> HIV, as I understand it and as treatment options stand today, will
ultimately kill a
>child.

Life will ultimately kill us all.

I guess I'll go out on a limb here and argue for the position that it should
be the mother's (or parents') decision to make whether she takes the risk of
the baby getting HIV from breastfeeding or she takes the risk of the baby
getting some other disease from NOT breastfeeding -- like, gee, asthma,
diabetes, lymphoma, heart disease, multiple sclerosis, breast cancer, and on
and on and on and on, many of which CAN BE FATAL.  But, as I said first,
LIFE is fatal.  We have GOT to stop acting as though formula is a
*risk-free* or even a *low-risk* option, because it is not.  An HIV+ mother
is in the position of gambling one unknown against another.  "What is the
chance that my child will get HIV if I breastfeed, or if I express and treat
my milk?" Versus "What is the chance that my child will get a serious/fatal
disease if I don't breastfeed?"

And one more point -- no one knows what diseases or what cures the future
holds.  So an HIV+ mother is in the position of gambling yet another unknown
against another.  "What is the chance that the medical research community
will come up with a cure or treatment for HIV before her child dies of the
disease, IF he even gets it from breastfeeding?"  Versus "What is the chance
that a new disease will develop during her child's lifetime for which the
only defense will be a normal immune system -- one developed by several
years of breastfeeding?"  I would say that both of these possibilities are
HIGH -- both that there will be a cure/effective treatment for HIV *and*
that there will be new diseases for which no medicines exist at the outset,
so the ONLY defense will be having been breastfed.

Could you face your child and say "Well, yes, I knew there was only a small
risk of your getting HIV from my breast milk, and yes, I knew that I could
certainly express and treat my milk to make it safe (but that would be a big
hassle), and yes, I knew that there were many well-documented risks of
formula feeding including a lower IQ, and yes, I knew that a cure/treatment
for HIV was most likely on the horizon, and yes, I knew that you might very
well need a normal immune system for your entire life to face all the new
diseases that were evolving, but I still chose to give you formula because
that way I wouldn't have to feel guilty that I gave you HIV."

Before I go down in flames, I'm signing off.

Kathy Dettwyler

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