HIV Infected Mothers Can Breast Feed Their Babies- Experts

Following the lingering controversy surrounding HIV positive mothers and breast-feeding, health experts say putting the baby to the breast was the best option for the child.

Some of the experts who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Monday, said that the six-month exclusive breast feeding was important for the baby, even if the mother was infected with the virus.

According to them, women living with the virus should be encouraged to breast-feed their babies without any fear of transmitting the virus to the babies.

Dr Abimbola Ajayi, Deputy Director, Nutrition, Lagos State Ministry of Health, told NAN that the current goal of the National Guideline on Infant Feeding was that of free survival of HIV exposed infants.

She added that the recommendation was that such infants were breast-fed exclusively for the first six months and given supplementary food with breast milk from six to 12 months, while mother and child were placed on Nevirapine– an anti retro-viral drug. Ajayi added that studies had shown that Nevirapine significantly reduced the risk of Mother-to-Child transmission of HIV, if used judiciously and appropriately.

“Breast milk is always better for any child than any formula milk, even for babies who have HIV infected mothers.

“Placing both mother and child on Nevirapine can help reduce mother-to-child transmission and it is advisable that women living with HIV breast-feed their babies.

“Breast-milk has nutrients which have not even been discovered yet and is better for the baby than goat milk,”she said.

The National President, Medical Women Association of Nigeria, Dr Dumebi Owa, told NAN that the risk of a child getting HIV from an infected mother was lower than the risk of a child contacting childhood diseases due to lack of breast-milk.

Owa said that lack of adequate breast milk in the first six months of a baby’s life could cause a lot of diseases, which have contributed to the high infant mortality rate being recorded in the country.

She said it was imperative for a woman, who had just delivered, irrespective of her HIV status, to breast-feed her baby for six months exclusively, to ensure the good health of the baby.

“As long as both mother and child are placed on proper anti retro-viral treatment, the risk of the child getting infected is reduced.

“Breast milk is considered the best food for any newborn child and no child should be denied the right to life.

“It is important that HIV infected mothers understand this, so that they can breast-feed their children and ensure the proper growth and development of the child,” she said. (NAN)