Women infected with HIV in developing countries face a difficult choice. Do they breastfeed their babies and potentially transmit the disease through breast milk, or do they use complementary foods based on expensive synthetic formulas? Many women who wish to use complementary feeding do not have the financial means or equipment to be able to provide adequate nutrition. There is a clear risk that even if they are able to use supplemental formula, unclean water will expose their child to gastrointestinal infections or parasites. The official recommendation from the World Health Organization (WHO) is that if complementary feeding is feasible and practical for the mother, then she should avoid breastfeeding. If complementary feeding is not possible, the child should be exclusively breastfed for at least six months. Neither choice is a hundred percent satisfactory solution, and ongoing research continues to support the benefits of one feeding method over the other. Complementary foods and milk replacers include commercial formulas and animal milks prepared with sugar, water and other nutrients. Some mothers choose to combine commercial formula with the milk mixture to increase their supplies of each. Because HIV is transmitted through contact with infected body fluids, a child fed complementary foods has a lower risk of becoming infected than a child who comes into contact with the breast milk of an HIV-positive mother. Common milk replacer recipes studied by Papathakis & Rollins in 2004 included 39 g of whole milk powder (PM), 30 g of sugar and 450 ml of water, and 300 ml of whole milk (FM), 30 g of sugar and 150 ml. water. In the results published by Papathakis & Rollins, in the middle of the article, women are faced with whether they choose a replacement diet and had an overall depth in their research that Papathakis & Rollins lacked. Papathakis & Rollins glossed over the fact that formula is simply not feasible for the majority of women and looked at the situation in a rather clinical and impersonal manner in advocating the use of formula rather than milk replacers. Works CitedPapathakis, PC and Rollins, NC (2003). Are the WHO/UNAIDS/UNICEF recommended milk replacers for infants of HIV-infected mothers appropriate in the South African context? Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 82(3), 164-171. Bland, RM, Rollins, NC, Coovadia, HM, Coutsoudis, A., & Newell, ML (2007). Infant feeding advice for HIV-infected and non-HIV-infected women: relevance of choice and practice. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 85(4), 289-296.