HIV and Infant Feeding - Review of HIV Transmission Through Breastfeeding Jointly Issued by UNICEF, UNAIDS and WHO Guidelines - Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (UNAIDS, 1998, 26 p.): Strategies to reduce breast-milk transmission: Early cessation of breastfeeding

HIV and Infant Feeding - Review of HIV Transmission Through Breastfeeding Jointly Issued by UNICEF, UNAIDS and WHO Guidelines - Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (UNAIDS, 1998, 26 p.)

Strategies to reduce breast-milk transmission

		Primary prevention
		Replacement feeding
		Early cessation of breastfeeding
		Treatment of breast milk
		Wet-nursing by a tested HIV-negative woman
		Antiretroviral therapy

Early cessation of breastfeeding

Early cessation of breastfeeding reduces the risk of HIV transmission by limiting the length of time that an infant is exposed to HIV through breast milk. Women who are not able to provide adequate and hygienic replacement feeding to their infants from birth may consider this option in order to reduce the cumulative risk of longer breastfeeding duration (Leroy et al., 1998; Epkini et al., 1997; Van de Perre, 1997). It is not yet possible to specify the optimum time for cessation of breastfeeding.