How many of you guys are banking baby's cord blood?

[BeanieC]

I'm undecided and the cost is so high..not so sure I can afford..even with a payment plan...

[samstress]

won't be banking, just delaying cord clamping.

[lyndie]

I was interested in it but after research decided I want baby to have the cord blood now (so we're going to delay clamping/cutting) rather than later.  I got the impression that the 2 choices are incompatible, so if you want to delay clamping there wouldn't be enough left for collection/banking.

[BeanieC]

What do you think is a reasonable time to delay?  I've heard any where from 90 seconds to 15 minutes....

[lyndie]

The general recommendation I've heard/read is until it stops pulsating (which can vary I guess).  We're going to wait at least 15 mins, probably more like a half hour to be sure.  
 

Originally Posted by BeanieC 

What do you think is a reasonable time to delay?  I've heard any where from 90 seconds to 15 minutes....

[reelgeek]

From what I've read, the cord blood wouldn't be useful for the baby for a very long time and even then it's very unlikely that you could use the cells for the baby itself. It would be more compatible for a sibling or relative, provided that they actually do make major headway with being able to fix DNA related diseases/issues. It would do nothing for non-genetic problems like cancers that were environmental in nature.

Also, if you're in the USA, there is already a fairly large bank of stem cells that have been donated and you're more likely to find a match there in the future over your own cord blood, should the technology be good enough. We're going to donate the cord blood to the general stem cell bank for research because of those reasons.

[lyndie]

This was also off-putting for me.  Why should I deny this baby her own cord blood when it would be used for her sibling, if at all?  Seemed unfair.  All the success stories I've seen on the commercials are one child using another sibling's cord blood cells.

I think you can still donate the cord after delayed clamping, for what little may be left in there.
 

Originally Posted by reelgeek 

From what I've read, the cord blood wouldn't be useful for the baby for a very long time and even then it's very unlikely that you could use the cells for the baby itself. It would be more compatible for a sibling or relative, provided that they actually do make major headway with being able to fix DNA related diseases/issues. It would do nothing for non-genetic problems like cancers that were environmental in nature.

[SGVaughn]

cbr has a good faq page that you can follow up on to verify with independent sources

http://www.cordblood.com/cord_blood_faqs/processing_banking.asp#6

[SallyNichole]

I think that for public banking the amount collected that can be donated varies because in STL our public bank said that they had no problem with delayed clamping and then collecting whatever was left.

and with public banks there is no fee, or there isn't for us.

We're delaying the clamping until it's done pulsating and we are also donating.

[kamalynsky]

I got a nice handout from the midwives that made me go "no thanks" on the banking front.  First, if you do decide to bank, they clamp immediately - so you can't do delayed clamping *and* cord blood banking.  Also, some of the diseases that cord blood may help to cure can already be present in the blood at birth, making it useless.  The cost of private banking is also seriously discouraging.  Public banking is basically a donation, which is awesome, but I want to do delayed cord clamping, so... that's still ruled out.

Basically, if you know your child is at risk for a disease that may be cured by stem cells, you may want to think about doing this.  But you may be able to donate your own stem cells if the need arises. 

[sillysmile]

We were planning to do delayed clamping with our first, but didn't get the chance because there was a tight nuchal cord that had to be cut as her head was out. This is apparently pretty common, and something to consider if your only reason for not banking the blood is the cord clamping. For example, maybe you could have the kit ready and only use it if the blood is available.

We ended up doing the public banking with our first. Oddly, they didn't tell us that delayed clamping (which was specified in our birth plan) would be in conflict with the banking. Maybe they just didn't read our birth plan, and it didn't come up because of the nuchal cord issue.

We got a call within the first year to let us know that a patient matched to our banked cord blood, and asking if we authorized its use. I of course let them use it, and feel that it will be something that my daughter will appreciate down the road. My understanding was that there was still a chance that you could use your own banked blood if you used the public option, but don't know all of the details. I've actually been meaning to call and find out whether all of ours was used already, and to clarify whether we could use it at a later time if still available.

[sillysmile]

BTW this site suggests that you can delay clamping AND donate:

http://www.mazecordblood.com/blog/?p=253

Particular banking programs may have different requirements though. I'll be checking with our hospital to see what their requirements are.

And another FYI, my DD's iron levels were really good at a few months even with the "early" cord cutting (i.e. a minute before she was even born). Not sure what the stats on that are though. Anemia was my main concern, and she was getting exclusively BM at that time.

[SGVaughn]

really cool that you got to find out someone was able to use it sillysmile...something like that would really make my day

[LeighPF]

We will be publicly banking. I don't see much benefit to us with banking, but think the larger community can really benefit. http://www.marrow.org/ for more info.