Can I have children if I have HIV?

This is one of the first questions people ask themselves and one of the last they ask out loud. The answer is yes, and it has been yes for a long time.

Conceiving

If you are on treatment and undetectable, you cannot pass HIV to a partner, which means conceiving in the ordinary way carries no risk of transmitting it to them.

Couples where one partner has HIV have children this way routinely. Your clinic will want to know you are planning it, mainly so they can check your viral load is where it should be.

Pregnancy and birth

With treatment through pregnancy, the chance of passing HIV to the baby in the UK is now well under one per cent. It was over a quarter before treatment existed, which is why the guidance is detailed and why it is followed carefully.

Care is usually shared between an HIV clinic and a maternity team who do this often. There is UK guidance written specifically for it, by the British HIV Association, and your team works from it.

Feeding a baby

This is the part where advice has changed in recent years and where reading old pages online will mislead you. The UK guidance now supports discussing the options with your team rather than a blanket instruction, and it depends on your viral load and on monitoring.

It is a conversation to have with your HIV team while you are pregnant, not a decision to reach from a search result.

Where this comes from

Talkpositive is peer support, not a medical service. Anything about your own treatment belongs with your clinic, and they will not mind you asking.

If you would rather ask someone who has been through it

Talkpositive is a free, private community for people living with HIV. No real name needed, nothing public, nothing in search engines. Small rooms by what you are going through, and quiet one-to-one conversations that open only when both people have said hello.