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?
Can I stop my baby the nevirapine he’s 7 weeks and at the hospital they didn’t tell me when to stop
Hi anonymous – congratulations on your new baby and you are doing really well in looking after her. Different countries use differen HIV drugs in different ways to protect the baby. This includes only using nevirapine for 4-6 weeks if the mother has undetectable viral load.
Sometimes the antibiotic Novatrim is also used until the clinic is certain the baby is negative. I am sure this is all okay becasue your viral load is undetectable.
Please contact your clinic though to ask them to explain.
This link has information about the baby’s treatment:
https://i-base.info/qa/factsheets/infant-meds-when-the-mother-is-living-with-hiv
Hi I would like to be Anonymous. My baby is 7 weeks and on nevirapine she’s also hiv negative, my problem is that I went to clinic for 6 weeks and was given Novatrim suspension not nevirapine now I’m scared if I continue breastfeeding she will be infected. I am on arc treatment and my viral load is undetectable
Hi Norma, are you on treatment? and do you know your viral load? If you have a suppressed viral load and on treatment, risk to baby is very low. Usually after 3 months there is no longer a benefit to baby to continue with nevirapine.
Hi, my baby is nine months old, I’m breastfeeding him but now to the clinic they refuse to give me nevirapine, so is he not gonna be affected
Hi Leah, congratulations on having a baby. If it is not too painful/uncomfortable it is safe and recommended to continue breastfeeding while both you and baby are being treated for thrush. How long have you been taking the medication?
Hello, my baby is 3week old he is on npv. I’m also on art and my viral load is okay. I recently developed a fungal infection…my baby got oral thrush..I got to the hospital and was given some meds, the infection is not clearing I’m afraid of continuing breastfeeding him…what should I do?
Hi Anonymous, congratulations on having a baby. It is good to hear that you have recently started treatment. How are you coping? How is baby being fed? Are they being breast or formula fed? If they are being formula fed there is no risk, though baby is still young to be given soft porridge. These foods are best introduced from 6 months and older. If you are breastfeeding there is some increased risk of transmission but as baby and you are now on treatment this is a small risk. It is safe to only breastfeed if baby does not get any other food from other places before they turn 6 months.
Hi I’ve discovered that I’m hiv positive after birth and my baby tested negative on PCR but immediatelystarted my treatment. My baby is 2 months old and on nevirapine and zidovudine and my family don’t know about my status so they been giving my baby soft porridge while I’m at work claiming that she cries a lot. I’m worried and wanna know if my baby will be infected?
Hi Boipelo, baby is still too young for gripe water. It is not recommended to give baby this until they are at least a month old. Gripe water doesn’t interact with gripe water so it will be safe to use when baby is a month old. Why do you want to use it?