Hearing President Donald Trump link Tylenol use during pregnancy to the development of autism in children, without evidence, takes me back many years to when my son was born.
My son has multiple disabilities because I caught a virus when I was pregnant. I’ve struggled with guilt for something I could not control since the day I received his disability diagnosis 13 years ago. I spent years trying to rewind time in my mind to figure out when I got sick, but I didn’t get much relief from that exercise.
Mothers feel responsible for so many things that happen to their children, even things they can’t control, and parents of children with disabilities can feel that sense of responsibility even more. I still struggle with intense feelings at times, so I reached out to experts to better understand how to process these emotions.
Here’s how they recommend handling those intense feelings.
What happens when you get a diagnosis
Medical providers tell pregnant mothers to follow certain guidelines to keep their babies safe. When their child is born sick or receives a medical diagnosis, moms may look back on the time when they were pregnant to understand why.
That self-reflection can happen because of an internal quest for understanding, because something happened, like the virus I caught
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