Question
My baby is on nevirapine and I’m breastfeeding, is my baby positive?
19 August 2016. Related: All topics, Pregnancy.
Answer
Firstly, congratulations on having your baby.
It is normal for your baby to be given a short course (4 weeks) of HIV treatment (such as nevirapine) when born. This doesn’t mean your baby is HIV positive. This will be checked later through testing. A different type of testing is also used on babies as the normal antibody test used in adults will show the baby as positive.
Our guide on pregnancy has lots more information
https://i-base.info/guides/pregnancy
In the UK, the BHIVA (British HIV Association) guidelines recommend bottle feeding.
This is because in countries where mothers can have access to to formula milk AND clean water ANDÂ bottle sterilising equipment, the risk of transmitting HIV to the baby through bottle feeding is zero. There are different recommendations for other countries though and many women breastfeed. I am not sure about the recommendations in Zambia.
This means that you are doing the best that you can to protect your baby.
However, being positive and looking after a new born baby can be hard and many people need help. Do you have much support around you to help or are you touch with good care from your doctor?
Hi Dintile,
Your daughter doesn’t need to be given water and definitely not sugar. All of your daughter needs is milk. Neither the water nor sugar will increase her chances of being positive. It’s good that you have an undetectable viral load.
Hi my name is Dintle i am Hiv positive mom with an undetectable load its been undetectable for years nw..i recently gave birth to my daughter she 14days old nd she was given NVP from birth till nw shes taking it an i am breastfeeding.. now my mother in law decided to give her a lil water with a bit of sugar she says its for Glucose ,mind you my daughter was tested aftr birth and thy didnt give me her results so m assuming on her 6weeks visit il get her results while thy do the other test.. plz tell me is my daughter at risk since she was given water??
Worried mom
Hi Boity,
It’s great to hear that your babies first test was negative, this is a good sign.
Hey I am Boity replying to the response. Yes PCR tests were done at birth and they came negative. Stil waiting for the second PCR results which were done recently at 14 weeks check up.
Hi Boity,
Has your baby been tested for HIV? If she has what was the result?
Babies the age of your daughter don’t need to be given solid foods, their digestive systems are developed enough. Unless a health care professional has said otherwise all your baby needs is milk.
Hi am boity, I am a worried hiv positive mom Iam on treatment and breastfed my daughter for 6weeks and switched to formula only I gave her nevirapine for 6weeks, now she’s 3 months and am back to work she lives with my parents, and they just told me that they have started giving her baby cerelac and they make it too soft, iam worried is my daughter at risk
Hi Katie,
It’s good that your babies first test was negative, this is a good sign. With regards to how long you should give your baby nevirapine this will depend on where you live, this is because infant feeding guidelines vary. Your baby’s’ doctor will be able to give you advice.
The PCR that they did on my baby after birth came back nagative and I’m giving her neverapine daily in the morning so how long should she take it since I’m breastfeeding
Hi Angela,
It’s great that your baby’s 10 month test was negative, this is a good sign that they’ll be negative. To know for sure if your baby is negative, you’ll need to wait until they’re 18 months old, please see here: https://i-base.info/guides/pregnancy/hiv-negative
With regards to breastfeeding, are you on medication and with an undetectable viral load?
Breastfeeding guidelines vary depending on where it is that someone lives, in you live in a country in Africa then the guidelines will be those from the World Health Organisation. Please see here: https://www.who.int/elena/titles/hiv_infant_feeding/en/
hi…. My baby was tested Negative when he was 10 months, now he is 13 months and im still breastfeeding him…..is he at risk or is there any procedure i should follow not to infect him….Its really hard to take him off as i’ll do that with time…please help?