1. While discussing HIV and infant feeding, the
guidelines mention use of expressed, heat-treated breast milk as one of
the alternatives to breastfeeding in infants less than six months of
age. Guidelines need to mention a standardized method of heat-treatment
of breast milk which should be fulfilling AFASS criteria. It should be
borne in mind that it may not be possible to use a thermometer in a
domestic setting to decide about the temperature to which the expressed
breast milk should be heated.
2. While discussing HIV and infant feeding, the
guidelines also mention introducing appropriate complementary foods
after 6 months of life and continuing breast feeding for the first 12
months of life. This amounts to mixed feeding for second six months of
life. In the same section, towards the end, the guidelines mention that
mixed feeding should be avoided (except the short transition period of
around a month when breast-feeding is being gradually stopped) as it
causes a two fold increase in the risk of postnatal HIV transmission.
This contradiction needs to be resolved.