Can You Donate Plasma During Pregnancy? Here’s What Experts Say

Plasma makes up a portion of your blood that contains proteins and electrolytes to support blood pressure, clotting, and cellular functions. Plasma donations, much like blood donations are crucial for patients receiving treatments for shock, trauma, burns, and more. If you have donated blood in the past, then the process of donating plasma is not much different either. But can you donate plasma while pregnant? The answer is ‘No.’ Read on as we explain to you why donating plasma is restricted during pregnancy, the issues that can arise, and how to support your community during this time.

Can You Donate Plasma While Pregnant?

Unfortunately, you have to put a pause on plasma donation until after your baby arrives. The reason for this is in fact two-fold. First, while there isn’t much research on how plasma donation can affect your baby, the procedure can put you at a higher risk of gestational anaemia, which can further increase the risk of other pregnancy complications. The second reason is that plasma donation during pregnancy can dangerously affect the recipient.

When you are pregnant, the blood cells from your baby, which contain different genetic information from your own, mix with your blood through the placenta. As a result of this, your body releases a protein called human leukocyte antigens (HLA). These antigens are crucial as they help suppress your immune system so that your body doesn’t treat your baby as a foreign material and support the fetus’ healthy growth and development. 

However, a transfusion with HLA blood can be life-threatening for the recipient and cause a complication called transfusion-related acute lung injury or TRALI. Even a small amount of plasma can lead to TRALI and other complications in the recipient. 

Due to this reason pregnant women are asked to refrain from plasma donations and may have to take HLA tests when they go for blood donation, even after pregnancy.

Is HLA Harmful To You?

While the HLA antibodies are harmful to transfusion patients, they do not affect you or your baby in any way. Also, having HLA antibodies does not mean that you are unwell or there is a risk of a pregnancy complication, it’s simply part of how your body responds during pregnancy. 

Can You Donate Plasma While Breastfeeding?

The World Health Organisation (WHO) organisation advises against plasma donation while you are still breastfeeding. This is because plasma donation may affect breastfeeding adversely. The procedure can lower the level of electrolytes in your body and lead to dehydration, which can further affect your milk supply.

Hence, make sure to consult your doctor about whether you can donate plasma while nursing, how often can you safely donate, and the best way to keep yourself hydrated and restore your electrolytes after donation.

Also, when you go to the plasma donation center, do inform the staff that you recently had a baby and that you are still nursing. You will most likely need to get a blood test to determine if HLA antibodies are still present. If you get the go-ahead, you can safely donate your plasma, but ensure you are well-hydrated and sipping on energy drinks to keep your electrolytes balanced.

When Can You Donate Plasma After Pregnancy?

The WHO advises waiting at least nine months after giving blood to donating blood and plasma. Again, all donation centers are different, so they may also have different rules when it comes to women who’ve just given birth. Some centers may accept plasma donations after full-term pregnancies sooner as well.

Also, remember, after pregnancy, whether you are nursing or not, you will be screened for HLA antibodies before donation to determine if your plasma is safe to use.

How To Help If You Can’t Donate Blood?

Even if you can’t donate your plasma now, you can always give it later, when your body is ready. It is the healthy and safest choice for you and your baby. That said, there are plenty of other ways you can help your community in this regard:

• Volunteer at the event: If your health permits, you can consider volunteering at a blood donation event. Don’t enroll in strenuous tasks, rather look for roles where you can spend some time sitting, such as working at the registration counter and signing up people coming to donate their plasma. 
• Give a monetary donation: If you are able, give a monetary donation to the organisation conducting the blood bank event. With your contribution, they can look after various aspects of the program, such as buying refreshments for the blood donours.
• Donate your cord blood: Look into ways to donate cord blood (extra blood collected after childbirth from your placenta and umbilical cord) to a public blood bank. The cells in the cord blood exhibit similar properties found in the bone marrow and can help strengthen the immunity of cancer patients and other immunocompromised people.
• Donate your breast milk: You can choose to donate your excess breast milk to donour banks as it is used for babies and outpatient families in need. You can connect to a nearby milk bank to get more information on this. 

Conclusion

We hope our post answered all of your questions on “can you donate plasma while pregnant.” While it may not be safe for you to participate in blood donations during pregnancy, you can always look for other ways to help, as we have discussed above. Also, do consult your doctor before going for plasma donation after pregnancy, and get an HLA antibody test done to determine whether your plasma is safe for the recipient.

Also read:

Cephalic presentation: What is cephalic presentation and how does it affect your pregnancy? Get all the details in this post. 

Brown discharge during pregnancy: Is it normal to have brown discharge during pregnancy? Tap this post to know.

Double marker test in pregnancy: Here’s everything you need to know about the double marker test and its benefits.

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