Is it safe to have a baby if you have hepatitis C

[big baby]

Is it safe to have a baby if you have hepatitis C ? or can you never have children?

[Marie V]

You can have children have children of course,is it safe?Well pregnancy is not contraindicated in hepatitis C infected women, as the perinatal transmission from mother-to-baby occurs in less than six percent of all cases.Babies born to positive mothers should be tested for anti-HCV one year after birth. So in most case yes it should be safe!

[Litte Orange]

It is under 5% chance of the baby contracting hep C in the western world. Blood to blood contact only occurs within the birthing process - there is no sharing of blood via the placenta. So it is considered low risk.There is a risk of birth defects if the mother was/is on ribavirin, one of the drugs used in the treatment of hep C. Please be aware of that.Also, all babies born to hep C positive mothers will contain hep C antibodies for the first 18-24 months of life, so there is no point in testing the baby until after that time period. After this, only the babies with hep C active in their blood will show antibodies.