The general recommendation is to wait at least one year to return to seek a pregnancy after childbirth, and at least a year and a half in case of caesarean section. A smaller interval is related to an increased risk of complications in the following pregnancy such as premature delivery and delayed intrauterine growth. Now we know an added risk. According to an investigation conducted in California waiting a short time between pregnancies could increase the risk of autism in the child
Records of 660 thousand births of second children were analyzed and could determine that children conceived within one year of the birth of the first child were more than three times more likely to have autism that children conceived more than three years apart.
On the other hand, children conceived between 12 and 23 months later had a twice-greater risk of developing autism, while those conceived between 24 and 35 months had a 26 percent higher risk than those born from 36 months
The same result was also observed in third parties and subsequent children. The reason is not known exactly, but it could be because the uterine environment had not fully recovered from the previous pregnancy, depleting nutrients such as critics, folic acid and iron, also adding that the mother could be more stressed during the second pregnancy.
We have already commented that pregnancies should be spaced for the sake of the next baby. Not only for the exclusive attention that each child deserves during the first months of life (I would say at least the first year), but also for providing the best for the next baby from the moment of conceiving it.
Today, as the age of being a mother is delayed, many women choose to have the most followed children. In addition to many other reasons, it is certainly not the only one, it could be one of the modifiable causes of the growing number of children with autism spectrum disorders.
