work that way. Autism just isn't that simple.

Unfortunately, I don't know that they'll ever find out what truly "causes" autism.
I have a friend with 3 children, all raised the same way, nurtured the same way, same diet, same birthing situations, same vaccines, no food or other allergies. One has high-functioning autism, the other 2 do not.
They come from a HUGE family that all raises their kids the same way. Only one child in the entire extended family is autistic.
It seems to me that if something they were doing "caused" autism, more kids within the very same family would have it.
I don't see any correlation to support claims that this or that specific thing "causes" it.
That's just my opinion.

My son was born with Pitocin after 12 hours of labor and no progress. He's wonderful, social, and healthy at 18-months-old. I think people have no idea what causes autism and grasp at anything - I understand why. It's a terrifying disorder. I find it terrifying, anyway, but I'm pretty sure we would hear about it all over the news if scientists had found any correlation with certainty.

There are a lot of claims on the internet and most if not all are non sense.

Have not heard this one yet. If Autsim Speaks isn't talking about it, I would assume that it is not a credible study. It would be big news, and it's not. You can be sure, if there is ever a credible study that finds the cause for any ASD, it will be headline news.

The anecdotal links you could make here are not going to help you or anyone else, it just leads to worry, which you do not need to do. It won't help you, or any other parent, who may have just delivered a baby via pitocin, and that is just not going to help anyone. Stop the needless worry, it won't change anything, go and enjoy your baby.

M.

No. There is no scientific evidence that pitocin causes autism.

I was induced with pitocin almost four years ago and my son is absolutely fine!

I'm sorry doctors tell women that slowed labor is a medical episode needing drugs:( It's such a lie. Labor slows due to many things and if mom is left alone to keep to herself and maybe to do some natural things like nipple stimulation, labor always picks up. Women who birth at home or in birth centers don't need Pitocin - just time!
First, of course the drug is passed to the baby! There isn't a single drug out there that doesn't cross the placenta. We just aren't sure of it's effects at this point.
I've seen quite a few articles about an autism link as well. As I understand it, they haven't proven anything yet because there haven't been any formal studies thus far. But as the rate of Pit use has gone up, so has the rate of Autism diagnoses. The question is, is it directly related (Pitocin somehow changes the brain), indirectly related (Pit somehow affects something else or the labor process that can change the brain), or a total coincidence (we have better ways and a wider spectrum with which to diagnose autism as doctors force women to use Pit at rates never used before (80-90% in some hospitals!!!)? I do know quite a few women who were given Pit at some point in labor, either to start labor, to hep labor, or through the hole labor, who ended up with children with some level of autism.
I'm sure they are studying it now, but it will probably be at least a few more years before a good study with enough women and children comes out with a conclusion.
For now, the best we can do is get the word out that "stalled labor" and "failure to progress" are terms doctors have made up for a natural occurrence in labor that almost always rectifies itself if the doctor will just slow down and realize that it's not about them and their schedules, it's about safety of mother and baby. And spread information about how unsafe it is in induce because mom is "done being pregnant" or "uncomfortable", or because of the "big baby" myth, or *gasp* mom is a few days past her due date.

I guess we'll see...

I had pictocin... with my first child... due to extenuating circumstances and medical complications during labor/birth.
My child, is completely fine and healthy and NO issues what so ever.

Almost everyone I know has had pitocin, and most of them have typical children. I had no pitocin (or any other drugs at birth), and I have a kid on the spectrum. It doesn't mean that pitocin can't cause it, but I've never heard of any link.

I was induced using Pitocin almost 8 yrs ago and my son is a smart, bright young man who has no signs or indication of autism.

3 kids, ages 7, 5, and 2, all with the help of pitocin. All are very bright and no signs of autism.

I had labor induced with pitocin with both of my girls. My oldest (8yrs old) was sitting up on her own at 4 mos, talking in full sentences at 1yr and is in the 3rd grade gifted program for math and lanuage. My youngest (4yrs old) was walking at 9mos and is in the early entry kindergarten program. They are both very bright with no issues with development.

I've had two children and both were induced with pitocin. Neither have any autism issues (they are 2 and 4 1/2) and I, personally, don't think there is a valid link between the two. Hope this helps!

