[pronut-hiv] Breastfeeding and thrush

["Ted Greiner" <tedgreiner@yahoo.com>]

The decision on how to feed is intended to be taken prenatally when of course infant thrush is not an issue. Nor is thrush some kind of permanent state, based on which infant feeding decisions can be taken. When it occurs, it should be treated as soon as possible; doing so is not complex or expensive and the drug required is commonly available, even in most poorly resources health centers. 
   
  Thrush and candidiasis should be treated simultaneously and indeed probably could lead to increased HIV transmisison. This does not mean that 100% of breast fed babies will get HIV, just that a marginal increase in risk is likely to occur. Breastfeeding HIV+ mothers should thus be alerted to what thrush looks like, asked to watch for it, and advised to go to the health center for treatment as soon as it occurs.
   
  Asking whether breastfeeding is still recommended with infant thrush implies that perhaps rapid cessation is a reasonable option. It is not, with or without HIV. It often leads to breast damage, greatly increasing the risk of HIV transmisison during whatever short period of breastfeeding remains and subjecting the mother to a high risk of mastitis, not a good idea if her immune status is compromised. One study in Uganda found that about half the mothers who rapidly stopped breastfeeding before 6 months of age got mastitis. 
   
  The older the baby gets, the less breast milk it tends to be drinking and the less risk rapid cessation is likely to be for the breasts of the mother. However, rapid cessation always is a risk for the baby. For younger babies there are serious concerns about how to replace the nutritional, immunological and care functions that breastfeeding serves. For older ones, there are more serious psychological problems for the child when breastfeeding stops rapidly, with the child often becoming anorexic and sometimes either ill or malnourished.
   
  Ted Greiner
  _____________________________
   
  Uganda: HIV Positive 
Moms And Breastfeeding
 (2)
To: "Nutrition and HIV/AIDS" 
<pronut-hiv@healthnet.org>
Message-ID: 
<007401c6b66b$c77c8420$2f01a8c0@DCJ2LJ31>
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Suppose a young infant has thrush, and mom is 
HIV-positive. Is breastfeeding 
still recommended?

Rachel Stern



 		
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