Question
Is it too late to prevent transmission to baby?
13 March 2024. Related: All topics, CD4 and viral load, HIV transmission, Pregnancy.
I’m 30 weeks 5 days pregnant and HIV positive , is it too late for me to start medication to protect the baby?
Answer
Hi, how are you doing?
Congratulations on your pregnancy.
No it is not too late. Even starting a few weeks before your due date can help to significantly reduce transmission to baby.
Many women do not start treatment until later on in their pregnancy. The highest risk of transmission is during birth. At 30 weeks you still have a lot of time to reduce your viral load before birth to make the risk as low as possible.
Baby will also be given their own treatment for a short while after birth. For how long will depend on your viral load at birth. This is explained here.
Starting treatment is safe for both you and baby. Many HIV positive women start treatment at the same time or even later than yourself and go on to have healthy hIV negative babies.
Josh.
Hi Lizzy, I have replied with the info I have and the doctor is probably more informed than the nurses as it is the doctor who oversees your care.
Thank you so much, I got my babies 10 weeks pcr results and they were negative. Told the nurses what the pediatrician advised me and they obviously went against it and said to do it at my own risk. So I’m just left confused again
Hi Lizzy, your doctor is giving you good information. Having an undetectable viral load includes this option. Congratulations too on your new baby.
Simon
Hello, I am a mother to a 3 month old baby, hiv positive and taking treatment. Baby is on novatrim as I am exclusively breastfeeding. Did pcr at 10 weeks and waiting for results (fingers crossed). So I recently went to a pediatrician one of the best from where I’m from in South Africa, my son had a little cough and congestion. So I told her that I will be stopping breastfeeding and formula feeding exclusively end of March and she told me that there are new guidelines and she normally recommends her patients to mix feed even though they are positive and she monitors them closely. So long as your VL is undetectable. How true is this?