I had Pitocin for all three of my kids and no sign of Autism, nor do I know anyone who has had Pitocin and ended up with a child with Autism. I would check with the doc. More than likely he/she has studied the possible affects quite a bit and can give you some medical insight. I am truly interested to the other answers though as I am about to have #4 and will not do Pitocin if there is a link. Why risk it?

Good luck on your study.

My little sister, who's 18 now, did not have pitocin to help have her born (even though she was born late) and have severe autism.
My son was born with pitocin...I had three hours worth of pitocin...but he's way too young to tell if he has any signs of it (almost 7 weeks old). I've never heard of the pitocin/autism theory....i mean, pitocin is synthetic oxytocin...i don't see how it could. don't worry about it...i'm sure your boy will be fine :) (i'm not worried even though my sister has it).

I had it in two of four births. No autism here

I doubt such a link exists. The way I understand it, a chance for autism developing happens during a window of opportunity in the first trimester of fetal development. Exposure of the mother to Rhubella during this time has an increased instance of autism. Once past that developmental window, there is nothing you can give a child that will make them autistic (and that would include pitocin during birth). I wish they'd look more to what women are exposed to during pregnancy. Did they come into contact with a disease, dye their hair, breathe in polluted air, drink fluoride in the water, eat food warmed in a plastic container in a microwave oven, live in constant contact with a cell phone and/or computer? It could be anything (or none of the above), but I really think they are looking at the wrong timing when they think a chemical or substance may have an affect. Just my personal theory.

I had pitocin with all five of my boys. 4 of them are fine with no issues. 1 has a severe speech delay, but not "Autism". I believe Autism (and related disorders) has several environmental causes including pitocin, vaccines, chemicals in our food, cleaning products, etc. That is why no one has been able to find one specific "cause".

My oldest is 6 1/2 and he was induced with a TINY amount of pit (I probably didn't even need it but of course the nurses were getting impatient waiting for things to start with just having my water broken). I had more issues in the pregnancy where I was progressing/having contractions and preterm labor issues and was given several different drugs early in the pregnancy including magnesium, procardia, steroids for the lungs, and also had small amounts Vicodin because of a painful root canal/jaw infection that happened early in the pregnancy. I think it is more likely that one of these things may have caused some of his issues. It is currently being debated by several doctors but the possibilities being looked at are ADHD, Aspergers or PDD-NOS (both high functioning austism) or behavior disorder.

My second had to be born csection because he was breech and no doctors know how to deliver a breech vaginally anymore. So there was no pit with him, but of course had to have a spinal. He does not appear to have developmental issues but he does have verbal motor problems (apraxia) and at 2 1/2 can barely speak. I think alot of these issues are genetic more than anything, but most adults our age did not get diagnosed back when we were kids because the awareness of these disorders just wasn't there.

pitocin ~ yes, autism ~ NO, current age 6 boy

My oldest son is 7 in a few weeks I used pitocin..He has no behavior,speech.Autism,handicap or any delays.No food or drug allergies either he has had the stomach bug once his whole life that was last winter his 1st f.t. school yr.Any links to Autism would be on every newspaper Parenting site,news local and national it would be every where not saying it won't ever be (I hope so) I just never heard of such that Pitocin is a leading cause of Autism or to blame this drug.I personally think it is genetics.Don't stop your search if my child had a disorder like Autism I would not give up there maybe a cure or non but at least the search for one is a quest to help heal millions of children...

yes, pitocin with first child & he's almost 5 and typical.

No pitocin with my oldest (boy), he's 8 now and is on the autism spectrum.
Had pitocin with both girls (ages 3 & 5) and no autism.

It's highly unlikely pitocin is the cause - that's a pretty easy thing for the number crunchers to look at and see a trend (or lack of a trend). Pitocin doesn't really affect the baby, either. Very little, if any of the drug is passed to the baby. They do know that the brain in autism spectrum kids is different - different areas are larger/smaller than in a non-autism person. They've done many brain scans to compare and this is a known fact. They still do not know the cause but have narrowed it down and the most recent thinking is that it's a gene.

Sounds to me like someone is grasping at straws and/or trying to promote their own drug-free agenda by scaring others.

I had pitocin with both my deliveries and so far no signs of autism (kids are 4.5 and 1.5 years old.) They are both brigh and on track developmentally. It's possible the pitocin contributed to my son's meconium aspiration during labor by making the contractions so strong, but no proof of that.