HIV infected mothers who breastfeed run less risk of infecting their children
Categories: Babies, Pregnancy & birth
Breastfeeding seems to be an endlessly controversial topic these days. Many experts champion the health benefits associated with breastfeeding, while women who chose to bottle feed report feeling shamed, or ostracized because of their decision. And if you want to be really controversial, just try breastfeeding in public -- chances are you'll spark a national debate.
However, if you're a mom who's HIV positive, a recent study suggests that the incentive for breastfeeding your baby is enormous. Namely, that by doing so, you reduce the chances that they'll be infected with the disease.
The study, conducted by two professors from the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal in South Africa, suggests that babies of HIV-positive mothers who are exclusively breastfed for the first 6 months of life are less than half as likely to contract the disease than those who had formula milk in addition to breast milk -- and their odds were extremely better than those babies who'd been given solid foods.
Doctors speculate that the breastfed babies developed stronger lining in their intestines, and were thus better able to defend themselves against the disease.
While I wouldn't tell anyone woman how to care for her baby, I'm increasingly amazed at the reported benefits linked to breastfeeding. Do you chose to breastfeed your child -- why or why not?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Lara 3-31-2007 @ 11:55AM
I'm all for encouraging nursing (I'm currently nursing a three-year-old and a one-year-old, and I've never made a bottle).
But this study is not about HIV positive women who are likely to have access to this blog.
Breastfeeding does pose a risk of HIV transmission that makes it much more of a risk than the risks of formula for women in the first world who have acces to clean water, the ability to read the directions and understand how to mix the formula appropriately, and where government programs and greater wealth should assure that no one will run out of formula and end up diluting it to make the can last longer.
In many poorer countires, on the other hand, the lack of these things makes formula far less safe than breastmilk from HIV positive mothers. The risk of HIV transmission in these areas is less than the risk of dying of infection from formula mixed with tainted water or malnutrition from improperly mixed or diluted formula. What this study shows is that these babies should get only breastmilk because any formula or solids will greatly incrase the risk of disesase transmission.
But for HIV positive women in the first world, sadly formula and no breastmilk at all is still the best option.
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Katie 3-31-2007 @ 12:15PM
I breastfed until my son was 14 months. Finances kept me focused when it was tough, which we had a really tough time, but it was also knowing that he would have to be on special formula due to allergies.
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Ethel 3-31-2007 @ 12:52PM
I breastfed my baby, and did so with my 1st, because of the massive amount of information that links breast feeding with positive things for ones child. I have allergic kids and I have celiac disease, and I know breast feeding will be the best preventive medicine to allergies and celiac disease. I also know that breastfed kids are more likely to "advance socially", which is good. All in all it is my way of giving my kids the best advantage that I can.
Plus its free and I am all about being cheap since kids are expensive as hell.
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Lauren 3-31-2007 @ 3:01PM
Honestly, the biggest reason I chose to nurse my daughter is because I was not breastfed as a baby at all, and I have been overweight my whole life. Research has shown that nursing babies are less like to be overweight, and I don't want my daughter to be called "fat ass" almost every day of her juvenile life.
How's that for crazy Mom issues?? Whew!
It may not be the best reason ever, but it is honest.
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Julie 3-31-2007 @ 11:39PM
My daughter is 30 months old and still going strong breastfeeding. I really didn't think of it as a choice, luckily she nursed 15 minutes after birth, we didn't have any feeding issues. We are doing child led weaning, but I will have to improvise if she is still wanting to nurse past 4 or so. For me, that is the cut off. I never thought I would nurse a 2.5 year old, but that is where we are at.
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Christina 4-01-2007 @ 1:30AM
I did not get very far with breastfeeding my firsborn girl, so I was determined to breasteed my second, a son. In spite of an 8-day stay in NICU right after birth, he did not have the nipple confusion I feared after the hospital gave him bottles. I only took off 4 weeks and started a new job after that. Because of that, I feared that I would not increase my milk and so far I have been right, I am not pumping any more now than when he was 1 month old, therefore we are supplementing. The good news is I've only purchased 2 large cans of formula in 5 months. I know that every little bit of breastfeeding helps, with finances, his health, my health, our bond, the list goes on. I've breastfed with him under a light blanket in church, at the mall, in an auto repair shop while getting an oil change, at Wal-Mart, etc. However there's NO way I would make a new mother feel guilty if they choose formula, as my daughter only got 8 weeks of partial breastmilk and she is smart as a whip at 3 1/2 years old. If you are attempting breastfeeding, DON'T GIVE UP!
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Kimberly 4-01-2007 @ 9:47AM
Lara, did you actually read the link? Because everything you just said is what this study is currently in the process of disproving.
The study is not about the dangers of formula tainted by water etc. but about the benefits of breastfeeding in regards to protection from HIV. You statement this information is of no value to the HIV+ women and mothers who are reading it here is both insulting and false. If breastmilk is in fact proven to help protect these babies from infection, why would a mother make any other choice?
If this study is in fact correct, your information is going to be very out of date before long. I suggest you attempt to keep up with current information, rather than simply spouting off information you learned 10 years ago or more.
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Jenny 4-01-2007 @ 12:16PM
The Salon article about this study said that it makes U.S. breastfeeding debates "frivolous." So how about if we don't make this a breastfeeding debate?
Let's look at a few numbers, from the Reuters article on this study (http://tinyurl.com/358tnw). Every YEAR, between 150,000 and 350,000 babies in Africa are infected with HIV by breastmilk transmission. Based on this study they estimate exclusively breastfeeding babies could save 50,000 to 100,000 lives annually.
By contrast, in the U.S. there were 44,615 new cases of HIV in 2004 and 27% of those were in women. 84 HIV infected babies were born in 2004, primarily because mothers have access to anti-retroviral therapies during pregnancy. (http://www.niaid.nih.gov/factsheets/womenhiv.htm) The numbers in the U.S. are MUCH smaller. To imply (as Lara does) that the risk of this story is that a western HIV-positive mother might choose to breastfeed when she should use formula is to ignore the 50,000 - 100,000 babies that can be saved.
This is a very important study. Medical workers in Africa have been caught between a rock and a hard place as they could not advise mothers to breastfeed, but the knew that if the mothers used formula they would have problems paying for the formula, getting clean water to mix it, and that the very often would dilute the formula to make it last (leading to problems with malnutrition). Now they have another option: exclusive breastfeeding. Yes, formula is still the first choice, but it just isn't a practical one in in Africa.
I have relatives who work as doctors in Africa, and they send me stories of watching babies die because there is literally nothing they can do. Take this opportunity to educate people about the situation there. HIV-positive mothers in Africa need all the help they can get.
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