Hepatitis C
Although this does not happen very often, a pregnant woman who has Hepatitis C can give the disease to her baby when it is born, or to her fetus while she is pregnant. This happens in less than 10% of all pregnancies (less than 1 out of every 10 pregnancies). If a pregnant woman has Hepatitis C, nothing can be done to make her less likely to give her baby the disease. If the woman is in labor (the process of delivering her baby) for a long time, there is more of a chance that the baby will become infected during the birth. Breastfeeding does not seem to spread the disease. However, doctors say that an infected mother should not breastfeed if her nipples are cracked and bleeding, or her viral loads (the amount of the Hepatitis C virus in her blood) are high.