News | Breastfeeding under special conditions

IPA/ICM/FIGO issues a joint statement on breastfeeding, including breastfeeding by HIV- infected mothers. In light of the changing evidence on transmission risks and recommendations on the use of anti retroviral drugs for treating pregnant women and preventing HIV infection in infants, we welcome the new recommendations on HIV and infant feeding: 


1. Balancing HIV protection with protection from other causes of child mortality
2. Integrating HIV interventions into maternal and child health services. 

3. Setting national or subnational recommendations, based on evidence, for infant feeding in the context of HIV. 

4. Informing mothers known to be HIV infected about infant-feeding alternatives
5. Supporting mothers known to be HIV infected who wish to breastfeed so that they can do so safely. 

6. Providing services to specifically support mothers to appropriately feed their infants. 

7. Avoiding harm to infant-feeding practices in the general population.
8. Advising mothers who are HIV uninfected or whose HIV status is unknown. 

9. Investing in improvements in infant-feeding practices in the context of HIV.

IPA/ICM/FIGO welcome the recommendation that mothers known to be HIV infected should exclusively breastfeed their infants for the first 6 months of life, introducing appropriate complementary food thereafter, and continue breastfeeding for the first 12 months of life. Bottle feeding should be considered the best alternative only when specific conditions are met. The conditions under which bottle feeding is preferred are commonly referred to as AFASS—affordable, feasible, acceptable, sustainable, and safe—and are more specifically described in the new WHO recommendations.