Is anyone considering banking their baby's cord blood?

dalzien · July 2012

My husband and I are considering banking our baby's cord blood. We feel the benefits out weigh the costs and are mostly likely going to go with LifeBank. Is anyone else considering this option? If so why or why not?

iamapixie · July 2012

We definitely are. There is a huge list of diseases that cord blood/tissue can help cure and not just for the baby. The cells can also be used to help mom, dad and siblings. Our theory is that 20 yrs ago, biotechnology like this was definitely not in use so what kinds of sicknesses will my child not have to go through in life because of the technology we will have within the 20 yrs it is banked? I dunno....it seems like a lot of money at first but I imagine of my child is super sick and could becured if I choose to bank, I'd rather spend the money than kick myself later. JMO

Roses87 · July 2012

My hospital has a public banking where you donate the blood for anyones use. We will be doing that one.

MrsCarroll.6-10-07 · July 2012

We did with both girls and we will with #3 again. We used CBR and will again. They give us a family referral rate each time now. I would be happy to be used as a reference for anyone that is interested. PM me or email me at amandalucc @ hotmail.com.

My experience with the company both times was fantastic. I think I get a year free storage or something for referrals. I can't remember.

Some people will say that their doctor thinks it is a waste, or that it is a waste of money. I look at it very simply. I hope to high heaven it IS a waste of money and I never ever need it. I would rather know that it is there in case I need it for any of my kids than to need it and not have it. It is like any other insurance, you pay for it, you hope you don't need it.

purplepeanut6 · July 2012

This is so interesting! I don't know enough about it. Can someone explain the gist of it and how it works? Also how expensive is it?

Mother Meghan · July 2012

Definitely considering it, I just downloaded the brochure last night but I still have to go through it. It's expensive, but my mom needed a marrow/stem cell transplant for her leukemia and luckily her brother was a match and willing to do it, but it would be nice to have it just in case.

I'm pretty educated on how it's used, but I need to look more into the costs and benefits.

dalzien · July 2012

Donating (where others have the opportunity to use) or banking (where just you and your family are able to use) cord blood is the collection of undifferentiated stem cells from the placenta and the umbilical cord. These undifferentiated (meaning their functions has yet to be determined) cells have the potential to help with blood diseases, grow organs, help with curing cancers, strokes, heart disease, diabetes. etc. There is also the possibility that these cells can reduce or reverse the affects of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, dementia... the list goes on.

What happens is at the birth of your baby, the cells are collected and sent away into cryo to be stored. You can store yearly, for 10 years, or for 18 years. At 18 years of age you are no longer able to access the cells as they now belong to your adult child.

Costs normally include a registration fee (around $150-$200), a collection fee ($800-$1200) and then a yearly storage fee ($100-$300).

If you pay upfront the costs are less.

You have access to them should you need them. If you do not keep up on the payments the company can claim them as their own or discard them.

Genie0120 · July 2012

We did for #1 and will be for this one as well. We chose to do it because my sister has a long line of blood disorders which has led to lymphoma at a young age. Most of blood disorders she has had has had positive treatment with stem cells. Thus we are doing it out of peace of mind. Like the previous poster, I hope to never need it, but we know that is there.

We used CBR and had no issues. It was aroudn 2,000 initially (they have a 6 month payment plan) and $125 or $150 a year storage fees.

Its an individual choice and for us, its just one we felt we wanted to have. Good Luck!

MrsCarroll.6-10-07 · July 2012

Ours was $1650 for the first kid, that includes the collection fees and storage for the first year. For the 2nd kid it was $1750 inluding everything and the first year. It is $125 a year after that to store it and it renews automaticaly on the kid's birthday.

RunningGal900 · July 2012

With DS we chose to delay cord clamping to give him the benefit of the cord blood at birth rather than banking it. My OB said she could still harvest after delaying it, but that it wouldn't be a great sample so we opted against banking it.

CloudBee · July 2012

I'm pretty sure my husband will want to.

5dogs · July 2012

I will be giving birth at a hospital that has a public bank so we'll be donating it. If we need it, we can get it back but I would rather it may be able to save someone at Children's Hospital than let it sit.

dalzien · July 2012

I think that my husband and I will be banking our cord blood. We have two main options where we live, LifeBank and HealthCord. I have written emails to both companies to ask additional questions about what the process is should we ever require the blood, how long/any delays for processing, how many times can the cord blood be used before the sample is depleted, etc. While we do not expect to have any health problems (we obviously hope) I feel it's better to know these things first hand so that if something does come up then we will have the knowledge beforehand.

Has anyone had to use the stored blood? Or run into problems? (I'm not trying to be nosy, just curious about procedures and experiences).

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Is anyone considering banking their baby's cord blood?

Re: Is anyone considering banking their baby's cord blood?

Me: 30, DH: 33 Married 8/3/08 BFP 7/16/2012 (8th cycle), EDD 3/27/2012, Delivered 3/24/2013 - IT'S A BOY!

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Me: 30, DH: 33 Married 8/3/08
BFP 7/16/2012 (8th cycle), EDD 3/27/2012, Delivered 3/24/2013 - IT'S A BOY!