What is everyone's thoughts on banking their babies cord blood? There is SO much to reseach and a lot of the informaiton is over my head! Plus there are three main companies (Stemcyte, Viacord and CBR) who keep calling me. I'm trying to compare all three companies and other than cost, there seems to be not too much of a difference. Would love to hear your opinions - are you doing it and if so, which company and why?
Re: Cord Blood Banking - are you doing it?
This.
I would do this and my OB advocates for it but the hospital where we are going doesn't give that option.
same here.
Same here. And unless you have a close relative that needs the blood, it is a waste of money. I have a lot of DRs in my family, and they look at this type of thing as praying on people's worst fears.
Make a pregnancy ticker
We are not doing cord blood banking, but we are considering donation. We only ever considered cord blood banking when we though that it could possibly benefit my FIL, who has esophogeal cancer. However, I'm not sure that donation is going to be a possibility anyway, because I have tested positive for antibody M.
Talk to me about delayed cord clamping though. This is the first that I've heard about this, and I'm curious. What are the benefits? How do you arrange it with your doctor/hospital?
I am strongly considering it although I think we are leaning toward Maze or Americord. They are less expensive because they don't spend so much on marketing like some of the larger companies. Hopefully we will never need it!
This exactly.
We may just donate.
Charlotte Ella 07.16.10
Emmeline Grace 03.27.13
According to The Mother of All Baby Books (Ann Douglas): "Only 10 out of 18,000 units stored by a cord bank in .. California have been retrieved to-date, and in each case, they were used by a family with a history of medical problems requiring transplants." In almost all cases where cord blood was required, a match was found at a public cord blood bank.
DH and I weren't really sure what we wanted to do... up until we read that paragraph in the book. I think we are going to donate my cord blood to a public bank, and hope we can find a match there in the unfortunate event that we need it for anything.
I'm not trying to sway anyone in one direction or another, I just think the facts are still so fuzzy in regards to cord blood banking and thought I'd pass-along what we learned in our own research.
C 7.16.2008 | L 11.12.2010 | A 3.18.2013
Hi,
It is upsetting to read these posts that say that cord blood banking is a rip off. There is so much misinformation out there and the biggest problem is that people are not doing their own research. I know it is time consuming but I worry that people are making their own decision based on what someone else told them to do. I know it's confusing with all of the different information out there- but it is one of the most important decisions you will choose (to do or not) and so is worthy of your investigation. I will offer full disclosure and tell you that I have been working for Cryo-Cell since July of 2012. But I am also the mother of 3 children and long before I worked for the company, I made the decision to bank my children's stem cells with Cryo-Cell (after researching the other major companies). Obviously, I believe in my decision or I wouldn't have taken a job with the company 8 years later.
But I am not replying to sell you on our company- I just don't want you to miss an opportunity to do something based on old and not up to date information. And I feel bad for the mom's who are receiving outdated info from their Dr's. Without boring you with all the details- take a look at the studies being conducted right now at Duke University in regards to stem cell treatment for cerebral palsy or go to a great non-biased website like www.parentsguidetocordblood.com. In the past I do believe cord blood banking and cord tissue banking were something people thought they should do out of fear- but there are so many potential opportunities for use that go beyond the things you hear about that scare you. It is worth a look, so you see what is available now and what could be available in the future.
Public banking is an excellent option if you can not afford private banking- but please research the limitations of public banking (for example- many donations are thrown away and not stored because the blood collected was not enough to meet the public bank's criteria).
I am sorry that I couldn't give you a quick answer- but I do think you (or any mom) considering this should do the research before they decide against it. You have to make your own choice- and that will be the right choice.