I went to donate blood when my firstborn was 10 mos old here in Canada.
They had some question about breastfeeding if I remember correctly and I
said I was nursing.  The male nurse said I couldn't donate, in that case.  I
said to him I wanted more details about when I could donate, and he said not
until she weaned.  I said "what if she weans at 5 years?!!" to which he made
a bug-eyed face and said he'd go ask his supervisor.  ;-)  So off he went
and a lady came back and asked how old my baby was that I was nursing.  I
said 10 mos old, and she asked how much she ate in the way of solids.  I
said she didn't really eat much yet.  She said I was ALLOWED to donate
anytime after 6 mos past the beginning of lactation (meaning if I had
adopted and induced lactation I would have had to wait 6 mos too, not just
post partum...) but that they recommended that a lady wait until a
significant amount of the child's diet was composed of solid foods in case
there was a milk production decrease due to giving blood/possible anemia.
In any case, I decided to try giving blood that day anyhow because I had
NEVER had a milk production problem unless you count OVERproduction...so I
figured I probably didn't need to worry.  I do generally take some iron
supplements for a short while after donating since I have become anemic
after donating before (as well as after giving birth).  And in the end I had
no problems and have been back to donate blood several times with young-ish
babies (obviously not before one is 6 mos old).

Fio

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