Question
If I become pregnant, can I give birth to a negative baby?
3 January 2012. Related: All topics, Pregnancy.
Hi I’m HIV positive and 24yrs old. I would like to know if it possible to fall pregnant and give birth to a negative baby? What if my partner and I are both HIV positive? Will we be able to have child?
Answer
Lots of HIV positive people have children. By using HIV meds (ARVs) this
dramatically reduces the risk to the baby.
It is more important that you, rather than your partner, use treatment
during pregnancy as the babies HIV status is related to your status rather
than your partners. This risk comes not when you conceive but mainly at
birth. If treatment has reduced your viral load to undetectable, this risk
is dramatically lower.
Please talk to your HIV doctor about this. Also see the guide to HIV and
Pregnancy at this link.
Hi Angel,
You giving your child things other than breast milk won’t influence if your baby becomes positive or not. Therefore, try not to worry. To know if they are positive, you will need to test. Testing info is here:
http://i-base.info/guides/pregnancy/hiv-negative
One thing that’s important is that if you are feeding your baby that you’re on medication. Are you on meds?
Hi I’m positive and breast feeding. I made a big mistake of giving my baby gripe water, Phillips, colic drops and ngayichatha through the lack of knowledge, does this mean my baby is HIV positive?
Hi Tumi,
Being HIV positive should not be a barrier to having children. Many women all over the world have children, and children who are negative. What’t important is to be on meds, and to have an undetectable viral load. For more info please see our HIV and pregnancy guide:
http://i-base.info/guides/pregnancy
Hi. I’m HIV positive an my varial load is low. Is it possible to have a negative baby?
Hello Bonisiwe,
I’m sorry to hear that you have had problems taking your medication. Many people find it difficult to take their HIV treatment properly, and you are not alone. If you are still pregnant, or if your baby has only recently been born it’s important to talk to your doctor or midwife as soon as possible. They may still be able to give you or your baby medication to help prevent your baby being infected.
The only way to know whether your baby has been infected is for them to be tested. You can read about this in our pregnancy guide here: How and when will I know that my baby is HIV-negative?
Your doctor or nurse should be able to give you advice about how to take your HIV medication. They may be able to give you medicine to stop you vomiting, or they may change your drugs to something that doesn’t make you sick. Our online guides have information about adherence (taking medication properly) and how to talk to your doctor about side effects.
Hi please help. I just want to knw if my baby will be negetive since I used to skip my aluvia and lamzid doses. This is because they made me vommit a lot. I would maybe take one dose a day. I also stopped taking them completely at 37 weeks and my viral load was undetectable and cd4 count 548. What are the chances of my baby being negetive. Am very worried
Studies have shown that the only way of not passing the virus on to your baby, is by having an undetectable viral load.
The only way of achieving an undetectable viral load is by taking HIV medication.
If however, you do not need medication for your own health after you deliver, then you can stop taking it until a later time when you need it for your health.
Your doctor will advice you when it would be ideal for you would to start taking medication again. This will be in accordance to the treatment guidelines in your country.
Is there any way of not passing the virus to my baby without the use of HIV meds
The only risk from not using condoms would be if you were worried about other sexually transmitted infections. This assumes that you are your partner are likely to have the same type of HIV, and neither of you have drug resistance.
Hi i’m hiv positive my parner too..i’m pregnant ..is safe to continue having unprotected sex during my pregnancy