Question
Will my baby have HIV?
15 December 2016. Related: All topics, Children, Newly diagnosed, Pregnancy.
I’m HIV positive and I started taking meds on the second month of my pregnancy. I gave birth not knowing my viral load and my baby is now 6 days old and is taking nevirapine. What are the chances of him getting infected? I am also breast-feeding.
Answer
Thanks for getting in touch, and congratulations on the birth of your baby.
The chances of transmitting HIV to babies is dramatically reduced if a woman’s viral load is undetectable at delivery. In most cases this happens within 1-3 months of starting meds. Sometimes it might take longer if viral load was very high when starting.
Because you started treatment early in your pregnancy, it is very likely that your viral load was undetectable. However, without knowing your results, I cannot be sure of this.
When you gave birth did you have a vaginal delivery? If you did, was this supported by your doctor? If it was, then this may be an indication that your VL was undetectable.
You being on treatment is important as this will also protect the baby while you are breastfeeding.
It is also good that your baby is taking meds as this will give extra protection.
This means there is a really good chance your baby will not have HIV.
The meds for the baby will help this and then testing is the only way to finally find out. Unfortunately, it takes a while for the testing to show this.
For more on infants and testing, please see the following:
https://i-base.info/guides/pregnancy/hiv-negative
Hi Priscilla, are you planning on switching only to formula? E.g., not mixed feeding with breastmilk?
Switching to just formula milk is safe and will not risk transmission of HIV to baby. There is only a risk of transmission when switching between breast and formula feeding for the first 6 months of life.
I will go for 6 weeks check up on 4 December after stopping NVP treatment is it safe to switch to formula?
Hi Priscilla, missing a single dose of NVP is not going to risk any problems with baby. How old is baby now? and how long have they been taking NVP for?
What happens to a baby whe missed NVP for a day
Hi Ruth, when did baby not have nevirapine? Baby’s usually only need nevirapine for the first 4-6 weeks of life.
My baby is now 7 months old but she missed half a doze of her nevirapine for a month, should I think she z hiv positive?