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Cancer and HIV:The End of the Road?
Determining When Breast Isn't Best By Shel Franco
that give lengths of time that breastfeeding must be postponed for each particular diagnostic."
"Because AIDS is an incurable, invariably fatal disease, even a small risk [of transmission] is unacceptable in areas where the safe use of human milk substitutes is an option," Smith says.
In the United States and other industrialized nations, where clean water for formula and human milk banks are available, this hard line against breastfeeding while infected with HIV or AIDS might be possible. But the line blurs considerably when third world countries become involved. Because of poor living conditions, increased risks of infectious diseases and poor nutrition, the AAP explains that the mortality risks associated with not breastfeeding may outweigh the risks of contracting HIV. In addition, the United Nation Children's Fund (UNICEF) continues to promote breastfeeding as the way to feed infants, despite the possibility of HIV transmission.
All things considered, many breastfeeding advocates and researchers are not happy with the current often lacking level of information regarding HIV/AIDS and breastfeeding. More information is being disseminated by AnotherLook, a nonprofit organization dedicated to gathering information, raising critical questions and stimulating much-needed research in this area.
To nurse or not to nurse has become a sort of mantra for the millennium. Women who don't nurse feel pressure to nurse. Women who nurse feel pressure to wean. And somewhere in between lie the women who simply can't nurse. Despite all the confusion, you can rest assured that there are simply very few medical reasons that contraindicate breastfeeding. In other words, overwhelming odds for a healthy, happy nursing relationship are in your favor.
