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,
Unless your HIV is under control you shouldn’t be breastfeeding your child. At 8 months they need a mix of milk and solid food, this is important for a child’s development. Maybe you should talk to a healthcare professional about this.
Hi my baby when he was 7 month old I find out that he HIV negative while me I found that I’m HIV positive so I want to stop breastfeeding but it’s too hard for him because he doesn’t want bottle n also Cup n even now I tried to stop breastfeeding but the problem is that he didn’t want food he always crying now am still breastfeeding help me what can I do cause I really want to stop breastfeeding
Hi Fortunate.
Its very unlikely that your viral load will have rebounded as this usually takes a week. Your child should be fine.
I am taking ARVs viral load is good and the baby also uses navarapine but he tested negative doctors said that once the bottle of NVP is finish its fine i must also check his status after 6months. The problem is i did not use my ARVs for 2 days but the baby had NVP during those 2 days is he will be affected just for 2 days help me im worried
Hi Tshidi,
Its not possible for us to answer this. However if you’re viral load was undetectable then the risk of transmission will be drastically reduced.
Hy I’m hiv positive and I’m on arvs so I delivered naturally and my baby is nevirapine will he be infected with hiv?
Hi Busi,
It’s a good idea to talk to your nurse. If you are thinking of feeding her with formula you should not mix feed with breastfeeding. So it’s best to switch to formula only. It’s important that her other medications and the antacid med are all checked by your nurse too.
I found out I was pregnant on my second month and started treatment that I wasn’t told what was my viral load yet my nurse once told me that is good to breastfeed then I gave birth via c-section due to my D-stress my baby wasn’t breathing well then when I cane out from thearter I tried breastfeeding for those two days and couldn’t because my milk wasn’t coming out yet my baby wasn’t on NVP at that moment then I gave her formula then after two day my milk started coming luckily enough I was still in hospital so I reached out to one of the nurses then told them I wanted to breastfeed so they agreed and my baby started NVP I continued to breastfeed since then one day my mother gave my baby a formula while I wasn’t aware saying she doesn’t get full but I told her to stop yet she doesn’t know my status but she did stop with the formula yet she’s been giving her Flue medication and Grape water and umuthi wenyoni and some other medications what are the chances of my baby to get infected I’m a worried about this but she’s still on her NVP and now I’m thinking of stop breastfeeding since I will be going back to work she will be turning a Month on the 20th please help
Hi Portia,
Breastfeeding, if you’re HIV positive, is not recommended here in the UK. It’s not clear why your cousin doesn’t breastfeed her own baby but breastfeeds yours. You can ask her to stop doing it.
In countries where there is not access to formula and clean bottles it’s recommended to breastfeed for 6 months and then wean on to soft food. Mixing breastfeeding and bottle feeding is not recommended.
I have a 3weeks old baby and currently breastfeeding. My cousin is hiv+ and she also has a 6 months old but she is not breastfeeding him. Yesterday I found her breastfeeding my 3 weeks old and apparently it’s not the 1st time. Should I be worried?