Cord Blood Banking - yes or no??

jamisoncondie · February 2012

Im really stressing over this decision. Anyone else have thoughts either way? I know it is expensive but we can afford it. We have no family history of any of the illnesses or diseases, is it worth it?

Ruby412 · February 2012

We decided no.

It's just not affordable to do for multiple babies. 1 baby? Maybe. But 2-3 babies? That would be a huge financial cost.

If we were confident that the investment would pay off, we might consider it. But there are not that many diseases that cord blood can cure at this point.

I'd hope that if something was ever wrong with one of our children, we could look to a donor community bank and hopefully find a match.

speckledfrog · February 2012

We did cord blood donation instead of private banking.

CPhillz · February 2012

This. It's free, and there is still a chance that you could get your own childs back (if it hasn't been used yet). That was the selling point for us, because we were going to do private.

Edit: Meant to quote the above poster!

Elissabraff · February 2012

I was very stressed about this to and decided to 1. ask my GP his opinion 2. ask my OBGYN his opinion and 3. poll my already-mommy friends. Doctor's tend to agree if you can afford it - do it! There are huge advancements in the medical field that are happening daily with this stuff. But, there are two issues people tend not to talk about. First, there are actually risks involved. When they clam the umbilical cord the baby can loose blood and lead to anemia or the mother can incur clotting. Second, there is the ethical issue that your child's entire DNA makeup is being stored somewhere forever. This is a privacy and comfort level concern. At the end of the day you need to make a list of all of these and weigh the pros and cons.

My concern is if you bother with the blood banking do you then do the tissue banking too? That takes it from expensive to extremely expensive. And, there is no proof (yet) that the tissue has medical advantages. . .

Any thoughts?

adamstodrake · February 2012

CPhillz:
This. It's free, and there is still a chance that you could get your own childs back (if it hasn't been used yet). That was the selling point for us, because we were going to do private.
Edit: Meant to quote the above poster!

We are also choosing to donate and really excited and confident about the decision :0)

Aleja0918 · February 2012

speckledfrog:
We did cord blood donation instead of private banking.

This is what we've decided to do.

smacb · February 2012

With my son we stressed about the decision and ended up donating. I was happy with that decision. We'll do the same with this baby. We had no family history or reason to think we'd need it and I liked the idea that we could help other families.

kris_kelsey · February 2012

not doing either. If it were easy to cord blood donate I would do that, but it is a super huge pain in the a$$ for the nurses to do the collection at the time of delivery so I'm not gonna bother. I'm an L&D nurse and I don't want to put that on my co-workers because I know how much we all HATE it. It is a VERY busy time and nothing is worse than trying to figure out a new system (because each kit is different based on the company) at each delivery, all the while trying to make sure that the baby does not need any resuscitation and monitoring the mother for heavy bleeding or post-partum hemorrhage (and those are serious issues!). Some would say, "well, it's your job" but actually it is not. I am not nor is any hospital paid by the company for the collection, and it is not a part of my job requirements. So if you do choose to do it because you find it very important for your child or your family, then thank the nurses for their work to help you get this done.

Also I choose not to bank because if your child has certain diseases treatable by cord blood (like cancer), they won't use their own cord blood because it may be contaminated or have a genetic make-up pre-disposed to cancer. Also, the blood can be contaminated (by the mother's blood) or not enough or other collection issues that you don't know about until you try to use the blood (and have paid a bunch of money) to find out it is worthless and unusable.

KnockedUp38 · February 2012

adamstodrake:
CPhillz:

This. It's free, and there is still a chance that you could get your own childs back (if it hasn't been used yet). That was the selling point for us, because we were going to do private.

Edit: Meant to quote the above poster!

We are also choosing to donate and really excited and confident about the decision :0)

We are also donating instead of banking. I do have a family history of several things that would making banking a smart move, but I am really uncomfortable with the idea of it because it feels to me that I'm essentially planning for something to go wrong. In other words, it feels like "bad juju" to me. (Please know that I believe this only for myself - I don't think EVERYONE should donate or NO ONE should bank. It's none of my business what other people choose and I think everyone should do what makes them comfortable.)

Also, just FYI, my hospital told me that there is sometimes a fee from the doctor for cord blood collection even if you're donating and not banking, so you might want to check with them about that as you go through your decision-making process.

