Cord blood banking?

rachelloewenherz · December 2015

Is anyone considering cord blood banking? What companies are you looking at?

JennyS86 · December 2015

Right now I'm leaning toward delayed cord clamping and donating the rest of the cord blood to the public bank. According to the banking websites, there should be enough blood to do both, but I'm not 100% sure. How about you?

rachelloewenherz · December 2015

That's one of the options I'm considering. It seems like there are a lot of statistics around being able to find a better match from a public cord bank anyway (only 25% likely that siblings match), and I definitely want to do delayed cord clamping. Apparently though you can delay and still store with the Cord Blood Registry (private company). There's also a company called LifeBankUSA that also stores placental blood, which I guess gets 60-70% more cells, so that seems like an interesting option as well (but more expensive). They are smaller, however, than some of the older banks. Too many choices though!

JennyS86 · December 2015

Yes, I'm not as familiar with placenta banking. It sounds great, but something I read said that they aren't using these cells for treatment yet? I could be wrong though!

ayeshaohara · December 2015

This was certainly something I was considering as I already have a bone marrow disorder...I did some research and found the best option is to actually donate to the public register as opposed to banking privately for your own use...for multiple reasons, including, you're much more likely to find a match on the public register, it doesn't cost a thing, often they don't collect enough cells that would be required for use in an adult but you could potentially save a child's life. If we all donated to the public register then potentially more lives could be saved.

pbandjyummies · December 2015

I plan to donate, I briefly looked into it anod you do have to be eligible to be a donor and you can only check eligibility once in the third trimester so I'll plan to revisit then.

js8812 · December 2015

I would love to donate. I had a friend who was battling leukemia and was saved by donated cord blood!

SaraJan2014 · December 2015

I plan to donate as well

childcaremama · December 2015

This is definitely something I need to do more research on! I'd love to donate as well. I wish hospitals would start automatically donating unless parents want to private bank it. Why throw life saving cells in the trash?

KidShrink · December 2015

We're doing it (private banking). I used to work with kids who had cancer, and one of my aunts passed away from leukemia when I was 5 (she was 20). My views are definitely skewed, but for the price, I think it's worth it. We're in Canada and using a company called Insception. What my Ob told me is to check where their storage facilities are (local vs off shore) as this could have an impact on how well everything is maintained.

saraleigh2 · December 2015

My niece gave birth in January and she donated, they did need some of her blood as well and it was drawn shortly after the birth. Donating is a lovely thing to do, just do your research I know my niece was surprised about the blood draw (not that that would have changed her mind).

araecasey · December 2015

Everything that I've read says that if you wait until the cord stops pulsing to clamp and cut that there's nothing left to donate. Where are you gals getting this info that says you can do both? I'm not cool with cutting the cord anytime before it's finished pulsing. Babies, but especially breastfed babies, NEED all of their blood from the placenta they can get for their iron stores to make it until baby begins solids. And I know toward the end of pulsing, the cord fills with Wharton's jelly that begins to coagulate the cord blood. So are we able to use coagulated blood nowadays? Someone enlighten me!

ayeshaohara · December 2015

KidShrink said:
We're doing it (private banking). I used to work with kids who had cancer, and one of my aunts passed away from leukemia when I was 5 (she was 20). My views are definitely skewed, but for the price, I think it's worth it. We're in Canada and using a company called Insception. What my Ob told me is to check where their storage facilities are (local vs off shore) as this could have an impact on how well everything is maintained.

I'm in Canada too...inception would've been the company we would have used also. Once I did my research and saw the costs i decided it wasn't worth the money. If we all donated to the public registries there would be no need for the private companies!!

Bltbear82 · December 2015

araecasey said:
Everything that I've read says that if you wait until the cord stops pulsing to clamp and cut that there's nothing left to donate. Where are you gals getting this info that says you can do both? I'm not cool with cutting the cord anytime before it's finished pulsing. Babies, but especially breastfed babies, NEED all of their blood from the placenta they can get for their iron stores to make it until baby begins solids. And I know toward the end of pulsing, the cord fills with Wharton's jelly that begins to coagulate the cord blood. So are we able to use coagulated blood nowadays? Someone enlighten me!

I think (and only think, because I did the research back in 2014) that you can still donate but only if the collection starts within a certain amount of time. I need to revisit this again, we did delayed cord clamping last time but not banking.

JennyS86 · December 2015

araecasey
Honestly I'm not sure how it's possible to do both, but their website says that it can be done. We didn't do either last time, so I will find out come May!

ayeshaohara · December 2015

Please update as you find out more info about the delayed clamping etc!!

araecasey · December 2015

I personally wouldn't rely on information straight from a cord blood bank's website, especially a private one because they're going to bias the information they give so they can make a profit. I think they've probably lost a lot of money since there's been a surge in women choosing delayed clamping. As far as I know it's impossible to collect blood that's been tinged with Wharton's jelly, and clamping before that point is taking blood away from baby. I'm gonna ask my midwife about it at my next appointment and see what she says. I would jump at the opportunity to do both! Someone very close to me received cord blood as a cancer patient, and even though it couldn't cure her, it did give her more time with her husband and daughters. And yes, keep us updated if you find a medical journal or a study that demonstrates the efficacy of doing both!

LadySamLady · December 2015

I asked my OB today and she told me that you can't do both. Delayed cord clamping delivers the blood that would be banked to the baby, once it stops pulsing there isn't enough blood left to bank.

Personally, I'm choosing delayed cord clamping.

dsmith211 · December 2015

LadySamLady said:
I asked my OB today and she told me that you can't do both. Delayed cord clamping delivers the blood that would be banked to the baby, once it stops pulsing there isn't enough blood left to bank.

Personally, I'm choosing delayed cord clamping.

I was considering it previously until I asked my midwife at my last appointment if we could do both and she said the same. So we're also going with the delayed cord clamping.

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