I breastfed my son for a little over 18 months....My sister-in-law chose NOT to breastfeed her son (just one year younger than mine) and he has autism too. So, I do NOT believe breastfeeding caused my son to develop autism--if anything, I think it helped us develop a bond that we have to this day.This statement, pulled from a recent blog comment, sounds both compelling and reasonable. And it's based on common sense. After all, the commenter had a real experience, and can speak from actual knowledge.
The problem, of course, is that one's own personal experience is not the same thing as scientific certainty.
In the case of the breast-feeding/non breast-feeding family, there is no reasonable way to know whether breast feeding had anything whatever to do with the two cousins' autism. Perhaps a genetic component was passed along in both cases. Perhaps there's an environmental toxin in the area that impacted both children. Perhaps the cousins share a rare immune deficiency. The point is, there's no way to know.
It's extremely difficult to separate oneself from one's own experiences. And it's very compelling indeed to say "I saw this with my own eyes, therefore I have drawn the correct conclusion." The truth is, though, that common sense is rarely the best way to make sense of the causes, cures and treatments for complex, broad ranging medical disorders.
there have been studies that show kids that receive DHA longer (in some formulas, and always in breatmilk) have less severe symptoms of ADHD.
I can’t find that link right now but I did just find a link to a small study that showed a much higher percentage of early weaning amongst children with autism vs a control group: http://www.springerlink.com/content/u7730mgj62g95831/
here’s an article weighing the risks and benefits of breastmilk regarding environmental toxins: http://www.ehponline.org/members/2008/116-10/EHP116pa426PDF.PDF (in short it says breastfeeding is still the optimal method of feeding)
This seems to be an “individual as scientist” topic. We all observe how the world works, make assumptions about cause and effect and make theories about how they interact. And (from a scientific standpoint,) we often are wrong.
I think the mother is right not to feel guilty about her breastfeeding, there is really no way to know what caused autism.
What concerns the scientific sense – it’s all about numbers and this kind of research can’t be done with human beings. And scientific sense is often flawed, too. I’m very careful not to consider it a ultimate truth, because methods can be flawed and scientists are only humans, too.
Two kids are only “anecdotal evidence” and can easily be dismissed, but I don’t know the studies, did they find solid proof that autism and breastfeeding are related?
Very well put.
While it is often tempting to equate our own experiences with fact, such is not reason to disprove or prove scientific correlations or relationships of causation.
I wonder if I might get your opinion on a somewhat less related matter…I know it is a bit off-subject, but I would very much value your take on the subject.
I was wondering what you rtake on the mental health recovery movement hitting the realm of mental healthcare is, especially in relation to autism?
I would love to quote you in my own blog devoted to documenting thoughts and opinions about the recovery movement, the Mental Health Recovery Blog, if you would be comfortable with such a notion. If not I would still love to hear from you on the matter anyways!!
I look forward to speaking with you more on the subject!
All the best,
Lex
MHCD Research and Evaluations
I am the person who posted this message. My intention was not to get into a debate over whether or not scientific research was correct in yet another theory about what causes autism (and theory does not equal scientific fact). I was speaking to my own experience. Yes, my son and his cousin very likely do have a genetic component that is responsible for their autism. And yes, common sense and “one’s own personal experience is not the same thing as scientific certainty.” That is true, but in this case there is no scientific certainty about what specifically causes autism! And, until there is, I have every intention of filtering out what I FEEL to be theories that are just grasping at straws (scientific research or not) and theories that I think might actually have merit (genetics, etc).