1inthehopper · February 2012

KnockedUp38:
adamstodrake:
CPhillz:

This. It's free, and there is still a chance that you could get your own childs back (if it hasn't been used yet). That was the selling point for us, because we were going to do private.
Edit: Meant to quote the above poster!
We are also choosing to donate and really excited and confident about the decision :0)
We are also donating instead of banking. I do have a family history of several things that would making banking a smart move, but I am really uncomfortable with the idea of it because it feels to me that I'm essentially planning for something to go wrong. In other words, it feels like "bad juju" to me. (Please know that I believe this only for myself - I don't think EVERYONE should donate or NO ONE should bank. It's none of my business what other people choose and I think everyone should do what makes them comfortable.)
Also, just FYI, my hospital told me that there is sometimes a fee from the doctor for cord blood collection even if you're donating and not banking, so you might want to check with them about that as you go through your decision-making process.

who are you guys donating through? im so confused- we want to donate but i would prefer to donate to a public bank instead of research if possible anyone have advice for me?

shannm · February 2012

We are donating it.

Private banking at this point IMO is a scam.

Fink · February 2012

We are banking the cord blood through CBR. We don't have any family medical history / reasons to do so, but since we can afford it (not to be obnoxious) and since we have insurance for everything else, we actually thought it was a very easy decision to make.

Good luck!!

KnockedUp38 · February 2012

1inthehopper -

I'm not sure yet - apparently, I'm the first person who's asked to do this at my hospital! They are looking into it and are going to let me know, so I will post again when I have the answer.

tiannalee · February 2012

kris_kelsey:
not doing either. If it were easy to cord blood donate I would do that, but it is a super huge pain in the a$$ for the nurses to do the collection at the time of delivery so I'm not gonna bother. I'm an L&D nurse and I don't want to put that on my co-workers because I know how much we all HATE it. It is a VERY busy time and nothing is worse than trying to figure out a new system (because each kit is different based on the company) at each delivery, all the while trying to make sure that the baby does not need any resuscitation and monitoring the mother for heavy bleeding or post-partum hemorrhage (and those are serious issues!). Some would say, "well, it's your job" but actually it is not. I am not nor is any hospital paid by the company for the collection, and it is not a part of my job requirements. So if you do choose to do it because you find it very important for your child or your family, then thank the nurses for their work to help you get this done.
Also I choose not to bank because if your child has certain diseases treatable by cord blood (like cancer), they won't use their own cord blood because it may be contaminated or have a genetic make-up pre-disposed to cancer. Also, the blood can be contaminated (by the mother's blood) or not enough or other collection issues that you don't know about until you try to use the blood (and have paid a bunch of money) to find out it is worthless and unusable.

I mean this in the nicest way possible but isnt a little bit of inconvenience in your day worth it if it could save someone's life down the road? I work in a clinical cancer lab and I cant tell you the amount of patients samples we get in which the patient's life was saved by double cord blood transplant. Just saying, a little perspective might make it easier for you to do this task even though it may be tedious. The life you may be helping to save could be that of a child.

grapeape73 · February 2012

Fink:
We are banking the cord blood through CBR. We don't have any family medical history / reasons to do so, but since we can afford it (not to be obnoxious) and since we have insurance for everything else, we actually thought it was a very easy decision to make.
Good luck!!

This.

We banked both of our girl's with CBR.

We know a couple that needed their son's cord blood after a brain injury as a toddler. They were part of a study at Duke I believe, and everything is great now. I'm sure how it would have turned out if they didn't have access to the cord blood.

That was enough incentive for us.

vermont7 · February 2012

I talked to my midwife about it. I love the idea, but we really don't have the money to do it right now. After talking about it with her and deciding if we should really try to find the money, she said that it is much better for the baby to actually get the blood that's in the cord anyway. When you donate or bank, they have to cut the cord early and she prefers to let the baby receive that blood.

