Stem Cells

duckr · April 2014

Anyone else considering cord blood stem cell banking? I have a cousin who do it with their kids and he ended up needing it after he was diagnosed with Leukemia. Between the stem cells, chemo and surgery he is in remission now for 6 months. It's just hard to swallow the initial cost!

Justabean3 · April 2014

Usually people fair better off of donated cells rather than their own. I donate mine

When you use your own stem cells the chance of reoccurance is really high because you are introducing cells that already know what they are doing with your body. If you put them in someone else they have to restart themselves.

My BFF was saved off donated cells.

duckr · April 2014

Justabean3 said:

Usually people fair better off of donated cells rather than their own. I donate mine When you use your own stem cells the chance of reoccurance is really high because you are introducing cells that already know what they are doing with your body. If you put them in someone else they have to restart themselves. My BFF was saved off donated cells.

I had no idea. Do you have any sources so I read more on this?

MagentaMouse · April 2014

Yeah, the cord blood companies are very dishonest. They just want to make a buck…like every other big industry. You don't want your own cord blood when you get leukemia, people! It has the same damn mutation that gave you cancer in the first place! Donating it is the way to go if you're going to do anything with it.

sas2551 · April 2014

we will definitely donate. Initially we were planning on private banking, but looking at the stats of the chances of them actually being used for baby or a family member, and the unknown longevity, makes it a very expensive insurance police (IMO anyway- each to their own), for us, it just makes more sense to contribute to the global bank, the more that are banked the higher the chances of everyone who needs a transplant finding a match.

ADH0906 · April 2014

I have barely researched this, but it feels too scammy for me considering how unlikely it is that your children will benefit from them. I hope to be able to donate.

duckr · April 2014

I found an article, it's older but informational:

https://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/11/there-was-a-lot-of-talk-yester/

Edited for spelling.

Sockgnome78 · April 2014

Does anyone have any information on donating steam cells. I don't think I will bank them for future use. Because of the cost. Just want to see about donating them.

Emerald27 · April 2014

We aren't going to donate. I will ask that the cord not be clamped until it stops pulsing, and then it can be clamped and cut. I'll let baby get all of his own stem cells from the start.

ETA: I do think cord blood donation is awesome, though, so it's great if it's something you want to do!

duckr · April 2014

@sockgnome78 the hospital I preregistered with gave me an informational packet about the company they use. Talk to your hospital or OB office, I'm sure they can point you in the right direction.

Sockgnome78 · April 2014

@duckr Thanks. I will look into.

Duder · April 2014

Emerald27 said:

We aren't going to donate. I will ask that the cord not be clamped until it stops pulsing, and then it can be clamped and cut. I'll let baby get all of his own stem cells from the start. ETA: I do think cord blood donation is awesome, though, so it's great if it's something you want to do!

We did the same thing with our daughter and will do it again with this one.

duckr · April 2014

@Duder and @Emerald27 What are the benefits of this?

Emerald27 · April 2014

duckr said:
@Duder and @Emerald27 What are the benefits of this?

Delayed cord clamping, as it's called, has numerous benefits to your baby. To me, since there are stem cells in the cord blood that flow to baby naturally, why take them and bank them? Don't you think they *might* serve a positive natural purpose in LO?

The cord and placenta are the baby's oxygen source, so as soon as the cord is clamped, baby MUST be breathing in order to receive oxygen. Allowing the cord to remain intact while baby is initially observed protects his oxygen supply.

Delayed cord clamping supplies lots of blood and iron to babies, making their levels higher and reducing the risk of jaundice and anemia.

There are other benefits too. Google it.

duckr · April 2014

@Emerald27 I will! Thanks for the info!

Duder · April 2014

Emerald27 said:

@Duder and @Emerald27 What are the benefits of this?
Delayed cord clamping, as it's called, has numerous benefits to your baby. To me, since there are stem cells in the cord blood that flow to baby naturally, why take them and bank them? Don't you think they *might* serve a positive natural purpose in LO? The cord and placenta are the baby's oxygen source, so as soon as the cord is clamped, baby MUST be breathing in order to receive oxygen. Allowing the cord to remain intact while baby is initially observed protects his oxygen supply. Delayed cord clamping supplies lots of blood and iron to babies, making their levels higher and reducing the risk of jaundice and anemia. There are other benefits too. Google it.

Ditto what Emerald27 said. I can't remember the percentage off the top of my head, but we also learned in our birthing class that a large amount of baby's blood lis still in the cord and placenta when the baby is delivered. Not clamping the cord right away allows that blood to be pumped back into the baby, and it only takes a couple minutes for the cord to stop pulsing, I believe. I agree, you should google it!

pinkshades05 · April 2014

We also delay cord clamping until it's done pulsing. It also provides enough iron for the first 6mos of life. However, I don't judge anyone for donating or saving their cord blood. I think that's an individual decision.

