I had posted previously on whether or not anyone has a policy at their
hospital forbidding mothers who are of unknown HIV status to breastfeed
their infant. I am now asking again since our director of maternal child
services has asked us to benchmark other institutions on their practice. I
was called last evening by our Mother baby unit because a mom was told by
a neonatologist in our NICU that they would be unable to give her milk to
her baby because she had no current HIV testing during this pregnancy. Mom
had history of negative HIV testing several years ago and OB told her it
was not required. She was not against testing. She is furious, but not as
furious as i am. Last week i recieved an email from our director telling
me this was a possibility, but was not policy yet. They are quoting the
AAP Redbook statement for moms of HIV unknown status--their interpretation
is that it is up to the MD to decide if mom is "allowed" to breastfeed. On
so many levels, i cannot get my arms around this.....Not only do i think
the way this was handled was atrocious, it seems so fundamentally wrong .
My solution to this "cover our a**" mentality would be a thorough informed
consent and information sheet on the risks of breastfeeding with HIV and
have patient sign a form acknowledging that with unknown HIV status there
are risks. I was tested for HIV in my first trimester--who's to say my
husband was not faithful and infected me during pregnancy (it has happened
to other moms)-- i am still breastfeeding my 2 1/2 year old-- do i need
monthly HIV testing for my pediatrician to "allow" me to breastfeed?
Please email me off-list with your specific hospital policies so not to
clog the list---thanks for listening to my rant!!!
Beth Kushner-Giovenco RNC,IBCLC
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