The AIDS policymakers have always been on a dilemma whether to recommend breast-feeding or not. It was thought that breast-feeding can transmit the HIV infection from the mother to the baby. The risk of post-natal transmission was considered to be very high.  But, according to a recent study published in The Lancet, feeding a child exclusively on breast milk reduces the chances of passing on the infection by about 50 percent. This is true in the case of countries where clean and hygienic food is not available.

The study mentions it very explicitly that the chances of being infected gets reduced only if the child survives exclusively on breast milk and not on mixed feeding (feeding with infant formula or other solid food along with breast milk). According to researchers, the mucous membrane within the intestine serves as a barrier to HIV infection. Breast-milk reinforces and protects that lining.

In an experiment conducted in South Africa, those children who were exclusively breast-fed, the infection rate reduced to 4.04 percent. In those children who were mixed-fed, the infection rate almost doubled. Those children who had only solid food, the risk of infection increased almost 11 times.

The new WHO breast-feeding guidelines recommends HIV-infected women to exclusively breast-feed their babies for the first six months unless good, safe, affordable replacement feed is available. If a safe replacement feed is available then stop breast-feeding and switch over to the replacement feed.