Breastfeeding Positively: essential information for mothers living with HIV

Recent research has shown that breastfeeding poses a much lower risk of HIV transmission than previously thought, and in 2009 global guidance that promoted formula to avoid HIV transmission was reversed. Mothers living with HIV can now choose to breastfeed if they wish – but in Western societies with low rates of breastfeeding among all mothers, informed and skilled support can be hard to find. Pamela Morrison, retired IBCLC and author of HIV and Breastfeeding, the definitive work on the subject, has written this short book specifically for HIV-positive mothers, and the health professionals they work with, to offer clear, evidence-based information about breastfeeding in the context of HIV.

The book explains:

• background information about the normal course of lactation
• how to initiate and maintain breastfeeding
• how to prevent and work through or around difficulties that may arise
• how to maintain breastmilk production or breastmilk-feeding if supplements are recommended.

The aim is to support mothers living with HIV to reach their goals to breastfeed, and then to stop breastfeeding easily and safely whenever they and their babies are ready.