kris_kelsey · February 2012

tiannalee:
kris_kelsey:
not doing either. If it were easy to cord blood donate I would do that, but it is a super huge pain in the a$$ for the nurses to do the collection at the time of delivery so I'm not gonna bother. I'm an L&D nurse and I don't want to put that on my co-workers because I know how much we all HATE it. It is a VERY busy time and nothing is worse than trying to figure out a new system (because each kit is different based on the company) at each delivery, all the while trying to make sure that the baby does not need any resuscitation and monitoring the mother for heavy bleeding or post-partum hemorrhage (and those are serious issues!). Some would say, "well, it's your job" but actually it is not. I am not nor is any hospital paid by the company for the collection, and it is not a part of my job requirements. So if you do choose to do it because you find it very important for your child or your family, then thank the nurses for their work to help you get this done.
Also I choose not to bank because if your child has certain diseases treatable by cord blood (like cancer), they won't use their own cord blood because it may be contaminated or have a genetic make-up pre-disposed to cancer. Also, the blood can be contaminated (by the mother's blood) or not enough or other collection issues that you don't know about until you try to use the blood (and have paid a bunch of money) to find out it is worthless and unusable.
I mean this in the nicest way possible but isnt a little bit of inconvenience in your day worth it if it could save someone's life down the road? I work in a clinical cancer lab and I cant tell you the amount of patients samples we get in which the patient's life was saved by double cord blood transplant. Just saying, a little perspective might make it easier for you to do this task even though it may be tedious. The life you may be helping to save could be that of a child.

I appreciate your perspective, however the two lives that are immediately in front of me are my primary concern. Ever put a crying baby on the moms chest, watched it turn pink and act like a normal healthy breathing baby for 3 minutes and then you look up and it is totally blue or white..no breathing...little heart rate? no? I have watched this...and I thank God every time that I glanced at the baby when I did. What if I had been distracted for 30-60 more seconds while doing something for the mom, or the doctor...or trying to collect cord blood??? Ever watched a mom start bleeding out immediately after delivery? I have. So having my attention be more distracted for the 5-10 minutes it takes to collect is a risk and a concern in my book. I think cord banking/donation can be a WONDERFUL thing, but I think the companies should provide the services to collect or they should pay the hospital's lab to collect. I do the collection every time parents ask without batting an eye (believe it or not I am VERY professional about it), but this is the only place where I can say to pregnant women out there how much of a stress it is to try to take care of the lives in front of you as well as be responsible for the irreplaceable stem cells available in the cord blood.

1inthehopper · February 2012

Thank u!

biblionerd · February 2012

kris_kelsey:
tiannalee:
kris_kelsey:
not doing either. If it were easy to cord blood donate I would do that, but it is a super huge pain in the a$$ for the nurses to do the collection at the time of delivery so I'm not gonna bother. I'm an L&D nurse and I don't want to put that on my co-workers because I know how much we all HATE it. It is a VERY busy time and nothing is worse than trying to figure out a new system (because each kit is different based on the company) at each delivery, all the while trying to make sure that the baby does not need any resuscitation and monitoring the mother for heavy bleeding or post-partum hemorrhage (and those are serious issues!). Some would say, "well, it's your job" but actually it is not. I am not nor is any hospital paid by the company for the collection, and it is not a part of my job requirements. So if you do choose to do it because you find it very important for your child or your family, then thank the nurses for their work to help you get this done.
Also I choose not to bank because if your child has certain diseases treatable by cord blood (like cancer), they won't use their own cord blood because it may be contaminated or have a genetic make-up pre-disposed to cancer. Also, the blood can be contaminated (by the mother's blood) or not enough or other collection issues that you don't know about until you try to use the blood (and have paid a bunch of money) to find out it is worthless and unusable.
I mean this in the nicest way possible but isnt a little bit of inconvenience in your day worth it if it could save someone's life down the road? I work in a clinical cancer lab and I cant tell you the amount of patients samples we get in which the patient's life was saved by double cord blood transplant. Just saying, a little perspective might make it easier for you to do this task even though it may be tedious. The life you may be helping to save could be that of a child.
I appreciate your perspective, however the two lives that are immediately in front of me are my primary concern. Ever put a crying baby on the moms chest, watched it turn pink and act like a normal healthy breathing baby for 3 minutes and then you look up and it is totally blue or white..no breathing...little heart rate? no? I have watched this...and I thank God every time that I glanced at the baby when I did. What if I had been distracted for 30-60 more seconds while doing something for the mom, or the doctor...or trying to collect cord blood??? Ever watched a mom start bleeding out immediately after delivery? I have. So having my attention be more distracted for the 5-10 minutes it takes to collect is a risk and a concern in my book. I think cord banking/donation can be a WONDERFUL thing, but I think the companies should provide the services to collect or they should pay the hospital's lab to collect. I do the collection every time parents ask without batting an eye (believe it or not I am VERY professional about it), but this is the only place where I can say to pregnant women out there how much of a stress it is to try to take care of the lives in front of you as well as be responsible for the irreplaceable stem cells available in the cord blood.

