Question
My husband is positive and I am negative, can we have a baby?
22 May 2012. Related: All topics, HIV transmission, Pregnancy, Sero different couples.
My husband just tested HIV positive but I am negative. We want at least one child without me being infected, is this possible and how can we do that?
Answer
First of all I am sorry to hear about your husband’s recent diagnosis. How are you both coping with this? Does your husband have any support?
There are many couples in a similar situation, where one person is positive and the other negative. This is called being ‘sero-different’. It is still possible to have a healthy and fulfilling sex life, and many couples in this situation have children without passing HIV to the negative partner or baby.
An HIV negative woman and an HIV positive man can conceive naturally.
This can be done through limited conception attempts during the most fertile days of your cycle. i.e when you are ovulating. To make this safer, your partner must have an undetectable viral load for at least 6 months. The viral load is a measure of how much virus is in his blood. To get this to be undetectable he would need to be on effective treatment, and be adherent (taking it properly).
Although a low number of conception attempts can be relatively safe, some couples continue to have unprotected sex. This sometimes results in the negative partner becoming HIV positive. It is recommended that couples use condoms once the woman is pregnant.
For more information on HIV and natural conception, please follow this link on HIV and pregnancy and this link on the Swiss Statement.
Hi, I am a 35 year old woman that just met a love of my life 2 yrs ago…we are married now ,but unfortunately when we were planning preagnancy we found out that my hubby is positive and am negative,
we both have a child from our previous marriages but I found out that his daughter of 7 years is positive too, his previous wife that passed away has never said anything to him about the status of eather the father or the daughter. now I would like to protect my daughter from this HIV,but we are not always around the kids what do I tell my 6 year old daughter,,and me! is it possible to have a baby with my husband…..confuse but love my husband and my step daughter,,,,pls HELP!!!!!!
Hi,please see our pregnancy guide for information about conceiveing. You can also see our FAQs for couples where one person is positive and the other negative.
I want baby in partner one infected
Please see our pregnancy guide for information about conceiving when your partner is HIV negative. Please let me know if you have any questions after reading it and I will be more than happy to help.
Im a woman 38yrs old stil dont have a child and im hiv positive my man is negative we use condoms but we want a baby what should we do my cd4count is 1117 and im not taking treatment
Hi Charlotte,
Your husband’s CD4 count is very good and it is normal that with a CD4 count he wouldn’t be given treatment. He should discuss the stiffness and join pain with his doctor. It is possible this is connected to HIV but likely that it is unrelated- either way the doctor may be able to prescribe treatment to help this.
Our pregnancy guide has information about how to get pregnant. Unless your husband takes treatment to reduce his viral load (which would mean he was less likely to pass HIV to you) the safest way to conceive would be to use a procedure called sperm washing. This can be very expensive though, and isn’t available in all countries. It’s important to discuss your pregnancy wishes with your husband’s doctor who will be able to explain which options are available to you. I wish you both the best of luck!
my husband is hiv positive and am negative, his cd4 count is 1500 as at now, he complains of stiffness of the neck and joint pain lately, what does these complains lead to? again can we make babies without me getting infected? how do we go about the making of babies? i love my husband please help me. he is not on any medication because the doctors says his cd4 counts is still high. what should we do.
Hi Thandi, please have a look at this similar question and let me know if you have any further questions after reading it.
Me and my husband we want a bby he’s hiv positive and am negetive I need help. I want a bby. s der any docter who can help us with our problem
I’m sorry but i-Base no longer answers individual questions about risks of HIV transmission or HIV testing.
This service is based on information relating to treatment of people who are HIV positive.
Most testing questions are already answered on the FAQ page:
http://i-base.info/qa/faq/hiv-transmission-and-testing
Our guide to HIV Testing and risks of sexual transmission guide has more detailed and easy to read information about these topics. It can be read online at this link:
http://i-base.info/guides/testing