Cord Blood Banking

hansonam446

Has anyone considered it or done it? I've been hearing some things about it and I know it can have serious benefits later on if, god forbid, any problems should arise but have never heard of anyone actually doing it. If you have done it before is it expensive? Thanks, ladies.

ni077169

Lurking from 2nd. It can be pretty expensive. There is the one time payment to extract the cord blood, the lowest I've seen is around 2,000, however there is a yearly fee as well to preserve the cord blood. I think around 200. 

Jeffsgurl86

We donated the cord blood.  The blood bank actually sent the kit to our OB before the birth after we filled out the paperwork.  Super easy.

Jeffsgurl86

We donated the cord blood.  The blood bank actually sent the kit to our OB before the birth after we filled out the paperwork.  Super easy.

stewz

We did it and what the previous posters said is about on target for the monetary part. It's a lot but we just figured it's better safe to have it than to not. If it's monetarily feasible, I say do it.  

kelly321

I wanted to donate it with DD, but ended up not being able to (HELLP and an unplanned c/s at 34w). I hope that if I am able to carry a baby to term, I will be able to donate the cord blood. I have a friend who is a nurse and works with leukemia patients on experimental treatments. She said it isn't even considered an experimental treatment anymore and has really good results.

Also, if you're thinking of banking it specifically for leukemia, she said it actually doesn't make sense to do it for yourself because you can't get rid of the leukemia that way (don't ask me about the details - it made sense when she explained it but I can't remember the exact reason right now).

CallMeLauraJane

I would love to do it. But, I can't afford it. Super expensive.

simplein06

I was reading the material my OB gave me on the topic. 

A few things stood out.  They said it was unlikely that the cord blood could be used on the child even if the child needed it.  They also only suggested banking it if someone in the family was already ill, not in the chance that someone could become ill

Does anyone have anything to support or contradict this?

Lastly, if we want to donate our OB charges $200 since it is an elective procedure.

kelly321

simplein06:

I was reading the material my OB gave me on the topic. 

A few things stood out.  They said it was unlikely that the cord blood could be used on the child even if the child needed it.  They also only suggested banking it if someone in the family was already ill, not in the chance that someone could become ill

Does anyone have anything to support or contradict this?

Lastly, if we want to donate our OB charges $200 since it is an elective procedure.

This is exactly what I was talking about above. My friend the nurse who works with leukemia patients said they can't use it on the same person they got it from (to treat leukemia, anyway). I don't remember the exact reasoning, but I bet you could find it online.

bdutton0005

We did with DS and will be doing it with this one also. We used CBR and they offer payment plans. There are somethings they cannot use their own blodd on and somethings they can, so having a siblings is a great options. My OB did not chrage. I say if you are interested go to a couple different site and request a info packet. That is what we did and then narrowed it down from their. 

sschwege

The AAP does not recommend banking, so that made the decision pretty easy for us.  We instead choose to donate, which we plan to do this time around again.  Here is a good article pertaining to the AAP's stance:

https://www.webmd.com/news/20070103/aap-opposes-private-cord-blood-banking 

pitch77

We banked our DD's. Our doc suggested we do it if we could afford it, and because we are a mixed racial couple, which can be harder to match. We also have a family history of some of the disease cord blood is known to help, which was a big factor in our decision. We may donate from this pregnancy.

AppleJacks81

Look into whether your insurance might offer a discount with a cord blood bank. Mine did and I also called around Mothers and Fathers day and they had a special for the holidays and I got the initial price down to about $1500, with about $180 per year storage.

 I work in a hospital that does bone marrow transplants. As far as donating, the thing about cord blood is that a patient doesn't need to be as close of a match as another adult would need to be to have a successful transplant. Whether you keep it for your child or donate it, don't let it go to waste if you have the option! As for keeping it for you child just in case, you never know what medical advances will be made in the next 20, 30,50 years!

SouthernBelleduJour

We are using CBR as well.  And we actually know someone who had a child that developed leukemia - they were able to use the cells for treatment.  It's a bit of an upfront cost, then a yearly storage fee.  Make sure you use a private bank - otherwise, if you put in a public bank, my understanding is that someone else can use it first if they are a match.  We look at it as an insurance policy that we will (hopefully!!!) never have to use.  Our midwife has handled CB-ing before, our hospital was one of the pioneering facilities, and the process is rather simple.

Mrs.DeliaMarieP

We are going to do a public cord blood donation.  Some hospitals have this, and some don't.  They have only started doing it here in RI for the last 2 years.  It wasn't available when DS was born.  

It is free, they come and collect the cord blood and store it in the state blood bank.  If we ever need it, and ours hasn't been used for anyone else, then they would find ours first.  If someone else ends up using it before we ever do, then they contact us and let us know that is the case.  If we ever need some in the future, they would find us a match either out of the state cord blood bank, or any other cord blood bank in the country.

As pp said, private cord blood banking (Viacord, etc) is very expensive, usually about $2000 up front, and then an either monthly or annual maintenance fee, I can't remember how much. 

grapeape73

Just lurking::

We banked both of our DD's cord blood with CBR.  We look at it like extra insurance. 

We actually know a couple that needed their child's cord blood.  Their toddler had a head injury, and they used the cord blood.  It was amazing. That was enough for us.  I would rather have it and never need it than to need it and not have it. 

janecanadian

We will be doing it for sure.  DD#1 has Spina Bifida and now I am kicking myself for not banking her cord blood.  There have been some amazingly successful therapies involving injecting a child's own stem cells into their body, resulting in increased mobility.  We will be banking LO#2's cord blood with the hope that it can be used for stem cell treatments for DD#1.