Mother to baby

Babies can get HIV from their mothers, but these days this doesn’t happen often if precautions are taken during the pregnancy, during the birth and in the first months of the baby’s life. So women living with HIV can still get pregnant and have a baby that doesn't have HIV.

If the woman does not have HIV but wants to get pregnant by a man who does have the virus, then this can be done safely by using a process called sperm washing.

Risk factors

A baby is most at risk of getting HIV from its mother during childbirth when it can come into contact with the mother’s blood. The breastmilk of a woman with HIV can have the virus in it, so breastfeeding a baby can also pass it on.

How to lower the risk of transmission

It is very rare for a baby to get HIV from its mother if the following things are done:

• the mother takes anti-HIV drugs at certain times during the pregnancy
• the baby is delivered by Caesarian section
• the baby is given anti-HIV drugs for a short time after being born
• the baby is fed by bottle, not breastfed.

Deciding whether to get tested

Testing for HIV is offered to all pregnant women but it is a woman’s choice whether or not to take the test. If her result is positive she will be given all the possible help to stop the baby becoming infected. If a woman tests positive, no-one (including her partner, family or employer) will be told without her permission.

More information

We've produced a booklet about being pregnant and having HIV called Thinking about pregnancy.

Sperm washing

If you are thinking about getting pregnant and your partner has HIV then you could consider a process called sperm washing. In this process the HIV virus is removed from the sperm of a man who has HIV before it is used to artificially inseminate a woman. This means that neither the child nor the mother will get infected with HIV through the sperm.