Will you (or did you) store your baby's cord blood?

barnowl0901 · October 2013

Okay, so I have been getting calls from a cord blood bank a LOT recently, and I hear so much about it. I'm just not sure if it's actually worth it. DH and I have been weighing the pros and cons, but really, is it that beneficial? I feel like it's being pushed on new moms a LOT, and I'm just feeling a little skeptical that something so beneficial should be advertised so heavily. Wouldn't you hear a lot more positive stories from moms and dads if it really was necessary?

LatteLady5 · October 2013

There was a post about this in SAHM the other day. The AAP advises against it...it's a big money making scam basically.

moosebaby2011 · October 2013

I didn't do it with DS, but I have considered donating cord blood so that it could be of some use. I wouldn't pay to bank it though.

PBP2002 · October 2013

We will be doing delayed cord clamping, so there will be no extra blood to bank - unless you could DS2's body as a bank.

ScarlettDahlia · October 2013

My MW told us to not even worry about it. She said even if we had the money to do it, she would probably tell us that there was a lot more we could do with our money than banking the cord blood.

Shannahbee · October 2013

Ok, so this is a Canadian article, but it still applies. Remember that the companies providing this service stand to make a lot of money off of you... they are in sales and their sales pitch preys on parents' fear of the unknown. That's not to say that you shouldn't do it... Just do your own research and don't rely on the marketing materials being provided to you.

https://m.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/why-banking-on-cord-blood-isnt-necessarily-a-good-idea/article4209835/?service=mobile#!/

Having said that, we have decided to donate the cord blood so that it can be used by someone who definitely needs it, rather than keeping it in the very unlikely event that we might need it someday.

barnowl0901 · October 2013

About what I expected. I appreciate all the responses and info, ladies

AnnikaD20 · October 2013

Private cord blood banking is a borderline scam, and I really hate the guilt based marketing they use. If your LO has a condition that's treatable by stem cells, chances are that their own cord blood won't work anyway, and they'll need to find a match from someone without that condition.

If you deliver in a hospital that accepts cord blood donations to a public cord blood bank, you might want to consider that. Mine doesn't, so we won't be saving the cord blood.

juliasmama2010 · October 2013

My BIL paid to have his kids cord blood banked. I know how much he paid. I just couldn't justify paying that kind of money. I know it could potentially benefit the kid, but I just couldn't (and won't) do it.

jhjocelyn · October 2013

We are considering it, since we are both carriers for CF and wanted a houseful of kids it may prove useful. As it stands we are undecided on what our plans for future kids or cord banking are. We have a 1 in 4 chance every pregnancy of the baby having cf, with the ongoing advances in science, if we bank a child's cord that is cf free, it's possible it could help a later sibling with cf.

bellamatson · October 2013

My in laws are paying for us to have his cord blood stored. They insisted on doing it, and I'm not going to argue with them and offend them. It's expensive, but he is in the medical field and gets deal on it. We will only be storing this Los cord blood.

iwalktheline · October 2013

We will not be doing it. I feel the benefits of delayed clamping far outweigh those of banking (and you can't do both), so we will be doing delayed clamping.

nbbride06 · October 2013

I have said this before and I will say it again. Do NOT say that it is a scam. I have personally had a family member whose life was saved because of cord blood. And it was their own cord blood, not a siblings. This has been one of the big changes in cord blood in the past 5 or so years. By all means do your own research and make your own choices based on your beliefs, finances, etc. I promise I will respect whatever you decide. But please do not say it is a scam.

KimberlyTX · October 2013

iwalktheline said:

We will not be doing it. I feel the benefits of delayed clamping far outweigh those of banking (and you can't do both), so we will be doing delayed clamping.

Are you sure about this? I talked to my OB about it, and she said we can do delayed clamping and donate. That's what we're planning on. We donated DD's cord blood (it was the first day our hospital had the donation system in place, so she was one of the very first do it!).

nbbride06 · October 2013

LatteLady5 said:

There was a post about this in SAHM the other day. The AAP advises against it...it's a big money making scam basically.

The AAP does not advise against it. They recommend donating rather than banking privately for the benefit of the public. (See https://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/prenatal/decisions-to-make/pages/Should-We-Store-Our-Newborns-Cord-Blood.aspx).

nbbride06 · October 2013

KimberlyTX said:

iwalktheline said:

We will not be doing it. I feel the benefits of delayed clamping far outweigh those of banking (and you can't do both), so we will be doing delayed clamping.

Are you sure about this? I talked to my OB about it, and she said we can do delayed clamping and donate. That's what we're planning on. We donated DD's cord blood (it was the first day our hospital had the donation system in place, so she was one of the very first do it!).

