AVOID HIV TRANSMISSION FROM MOTHER TO INFANT

A woman infected with HIV can pass HIV on to her child during pregnancy, birth, or breastfeeding. Transmission through breastfeeding is estimated to account for one-fourth to one-half of all mother-to-infant HIV infections, depending on the duration of breastfeeding.
Help pregnant women avoid HIV infection: Pregnant women may acquire HIV more easily than women who are not pregnant.
Offer counseling and testing: Routinely offer HIV counseling and testing to all pregnant women, or refer them to an HIV-testing service, so they can learn their HIV status.
Provide referrals: If antiretroviral treatment is available, refer women to it. Advise women that antiretroviral treatment can reduce the risk of HIV transmission from mother to child.
Encourage appropriate infant feeding: Counsel women infected with HIV on safe infant feeding practices to reduce the risk of transmission, particularly if treatment is not available. Help them develop a feeding plan based on their individual situation:
· Avoid any breastfeeding if replacement feeding is affordable, feasible, acceptable, sustainable, and safe. If replacement feeding meets these five criteria, the woman can consider either commercial formulas or home-modified animal milk.
· Where replacement feeding is not possible, mothers with HIV should exclusively breastfeed their infants for the first months of life. Mixed feeding (breastfeeding and supplemental feeding) increases the risk of HIV transmission.
· Encourage women with HIV who are breastfeeding to maintain adequate nutrition, since HIV infection progresses more rapidly among women who are undernourished. Higher levels of HIV increase the chance that HIV will pass to infants through breastfeeding. Women with HIV should also be encouraged to keep their breasts healthy.
If a mother stops breastfeeding before the child is a year old, then she should feed her infant iron-fortified, commercially available formula. Health care providers advise women not to give their infants cow's milk until the child is at least a year old.
There is a danger that the war between breastfeeding and formula put women into a dichotomy of good and evil. In all manner, whether she is breastfeeding or formula feeding, she is a good mother.

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