Do you think it's o.k. for teenagers to donate blood?

I am a registered nurse, and I was in charge of my schools blood drive when I was in high school. I dont see any reason why teens shouldn't donate blood. There is an intense need for blood products in the United States. My sister donated blood when she was 16 and so did a lot of her friends. If there was a huge cause for concern, I dont think there would be high school blood drives. To my knowledge, there are no serious concerns regarding growing teens and donating blood. I hope this helps.

why would it not be ok? the dr told my mom when i was born to donate my blood or at least stock pile it becase my blood was rare and if something happend to me the hospital would have some on hand for me. thank god we never needed to use it or anyone ealse for that matter. but you never know. i think its better for a yound person to donate then and older one. less health issues and less likely ot have an std aides and what ever ealse goes around. i think that there is no harm in it. and bloode reproduses to fast how can it hurt him? but i would as your dr first

I think any child over the age of 16 should be able to give blood. I don't think there are any risks associated with giving blood besides the normal ones that can happen to anyone that gives. Their bodies are just as good as ours, they make more blood just as we do.

Why wouldn't it be okay for teens to donate? They are probably more fit phsyically than some of the older people who do it. They are subject to the same preliminary questions and tests as everyone else, and there is no danger posed by being younger. I've done it several times. The only thing you have to worry about is passing out during/after giving blood but that applies to everyone. I think teenagers are a great group to target for giving. My high school held an annual blood drive and here at Michigan they have what's called Blood Wars which is a contest against Ohio State to see which school can collect the most units of blood.

ofcourse..one can...i've done it wen i was in my 11grade..16yrs..for case of urgency...well son is great make a real gud out of it..gud luck

well the first thing is to be sure about the fact that there is no way on earth that there is a chance of contamination or re using the syringe used in blood donation... otherwise blood donation is completely fine cause in teenage is the perfect age of donating blood cause at this age blood is generated fast enough...

As long as the law is cool with it then it should be OK. If he was 13 then I might sy no too. With hium being 16 I think I would have let him do it. He knew what he was getting into and if needles don't scare him like they do me. Then their shouldn't be a problem. Since it's done with then waiting until next year won't kill him either.

I have been donating blood since after 9/11. I'm actually donating platelet this weekend. Donating blood compare to platelet that is like nothing. If your son is a healthy teenager, i don't see any reason to worry about him. If you are really worry you could always cook him something that are high in iron like spinach, fish, beef. There will be a registered nurse that will check with him, if there is any doubt they will turn him away.

I think it's fine if they're healthy enough. I did it when the required age was 17. I was barely 17, and barely made the weight cut off too. But other than feeling a bit faint after, I was fine. I donated blood twice in high school. I don't like that schools often do it as a way to earn extra credit. But it's nice that students can help out. Not sure why it would matter if you're still growing. Children can donate marrow even if they are a match for someone like a sibling.

i think there is no necessary to worry about your son who wants to donate blood there is no harm in giving blood once in a year as he is young the blood he donated can soon be recovered i encourage such activities

It is perfectly safe for a healthy 16-yr-old teenager to give blood. The screening that will be done prior to donation will catch issues that would lend the teen not healthy enough to give blood (such as a low hematocrit, body weight too low and so forth). As for the teen's body still being in a growth phase, loss of one pint of blood should not matter, provided they are healthy to begin with. You could always ask your son's doctor if you are concerned, he/she could advise you if there are any specific reasons that your son shouldn't donate.

Personally I can't see a problem with teenagers donating blood. My own son is now 21 and he is a regular blood donar. There is always a desperate shortage of some blood types, if your son can help then I think it would be good to let him

i wouldnt allow a child of mine under 18 to do it !

i think that after the age of 14, as long as the person is healthy they should be able to give blood. i'm not a nurse and i don't work in the medical field though. Maybe, try talking to your family doctor. he/she should be able to give you more information on it. ..or call the hospital. . .usually they offer some free advice on basic medical questions

I do think that if your child are healthy , it is a good deed to let him donate blood yea .... if he is not , then better don't ... of course don't force yourself too much if you don't want to donate yea let your son decide

I donated blood when I was a teen. I have o positive, and they were always asking me for mine, and I happily donated it. I do think that if parents are going to allow their kids to do it, they need to be involved with it. My parents weren't. I donated blood with a friend of mine at school, after school we went to the mall.. we were both very lightheaded and disoriented. We actually spent an hour looking for her car in the WRONG parking lot. We were completely out of it, and the crazy thing is, we drove home like that too (and we didn't think anything of it). Teenagers don't really take them seriously when they say, lay down for a couple of minutes.. eat a couple of cookies and wait and see how it affects you.. we just left immediately afterwards, grabbed some candy bars and went. I thank God we didn't have an accident or something! But, I think it's a wonderful thing to donate blood, I can't do it anymore as I'm anemic, but maybe one day.

I think it's great for them to donate their blood if they want to. We are teaching them how to become caring citizens, why should they not be allowed to do it if they choose to? I didn't realize there was an age limit on when they could start to do it. I certainly think by the time they are a teenager they are old enough to realize what they are doing and if they want to donate their blood I think it's a great way for them to help out society.

I cannot donate blood either because of my health issues. I admire your son for wanting to donate the blood I think that is great. My kids should be like him. I do not think anything is wrong with him donating the blood. If he is in good health then their should be no risk in him donating it. If it is a school blood drive then I think they would have checked out all the liabilty and the pro's and cons's about kids giving blood.

yes it's obviously good for all the age people to donate the blood , especially for the teenagers . that will refine your blood , by producing the newer wbc's , so your resistanct will get increased .

Ofcourse teenagers can donate blood, after an approximate age of 15 years. I think donating blood after 15, is safe and ok. They takes away only 250 ml of blood in any donation camp. That is the limit. And, on donating this amount of blood, no harm is caused to the body. After donating blood, within 180 days this amount of blood is again made in the body, and the amount comes to normal. Therefore after 180 days, one can once again donate blood. This means, any average person can donate blood repeatedly after 3 months gap period. Only there is one thing that should be taken care of. The person donating blood should not have the following problems: 1) HIV infection 2) Diabetes 3) Thyroid problem 4) Aneamia Also there are more factors, which prohibits one from donating blood. But as far as age is concerned, being a teenager doesn't pose any problem for donating blood.