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 AND 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?
Good day
I’m a + mother and my son is 4weeks old he tested Neg and I want to stop breastfeeding him his taking NVP.. his stomach is big his full of gas can I give him other meds while on NVP like gripe water etc
Hi Gonmei, I am sorry to hear that your wife has recently tested positive? Was she tested while she was pregnant? If it is a recent diagnosis and she is no longer breastfeeding, there is very little risk of transmission to your son. There would have only been a small window in which transmission could occur. Have you booked a test for your son?
My son is 13 months old. My wife tested negative when the baby was first conceived. But now we both tested positive. Is my son gonna be tested positive too?
Hi Josh
Thank you for the feedback.
Yes baby has been tested too, we are awaiting results
Hi Ntombi, congratulations on having a baby. No this does not mean baby is HIV positive. Has baby had a test yet? As you are now both on treatment this is great, it is already reducing the risk of transmission.
I’ve been breastfeeding my baby 6 weeks now and recently found out I’m hiv positive, I started treatment right away and he was given medication too does this mean he is also hiv positive?
Hi Omowunmi, congratulations on having a baby. Did your doctor give your baby any medication to take when they were born? This is a link to a guide about what treatment baby should be on: https://i-base.info/qa/factsheets/infant-meds-when-the-mother-is-living-with-hiv
This guide helps inform you what baby should be taking based on their risk. The risk being determined by mums viral load and time of testing HIV positive. These should then be discussed with your doctor and suitable treatment can be used.
Hello this is omowunmi,my baby will be 6weeks next week and but it next 2 weeks that i will be able to go for the 6weeks test,my question is this wwhat drugs can i be given my baby till i go for the test
HI Caroline, congratulations on having a baby. How old are they? Bactrim does not interact with gripe water and muthi wenyoni. These can eb given together. Is baby taking anything else?
hi I’m hiv positive mom and I’m giving my son muthi wenyoni and gripe water and I’m giving him batrim after 10 hours is my baby in danger