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 Joyc, congratulations on having a baby, why do you think they are not developing normally? Nevirapine does cause delays in baby’s development.
My baby is 10weeks and he took the syrup for 6weeks and now i think his development is delaying, can nevirapine delay the development of the baby
Hi Dee, congratulations on having a baby. As this was a ‘one-off’ incident this is not going to impact baby’s risk of transmission. As baby is on NVP and you are undetectable, risk is already minimal. Given baby formula once will not increase chances of HIV.
Hi
My baby is 5 weeks and has been on NVP since birth. I have undetectable viral load and breastfeeding. I left my baby on my sister’s watch for a day and she gave him formula on that day…what is the chance of him being infected from the mix feeding?
Hi Pulane, no this does not mean she is positive. Do you know the circumstances around your sister’s pregnancy? Was she on ARVs before becoming pregnant? Do you know if her viral load was undetectable? Is her baby being breastfed?
There are a number of factors that change if a baby needs to be on Nevirapine for longer. It is really important to talk to the doctor about this so everyone involved understands for how best to keep baby on Nevirapine. Has her baby been tested yet?
My sister’s daughter is 8 months and she is still taking Niverapine does it mean she is positive
Hi Dee,
Why wasn’t your daughter given ARVs? How old are they now? Have they been tested?
My viral load was undetectable on the time of delivery but my baby didn’t get the arv treatment what are the chances of her getting infected through breastfeeding
Hi Anna,
If you’re positive and you’ve just given birth, this will explain why your baby is being given a course of ARVs. All babies born to positive mothers, are given ARVs, please see here: https://i-base.info/guides/pregnancy/will-baby-need-hiv-drugs
Hi
My viral was undetectable and my was given a treatment does this she is HIV