May 20, 2024 – People living with HIV should consider breastfeeding their newborns because the advantages may outweigh the very small risk of transmitting the virus through breast milk, the country's largest group of pediatricians says.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, this feature could also be considered for moms who're receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART), which has effectively rendered the virus undetectable. ART suppresses the replication of the virus within the body.
There remains to be a low risk of transmission (lower than 1%) and exclusive breastfeeding must be continued for at the least 6 months, as switching between formula and breast milk may increase the chance of transmission. The only option to eliminate the chance of transmission is to not breastfeed.
“However, HIV-infected individuals may express a desire to breastfeed. Pediatricians should therefore be prepared to support HIV-infected individuals on antiretroviral therapy (ART) and their desire to breastfeed using a family-centered, non-judgmental, harm-minimization approach,” the brand new advice states.
Breastfed babies are protected against infectious diseases, allergies, obesity, diabetes and sudden infant death syndrome. And for breastfeeding moms, the chance of breast and ovarian cancer, hypertension and sort 2 diabetes is reduced.
In the United States, nearly 5,000 people infected with HIV have children annually. The virus could be transmitted while pregnant, childbirth or breastfeeding.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) announced the change in the brand new issue of its journal on Monday. PediatricsOver the past yr, quite a few other public health groups have updated their recommendations, including the World Health Organization and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
“Research shows that the risk of HIV transmission through breastfeeding is quite low when the breastfeeding parent is taking antiretroviral treatment and has an undetectable viral load,” said pediatrician Lisa L. Abuogi, MD, lead creator of the report, in a opinion“Although avoiding breastfeeding is the only way to prevent transmission of the virus, pediatricians should be prepared to offer family-centered and nonjudgmental support to people who choose to breastfeed.”
The recent advice comes at a time “when more and more people living with HIV want to breastfeed. Reasons for doing so include the desire to bond with their child, the ability to provide optimal nutrition and health for the child, the ability to fulfill their role as parents, and the need to meet cultural expectations,” the report says. “Some people living with HIV report concerns about disclosing their HIV infection status to family and friends in their community if they do not breastfeed.”
Breastfeeding moms with undetectable HIV must be tested every 1 to 2 months, the AAP recommends. One of the explanations for the brand new advice is that some women who desired to breastfeed didn't receive support from their healthcare team and selected to breastfeed anyway without disclosing it, the authors write.