At the risk of sounding uneducated about HIV and its transmission, I would
like to post a question:

HIV is transmitted in bodily fluids.  So far, the discussion here about HIV
and lactation has been about *breastfeeding*, and less about *breastmilk*.  I
have always thought that HIV was a very weak virus, as viruses go, and does
not "live" long outside bodily fluids, and "dies" rapidly when exposed to air.
This is why HIV is thought not to be spread by casual contact, yes?
  So, if breastfeeding (the baby at the breast, drinking the milk of her HIV+
mother) is problematic, is expressed breastmilk of this mother also equally
problematic?  If an HIV+ mother expresses her milk and leaves it at room
temperature for a certain length of time and *then* feeds it to the baby, has
the risk of transmission of the virus been reduced?  Is it the intimate bodily
contact of breastfeeding which is thought to increase the risk of
transmission?  And if so, if the bodily contact is left out of the equation,
would the risk be reduced??  Has anyone tested the expressed breastmilk of an
HIV+ mother to determine exactly *what it takes* for the virus to "die"?

Respectfully submitted,
Lisa Jones, LLLL in Wellington FL