Mothers with HIV may be able to breastfeed

[ailbhe]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cambridgeshire/7629253.stm

Comments

[songster.livejournal.com]

Uhhh......

So, you put a nipple shield soaked in detergent over the breast, and suckle through that. Yum. I quote: "Their research has focused on sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS), which can kill the HIV virus quickly and in fairly non-toxic concentrations"

I don't know about you, but I'd quite like babies to drink stuff that's slightly more than fairly non-toxic.

[k425.livejournal.com]

What, like formula?

[songster.livejournal.com]

Well, as far as I'm aware, while formula isn't of course as healthy as breast milk, it doesn't actually contain soap.

[shreena.livejournal.com]

Additionally, presumably, if you don't get it absolutely right every time, you might still transmit HIV. I'm not sure that I'd want to deal with a detergent soaked nipple shield in the middle of the night.

[ailbhe]

Without checking a formula package, I can say that plenty of babies drink Milton.

[ailbhe]

There's also the formula risk, particularly in areas where clean water is a problem.

[thereyougothen.livejournal.com]

i thought we had research evidence that shows if the baby was exclusively breastfed by its own mother, the risk of HIV transmission was actually very low.

why aren't we facilitating that. it would be really quite cheap.

but not as exciting scientifically.

[ailbhe]

Basically, women won't do it, because HIV is too scary. It's slightly more complicated than that but not much.

[k425.livejournal.com]

Bottles are cleaned with bleach.
There's a huge to-do in China at the moment because formula's been made with melamine to add protein. Kidney stones are the least of the problems.

(Hello you, long time, no see!)