Question
Can a breastfeeding child become HIV positive?
5 December 2022. Related: All topics, Children, HIV transmission.
Hi everyone I want to ask what can make a breastfeeding child whose mother is HIV positive turn positive while the child is taking his medication? the mother is also taking her medication and she is undetectable.
Answer
Hi, how are you?
Congratulations on having a baby. It is great that you are both taking medication. This significantly reduces the risk fo transmission. Especially as you are undetectable.
U=U does not apply to breastfeeding. This is most likely due to the length of exposure with breastmilk. Though undetectable, there is still going to be some (minimal) viral load in breastmilk. It is the time needed for breastfeeding that can cause risk for transmission. This is why baby also gets their own medication.
This risk is minimal and taking medication properly means this rarely occurs. Breastfeeding is still recommended in countries like SA because there is more benefit to being breastfed than having formula, as formula will not contain all of the same nutrients as breastmilk.
Josh,