Cord Blood Banking?

[lincap]

Anyone doing cord blood banking?

DH and I were just talking about it... not certain.. didn't do it for DS.

Thoughts? for or against?

[StrawberryFields]

I think that I would be more inclined to delay the cord cutting until the cord has stopped pulsing than to do cord blood banking. That was the plan with ds but since we transferred to the hospital honestly everything was a blur and I have no idea when the cord cutting occurred.

[nausicaamom]

I'd do public banking, but it's not an option in my state.

[Dea]

I've been told that even when you delay the cutting the cord there is still enough to bank, there is less of course. Public banking is great, and there are some options for it in California, but I don't know about anywhere else. I've also read that the blood may not be as useful to cure a disease the baby might have. I'm not sure on all of that though.
I was interested in donating ours for research, but it doesn't look like we can 'cause we are having a home birth and the places around here that take it have strict policies, and frankly I'm not going to give up a home birth just for that.

[jaxinsmom]

dh and I stored ds' cord blood when he was born. We thought it was a good idea, and decided to do it. Now, with this pregnancy, we've decided to leave the cord on instead of storing the blood -- we figure that the odds that both babies blood types will be compatable are pretty high, so if this one needs the blood it's there. Also, the inital cost is not something we can afford right now (all in, it cost us about 1,400 to collect ds' blood and store it with lifebank).
It's a personal choice and one that may also depend on the history in your family of certain illnesses.
good luck!

[Nature]

I've heard that there chances are very low that the cord blood you store can be used for your baby or family anyway. I haven't researched it well so I don't really know.. but its not an option for us anyway. Too expensive.

[lilyblossom]

:

from what I understand, with current technology, the blood only remains good for a limited time, not the life of your child. For that reason, we've decided to leave the cord attached and if we can donate, we will.

It's a great idea if you have the extra $$ but for us, what it costs doesn't justify what we get....of course, I say this assuming the baby will be healthy and that is always a big risk.

[Dea]

Just a little aside, but the public ones are such good ideas I think. You pay much less, and then your blood is made available to anyone who will need it and if you need it then your type will be made available to you! In my reading I've learned that the research done on cord blood is similar to what's done on bone marrow.
For those of us in the Bay Area, there is a place in Berkley and The Children's hospital in Oakland who have the public banks. (if I'm correct)

I wish that there were more public banks all over, it's such a fantastic idea and so many people could benefit if it was more widespread.

[AlwaysByMySide]

I'm a cord blood donater.

[lovetobemama]

Here in St. Louis, you can publicly donate for free. And yes, you can wait until the cord has stopped pulsing, then have it clamped, then still do the donation. It worked fine with DS. We donated. I'll never know if it helped someone, but it would be great to think that it might have!

[snozzberry]

Originally Posted by lovetobemama

And yes, you can wait until the cord has stopped pulsing, then have it clamped, then still do the donation. It worked fine with DS.

Oh, cool, thanks for sharing that! I had just left a voicemail with our local cord blood bank to ask that question. I wonder if it depends on the policy of the bank, though?