Pregnancy Channel Hot Topic - Cord Blood

[Maribeth]

Are you planning to save your baby's cord blood (or have you done this)? Why or why not? Let's discuss the issues.


I'll be archiving this thread for our pregnancy channel.

ETA: Check out this new article in the pregnancy channel: How to Choose a Cord Blood Bank

[ink-stained mom]

There are options to donate the cord blood to a bank if you live near one. I wanted to do this with both my kids, but my doctor, who generally supported cord blood donation, wouldn't do it with c-sections (as both mine turned out to be). Said it was too difficult to ensure separating out mom's blood from the cord blood, while she was dealing with a surgery.

I think donating it is a terrific idea -- the chances you'll need it yourself are extremely small, and it could end up saving another child's life!

[hedra]

We strongly considered donation, but didn't feel that saving it for us, with the huge cost associated, would be a worthwhile investment. We didn't end up donating, as the twin pregnancy made things a bit too complicated at birth to want to add another thing in. (I think it was Consumer Reports that did an analysis of the odds of needing the cord blood for your own child, and the cost of maintaining it until the time that it might be needed. It was steep, and we're not rich.)

[hpy2bamom]

Pretty much the same as Hedra. DH said that they are a long way from "really" being able to use the cord blood and we'd just be throwing away money that we need for the here and now not for "what-ifs".

[metta4]

We donated Duncan's cord blood.

When I wanted to do the same with Iain's they said we couldn't ...b/c of budget cuts the people who needed to be there to have us sign the paperwork and facilitate the donation were only there during the week, not weekends. I was bummed.....

[Novelteacher]

When I was pg with my first child, I did A LOT of research on the topic. I spoke with our OB and pediatrician, and even called the Bone Marrow Registry for our state. All concurred that banking cord blood was really not horribly effective unless you already had a sick child. In fact, if your child came down with leukemia, you couldn't use it's own cord blood because of the genetic make-up of the stem cells. I called a few cord blood banks and asked what percentage of people who had banked their cord blood ended up actually using it--they either wouldn't answer or told me number so low (I think one place said six families out of the thousands banked with them) that I couldn't justify the procedure.

We are looking into donating the cord blood of this baby.

[Susue]

We looked into it and the cost was astronomical, so I hadn't planned on it. I didn't know anything about donation though. I would love to do that. Guess I need to do some research.

I think It is the best thing you can do for your baby and your family. (If it is in your budget)
I feel with all the new tech out there they have really came a long way. Also Obama is in for stem call research!! So it will just keep getting better and better.. Just to have that piece of mind. We're so happy we chose to do it. Now I can worry less!!

Mom2be

My husband and I didn't bank the cord blood for our first two children but we recently had our third within the last month and we were very happy to bank this time. I'll admit, cost was an issue but what continued to nag us was the 'what if'. We felt that if we banked at least one of our children's blood then most likely all of our children would be able to use it in the future. Granted, stem cell research hasn't had the support that it is now receiving so I expect that the research and development will move much faster.