Emerald27 · April 2014

C_mo said:
I feel i should add, I had delayed cord clamping in my birth plan last go round, and it got forgotten, and our hospital routinely donates, so we'll try again with the delayed ford clamping, but if it doesn't happen it doesn't happen.

It almost was forgotten when DS was born but I saw the clamp in the OB's hand and was like "don't do that yet!"...so she set it back on the tray and waited until it stopped pulsing.

Justabean3 · April 2014

"An advantage of an allogeneic transplant is that the stem cells come from a healthy donor with no malignant cells. However, since it can be difficult to find a matching donor, an autologous transplant is usually more common."

https://www.cancercenter.com/leukemia/stem-cell-transplantation/

vrj0522 · April 2014

We do delayed cord clamping as well.

Maggie6424 · April 2014

If we could afford it, I'd do it in a heartbeat.. but we just can't afford it.

MrsMaui12614 · April 2014

I researched this and think it is another "strike-fear-into-the-hearts-of-mothers-for-profit" scheme. The chances of it being useful are so slim plus there are plenty of public banks that provide the same thing. Google it and come to your own conclusion but we will be donating.

duckr · April 2014

The more I read on this (inside and outside of this thread) the more I like the delayed cord clamping.

kittenmitton · April 2014

Duder said:

Emerald27 said:

duckr said:
@Duder and @Emerald27 What are the benefits of this?
Delayed cord clamping, as it's called, has numerous benefits to your baby. To me, since there are stem cells in the cord blood that flow to baby naturally, why take them and bank them? Don't you think they *might* serve a positive natural purpose in LO?

The cord and placenta are the baby's oxygen source, so as soon as the cord is clamped, baby MUST be breathing in order to receive oxygen. Allowing the cord to remain intact while baby is initially observed protects his oxygen supply.

Delayed cord clamping supplies lots of blood and iron to babies, making their levels higher and reducing the risk of jaundice and anemia.

There are other benefits too. Google it.

Ditto what Emerald27 said. I can't remember the percentage off the top of my head, but we also learned in our birthing class that a large amount of baby's blood lis still in the cord and placenta when the baby is delivered. Not clamping the cord right away allows that blood to be pumped back into the baby, and it only takes a couple minutes for the cord to stop pulsing, I believe. I agree, you should google it!

*** end quote****

We also did delayed cord clamping with our son. The doctor actually came into the room and said "after the baby is born we'll wait until the cord stops pulsing to cut it". Which was great, because I'd totally forgotten that I wanted that to happen. There is some research out there that says it may slightly increase the risk of jaundice after birth, but I think most babies are jaundiced anyway after birth and as long as they're closely monitored it's not a big deal.

We seriously considered banking the cord blood but the likelihood of a member of our family benefiting from it combined with the cost made us decide against it.

Edited because quoting is hard.

mghnmouse · April 2014

We do delayed cord clamping, so could not even if we wanted to. The baby gets all of that amazing cord blood as a last infusion right at the start.

bayhunter6 · April 2014

I wanted to do delayed cord clamping with my daughter but she was in distress so they cut the cord as quickly as possible and handed her off to the NICU team. I hope to be able to delay it with this baby.

WiFiMom2be · April 2014

FTM, never heard of the delayed clamping. I will definitely ask my doc. Just curious - how long does the pulsing usually last? I definitely won't bank it. Was planning to donate, but will look into delayed clamping.

WiFiMom2be · April 2014

Sockgnome78 said:

Does anyone have any information on donating steam cells. I don't think I will bank them for future use. Because of the cost. Just want to see about donating them.

I am participating in a study for this org, so I would donate it here: https://gapps.org

I'm not sure if you can participate nationally or if it's just in Seattle.

Emerald27 · April 2014

WiFiMom2be said:
FTM, never heard of the delayed clamping. I will definitely ask my doc. Just curious - how long does the pulsing usually last? I definitely won't bank it. Was planning to donate, but will look into delayed clamping.

It's just a minute or two, and if you request that baby be placed on your tummy/chest and examined there, there should be no problem with waiting.

It's only necessary to cut the cord right away when life-saving measures away from mom are required immediately.

Justabean3 · April 2014

The last delivery the hospital was a donation hospital so check with them.

WiFiMom2be · June 2014

I wanted to revive this old thread based on some info I received from my OBGYN. I was planning to donate the cord to the study I'm participating in (Global Alliance to Prevent Prematurity and Stillbirth), but after hearing about delayed clamping, I wanted to do that. I asked my doctor and she said she always does delayed cord clamping (unless there is an emergency) and that the cord can still be donated anyway. So for those of you who don't donate because you do delayed clamping, you might ask to see if the hospital/organization would still want it anyway. I'm glad because I get what's best for my baby but I also get to contribute to great medical research!

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