giving blood when pregnant

is it ok to give blood when pregnant or is it best not too - my office have arranged a give blood session - but i have just found out im pregnant!

Just want to share my experience on this one - I did once give blood the day before I found out that I was pregnant. I was also a bit concerned, but my OBGYN was fairly relaxed about it. I did not feel ill after giving blood, nor (as far as I can tell) did it impact my pregnancy. However, I have had two easy pregnancies - no morning sickness or other problems.


That said, doctors would probably generally advice against it though. And frankly why take a chance? As a mother I would not (knowingly) jeopardize the health of my baby even if the risk is extremely low. You will have plenty of chances of giving blood after giving birth.


Good luck.

Whilst it won't kill you, you need all the haemoblobin you can get while you're pregnant. For a normal healthy person without the added strain of illness or pregnancy on their body, it takes about 2 weeks to replenish your blood to pre-donation state. For a sick, convalesing or pregnant person it takes longer. When I was pregnant I was taking a multivitamin with 27mg of iron which I thought would keep me in an OK range but by the time I was about 16 weeks pregnant my midwife had me on 1 x 100mg niferex a day and by the time I was 25 weeks I was on 2 a day just to keep my haemoglobin in a decent range. I heard this is not uncommon.


It's great that you want to donate and help other people, but now is the time for you to think about your own wellbeing and especially that of your baby.