After 40 YrsAcademy of Pediatrics Reverses On HIV+Moms/Breastfeeding
JAMES FACTORA (Them)
For the first time in 40 years, the American Academy of Pediatrics has reversed its breastfeeding guidance for HIV+ parents.
After decades of recommending HIV-positive parents avoid breastfeeding, a top pediatricians’ association has said that people with HIV can breastfeed their babies as long as they are taking medication that makes their viral load undetectable.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released a report last Monday that officially recognizes that the risk of transmitting HIV from breastfeeding is “very low,” or less than one percent if the parent is receiving antiretroviral treatment (ART). The report states that “pediatricians should be prepared to offer a family-centered, nonjudgmental, harm reduction approach” to support parents who are living with HIV that is undetectable. If parents do take that approach, they must breastfeed exclusively for the first six months of the infant’s life, because switching between breast milk and formula or other foods is thought to be associated with an increased risk of HIV infection by disrupting the gut, according to the Associated Press.
The lead author of the study, Dr. Lisa Abuogi, who is a pediatric HIV expert at the University of Colorado, told the AP, “The medications are so good now and the benefits for [parent] and baby are so important that we are at a point where it is important to engage in shared decision-making.”
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The AAP has recommended against breastfeeding for parents with HIV since the start of the AIDS epidemic in 1985. While breastfeeding was previously responsible for 30% of HIV infections transmitted from a parent to a child, per the AP, the widespread availability of ART has radically reduced that risk. Today, fewer than 30 infections occur in U.S. infants every year, according to the AP.
Breastfeeding is known to have many benefits for both the parent and the child. In addition to the lower cost of breastfeeding, breast milk shares the parent’s antibodies with the baby, can reduce the parent’s risk of breast and ovarian cancer, type 2 diabetes, and high blood pressure, and provide numerous mental health benefits.
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Over the years, critics say, these laws have become another tool to criminalize Black people, LGBTQ+ people, and sex workers.
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