Can I baby pass on HIV / AIDS to a woman breastfeeding him / her?

[imanaunty]

Hi,

I was out with my mum, sister and nephew today. His mum (my sister) was away for a few minutes and he was crying. I told him I would feed him if I could...

We got talking about Salma Hayek, and how she had breastfed a baby when her mother was too sick to do it herself.

My mother thought it was very foolish to do this, as she thought the baby would be able to pass on AIDS to her.

I thought it was a beautiful, selfless loving act.

Can a baby pass on HIV / AIDS to a woman breasfeeding him / her?

Thx

A baby is far more likely to die from dirty water than a getting HIV from its mother.

The current advice, afaik, is for HIV+ mothers to bottlefeed if they can do that safely (i.e. they live in the west). If they cannot bottlefeed safely, they should exclusively breastfeed to 6 months, and then wean very abruptly. As in - once they offer anything other than breastmilk, they must stop breastfeeding entirely.

The logic behind this is, if the baby is given foods other than breastmilk, it is likely to cause v small intestinal bleeds, which would allow the HIV virus to get into their bloodstream.