breastfeeding policy Archives

Without major announcement, in February 2023, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) changed their breastfeeding policy for HIV-infected mothers and no longer recommend advising against breastfeeding.

The new recommendation gets closer to the updated 2010 World Health Organization (WHO) guideline on HIV and infant feeding. Before 2010, “WHO guidance on HIV and infant feeding (UNICEF et al., 2003; WHO et al., 2006) recommended an individualized approach in which women living with HIV would be counselled on feeding options according to their household circumstances.”

The new CDC guideline acknowledges that, “For mothers on antiretroviral therapy (ART) with a sustained undetectable HIV viral load during pregnancy, the risk of transmission through breastfeeding is less than 1%, but not zero,” as determined in the PROMISE Study.

The guideline goes on to recommend “patient-centered, evidence-based counseling on infant feeding options, allowing for shared decision-making.” Read the full document here.

Organizations like the National Institute of Health Office of AIDS Research, the Infectious Disease Society of America and National Association of County and City Health Officials announced the new guidance, but it has gone largely unacknowledged in the field of lactation.

“This change in HIV policy serves as a reminder to always check sources. New research findings and policy reconsiderations make it imperative that the most up-to-date information is available to the families we serve,” Healthy Children Project’s Karin Cadwell PhD, RN, FAAN, IBCLC, ANLC comments.

In the U.S., HIV diagnoses among women have declined in recent years; still, nearly 7,000 women received an HIV diagnosis in 2019. (The CDC has commented on the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic: “Data for 2020 should be interpreted with caution due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on access to HIV testing, care-related services, and case surveillance activities in state and local jurisdictions. While 2020 data on HIV diagnoses and prevention and care outcomes are available, we are not updating this web content with data from these reports.”)

How does the U.S. compare in their recommendations to other high-income countries?

The British HIV Assocation’s 2018 guidelines for the management of HIV in pregnancy and postpartum states that “Women who are virologically suppressed on cART with good adherence and who choose to breastfeed should be supported to do so, but should be informed about the low risk of transmission of HIV through breastfeeding in this situation and the requirement for extra maternal and infant clinical monitoring” among other recommendations for helping manage lactation in HIV-positive mothers.

A National Health Service (NHS) Greater Glasgow and Clyde document Management of infants born to HIV positive mothers reads: “There is now evidence from developing countries that breast feeding while mum’s viral load is fully suppressed is safe, and BHIVA/CHIVA no longer regard a decision to breast feed as grounds for referral to child protection services. For HIV positive women who choose to breast feed, maternal HAART should be carefully monitored and continued until one week after all breastfeeding has ceased. The mother’s viral load should be tested monthly to ensure that HIV virus remains undetectable; this testing will be undertaken by the obstetric/ID team. It is recommended that breastfeeding be exclusive, and completed by the end of 6 months.”

You can learn more about Canada’s approach here and Switzerland’s here.

For more, check out Lacted’s Clinical Question and the CDC’s Preventing Perinatal HIV Transmission.

Castle Rock Pediatrics (CRP) made a splash this summer at the Douglas County Fair Parade where they displayed their incredible Under the Sea themed float. Patients and families created a colorful array of paper plate fish that “swam” through pool noodle crafted seaweed.

CRP also attended the Renaissance Expeditionary Magnet School Back to School Carnival and the Downtown Castle Rock Concert Under the Lights where they set up a lactation station.

After breastfeeding her own young children and later completing the Lactation Counselor Training Course (LCTC), Laura Westover PA-C, CLC, one of the providers at CRP, dove into helping transform her office into a Breastfeeding-Friendly Employer and soon-to-be Breastfeeding- Friendly Medical Office.

Their work is supported by a grant through the Tri-County Health Department. Westover has been working alongside Susan Howk, a breastfeeding policy specialist, to create their policies and lactation spaces through a six-point plan which includes policy, staff and provider training, patient education, environment, evaluation and sustainability, and continuity of care.

The grant has funded things like a chair, end tables, a hospital-grade multi user breast pump and kits, a stuffed animal nursing dog with her puppies for siblings to play with, and a lactation scale for weighted feeds.

Westover displays the breastfeeding friendly employer certificate in March 2022 standing in their first lactation space.

Their lactation space started in one of their smallest exam rooms, but has recently graduated to one of their larger exam rooms, which is now near the end of its renovation. Westover notes that the space also functions for newborn and young baby visits.

Westover reports that CRP owners since November 2021 Drs. Anderson and Bouchillon have been highly supportive of the breastfeeding-friendly changes.

Prior to the implementation of their lactation policies, Westover says their office “was not lactation friendly at all.” She describes stacks of formula in plain view.

“It gave the impression that we were promoting formula,” she comments.

Gift bags for patients were also riddled with formula-promotions, so the team phased out the branded materials and replaced them for non-branded, breastfeeding-friendly items.

Now, Westover and her colleague Sydney Gruenhaupt RN-BSN, CLC see breastfeeding dyads weekly for office visits; whereas they once had to refer out. Of mothers’ main concerns are poor weight gain and uncomfortable or painful latch.

Westover points out that Colorado has very high breastfeeding initiation rates, but like the national trend, tapers dramatically at 6 months and beyond. While Westover and her colleagues are not currently tracking their office’s breastfeeding rates, it’s part of the plan in hopes that their numbers will hold steady beyond initiation rates. Westover explains since they’ve switched over to a larger electronic medical records system, there should be potential for a simple, infant feeding tracking system. A 2016 project by the County of San Diego Healthy Works program, implemented by UC San Diego Center for Community Health with funding from First 5 San Diego extensively explores current practices and future possibilities of breastfeeding measurement in the outpatient electronic health record.

Westover and her colleagues will be out and about again this fall where they’ll craft their lactation tent at events like Oktoberfest and the town of Castle Rock Spooktacular Halloween celebration.