My OB was able to delay cord clamping and get the appropriate amount of cord blood to bank. It's not guaranteed though.

LatteLady5 · October 2013

nbbride06 said:

I have said this before and I will say it again. Do NOT say that it is a scam. I have personally had a family member whose life was saved because of cord blood. And it was their own cord blood, not a siblings. This has been one of the big changes in cord blood in the past 5 or so years. By all means do your own research and make your own choices based on your beliefs, finances, etc. I promise I will respect whatever you decide. But please do not say it is a scam.

The AAP and ACOG both recommend donating to public banks rather than paying for private storage. Here's a good article from Parenting Magazine.

https://www.parents.com/pregnancy/my-baby/cord-blood-banking/the-cord-blood-controversy/?page=1

I think the fact that OP is being called and asked about this coupled with the excessive amount of advertisements you can find in ANY parenting magazine should raise some red flags.

ETA: I'm glad your family member was helped by cord blood.

nbbride06 · October 2013

LatteLady5 said:

nbbride06 said:

I have said this before and I will say it again. Do NOT say that it is a scam. I have personally had a family member whose life was saved because of cord blood. And it was their own cord blood, not a siblings. This has been one of the big changes in cord blood in the past 5 or so years. By all means do your own research and make your own choices based on your beliefs, finances, etc. I promise I will respect whatever you decide. But please do not say it is a scam.

The AAP and ACOG both recommend donating to public banks rather than paying for private storage. Here's a good article from Parenting Magazine.

https://www.parents.com/pregnancy/my-baby/cord-blood-banking/the-cord-blood-controversy/?page=1

I think the fact that OP is being called and asked about this coupled with the excessive amount of advertisements you can find in ANY parenting magazine should raise some red flags.

ETA: I'm glad your family member was helped by cord blood.

I really wouldn't say it raises red flags. It certainly should give somebody pause enough to research it themselves. How much "junk mail" do you get for life insurance policies? It doesn't mean they're a scam.

LatteLady5 · October 2013

nbbride06 said:

LatteLady5 said:

nbbride06 said:

I have said this before and I will say it again. Do NOT say that it is a scam. I have personally had a family member whose life was saved because of cord blood. And it was their own cord blood, not a siblings. This has been one of the big changes in cord blood in the past 5 or so years. By all means do your own research and make your own choices based on your beliefs, finances, etc. I promise I will respect whatever you decide. But please do not say it is a scam.

The AAP and ACOG both recommend donating to public banks rather than paying for private storage. Here's a good article from Parenting Magazine.

https://www.parents.com/pregnancy/my-baby/cord-blood-banking/the-cord-blood-controversy/?page=1

I think the fact that OP is being called and asked about this coupled with the excessive amount of advertisements you can find in ANY parenting magazine should raise some red flags.

ETA: I'm glad your family member was helped by cord blood.

I really wouldn't say it raises red flags. It certainly should give somebody pause enough to research it themselves. How much "junk mail" do you get for life insurance policies? It doesn't mean they're a scam.

I get a lot of junk mail from life insurance policies that I'd never buy. The policy we have is through an agent and we never received a bit of advertisement from them. The spammy/scammy stuff gets tossed in the recycle bin. You see cord blood banking adds right next to "train to work at home in less than 6 months!" all the time. It's a money maker and it's great that your family was helped but banking cord blood doesn't guarantee it can even be used in the case of a leukemia or other terrible diseases because the likelihood the cells are infected is pretty high.

Here's the thread from SAHM with some other posters opinions. https://forums.thebump.com/discussion/12113912/did-you-bank-cord-blood/p1

JaneW2 · October 2013

I'm going to donate if I can. I have to see if it's possible, since my hospital isn't a member of Be the Match. The website says you can try anyway. Here's my reasons for NOT doing a private bank:

1) Especially since this might be our only child, the probability of it ever being used is very very small. (And with a biracial baby, I just can't see this baby's cord blood being used by any other family members!)

2) The excessive, saturating, emotional marketing is pretty darned offensive, and the private bank companies are probably a major reason why public banks are growing so slowly.

LatteLady5 · October 2013

JaneW2 said
2) The excessive, saturating, emotional marketing is pretty darned offensive, and the private bank companies are probably a major reason why public banks are growing so slowly.

This is what bothers me so much.

jessicacss · October 2013

I wanted to donate it, but the placenta came out with the baby! I hope that this time around, I will be able to donate.

SFmissionmama · October 2013

I think this is a very personal decision (obviously). I am an NP in a bone marrow transplant practice in a large academic medical center and not one of our MDs or NPs have elected to store their own babies cord blood. In almost every instance there is an alternative to using cord blood. We are not banking either...