Autism

My father smokes, but kept it far away from me

I actually have asthma so I can't even get near him when he smokes and a bit after he smokes

Does a smoking Father cause neurodivergence in offspring, or does an undiagnosed Father become fixated on smoking?...

Smoking doesn't cause neurodiversity nor does any other "factor." It is genetic plain and simple. My family has Autism going back generations. I know people who are in their 90's that could easily get a diagnosis.

Neurodivergence does make addiction much more likely. I wish we would stop with lies promoted by RFK Jr. Autism is in fact not an epidemic.

My father smokes cigars a lot, it causing autism seems like a stretch tho

Pack a day smoker for 18 years before I had a kid. She's awesome actually, super athletic way more than I am.

Motherfucker...

My dad smoked for years. But so did a huge percentage of boomers. Where I grew up, poor and rural, the majority of people smoked.

You know what the majority of people didn't have, but which I did? An epileptic grandparent. And a family history of epilepsy is associated with autism diagnoses.

Yep, but I'd want to know the statistics for the general population vs fathers of autistics before I draw any conclusions. A ton of fathers of my generation (millennials) smoked.

Both my parents were heavy smokers. In fact everyone in my family except me was. So I got the " benefit" ,of secondhand smoke for the first 20 years of life. Now I make a point not to have any ashtrays in my house so that those that still light up have to go outside to do it

My dad smoked for a bit when he was 14 but then he stopped because he didn't like it. My mom never did.

I honestly find it hard to believe there is a statistically significant link between smoking and having children with autism. But I also don't look into these science subjects that often.

I (M) had never smoked when my autistic daughter was born.

My father never smoke or drank a day in his life.

I still got it.

My father smoked for quite some years, but he started after I was born. This is irrelevant for the purposes of this conversation, but it gives me a chance to repeat yet again a story and a decision he made that I immensely respect him for.

Once he divorced my mom, nobody in his circle smoked except him and my grandfather. So as these things go he would frequently find himself outside, alone, sucking down yet another coffin nail. When we were at family gatherings I'd often go outside with him and chew on my toothpick, just so he wouldn't be out there alone.

One day we were outside at my grandfather's, missing some portion of the yearly Christmas party. Both of us out there in the dark, in the freezing cold, with snow falling all around us and disappearing outside the tiny cone of light from the front porch light. Not even grandpa wanted to be out there with us. We could just barely hear the revelry going on inside, but it was quiet enough outside that the snow hitting the ground was audible.

My father took a contemplative puff, about halfway through the length of his cigarette.

Out of the blue he said, "Why the fuck am I doing this?" This stuck with me, because he didn't cuss around me much.

I looked at him. He looked at me. Then he threw that cigarette out into the snow and never smoked again.

Just like that.

Both my parents smoked, my mom quit when she got pregnant with me (so I've been told). My sperm donor did not quit, and piled alcohol and weed addictions on top. So my mom was certainly around a lot of secondhand smoke while I was incubating.

I was diagnosed with ADHD in my late 40's. Pretty sure one of my two sisters also has it but probably not diagnosed (I haven't asked).

My mom smoked until she got pregnant with me. I imagine my dad did as well, but not really sure.

my father never smoked regularly, but i do.

Props to those moms mentioned in this thread that stopped smoking while pregnant. My mom smoked through all three of her pregnancies. As did my dad, right up until the day he died of a heart attack. Which my mom refuses to attribute to 50 years of smoking and about 30 of hard drinking. "Perfectly healthy people have heart attacks all the time." She also blames the one medication she's on for her teeth being brown.

Anyway, I have no clue what neurodivergencies my parents had/have because they've self-medicated their entire lives. Pretty sure my paternal grandfather was "high functioning" autistic but he died when I was young. My mom's side of the family heavily leans towards substance abuse, so who knows what that's hiding.

The UK has banned smoking cigarettes for under 16s for a reason. Making such a huge policy change like that must be for a very damaging reason. NZ did too, but pussied out - presumably from the lobbying.

What do you mean by this for the UK? Have they banned it for under-16s going forward such that they won't ever be allowed to smoke in the future? Because that's essentially what NZ was pursuing. Otherwise both NZ and Australia have a pretty strict ban against under-18s smoking.

my dad's smoking experience was about 23-26 years at the moment when I was born. offtopic: do you know that you can turn off votes if they disturb you?

My dad smoked up to just before my birth year. I had to get IVF. Otherwise the kids are fine. I hadn't thought about it, but it could totally be because of tobacco products.