dear joy et al,

(latin for you all). what this mother should do has been puzzling me since you
posted about this situation. what an incredible woman! this won't be the last
time we see this problem anyway. so here goes for my theoretical solution:

mother pumps milk after birth, heat treats it, and freezes it. baby is fed
with donated milk. mother's milk is randomly tested to see if the heat
treatment is working.

i do not recall at what age they decide that a baby who is born testing
positive is actually negative (at what age does the baby's "true" HIV status
become obvious?).
i seem to recall this takes quite a while. by the time the baby's true status
is known, the results of the testing of the mother's heat treated milk would
be available, and tell whether or not this sort of treatment is working. i
agree that HIV is considered a fragile virus, and my milk bank friends tell me
that it is easier to kill than some of the other potential viruses.

no formula needed, anyway. and women are constantly performing delicate
sterilization/pasteurization - type activities in their home kitchens, where
precise monitoring of temperatures are needed to avoid contamination and so
forth - it is called home canning. yes, accidents can happen, but there are
other ways in which this mother could accidentally infect this baby, far
fetched though they may be.

so now i realize i had better study up on more of those little details about
HIV such as what IS the age of seroconversion etc.

carol b.