Then this is a problem with your hospital and their policies/staffing. If you are so inconvenienced to collect cord blood, then there should be a separate nurse present to do it or observe the mom and baby if needed. The fact that you say it is basically putting the mom and baby in jeopardy to take your time, yet the hospitals find no issue with you collecting it shows there's some sort of problem. Any time a nurse (or whoever) has needed assistance with any procedure, which this should be considered, another nurse has been present at my hospital to help. I think I would go about changing your hospital/unit's outlook on the importance of donation/collection and have someone there for the few minutes it takes to help.

FormerlyKrista555 · February 2012

We are donating.

The chances are incredibly, incredibly slim that we would ever be able to use the cord blood.... not just because of the low probability of ever needing blood, but also due to the low probability that if we indeed needed blood, we would be able to use the cord blood we saved. (Did that make sense?)

CMattus · February 2012

We are banking it with AlphaCord. I did lots of research on CBR, ViaCord & AlphaCord and we chose to bank cord blood only. ViaCord also has the option to bank cord tissue, but this is signifiantly more expensive and also in a "trial period" where the researchers are still determining its benefits.

AlphaCord has been GREAT. The customer service is phenomenal and they let you choose the location where the blood will be banked. They have multiple banks to choose from and you can decide which state or which accreditations you want your bank to have... the pricing was super reasonable too. We chose one of the more expensive banking locations because they have so many documented successful transplants and all the necessary accreditations and our payments are $159/month for 9 months. I think this is TOTALLY worth it if it means potentially saving my child's life at some point.

And keep in mind... you only have to bank one child's cord blood and it can be used for siblings or the mother.

rubber_chicken · February 2012

My entire dr practice does not recommend private cord blood banking. Apparently, most of the genetic diseases you could use stem cells to treat, you can't use your own stem cells because the disease shows up in them. It's more likely to be used for a family member than the actual child.

That being said, I do hope to donate the blood to a public bank. We're mixed race, and there's a dearth of available cord blood from mixed race people.

speckledfrog · February 2012

kris_kelsey:
I appreciate your perspective, however the two lives that are immediately in front of me are my primary concern. Ever put a crying baby on the moms chest, watched it turn pink and act like a normal healthy breathing baby for 3 minutes and then you look up and it is totally blue or white..no breathing...little heart rate? no? I have watched this...and I thank God every time that I glanced at the baby when I did. What if I had been distracted for 30-60 more seconds while doing something for the mom, or the doctor...or trying to collect cord blood??? Ever watched a mom start bleeding out immediately after delivery? I have. So having my attention be more distracted for the 5-10 minutes it takes to collect is a risk and a concern in my book. I think cord banking/donation can be a WONDERFUL thing, but I think the companies should provide the services to collect or they should pay the hospital's lab to collect. I do the collection every time parents ask without batting an eye (believe it or not I am VERY professional about it), but this is the only place where I can say to pregnant women out there how much of a stress it is to try to take care of the lives in front of you as well as be responsible for the irreplaceable stem cells available in the cord blood.

You make it sound like you are the only person in the room. I had about 400 people in the delivery room (okay, it was 6) and there's no way that if the baby was in distress that no one would notice because of the tedious task of collecting the cord blood. Even if the doctor delivered the baby and then hauled ass out the room there are still other people. Additionally, my doctor collected the cord blood, not my nurse. I'm sure that varies by hospital. Every medical professional we talked to extolled the benefits of banking (private or public donation) cord blood.

I understand your reasoning and can see why it is important to you, I would just hate for someone to not bank their blood because they are worried about inconveniencing the staff.

francescajune15 · June 2014

Spam

francined01 · June 2014

I have done it with my other 3 boys (Viacord x2 and CBR once) and will do it again this time using Cryocell. I look at it as a type of insurance that the whole family can use in a worst case situation.

Hopefully we will never have to use it.

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