Baby Cord Blood Banking

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Stem cell facts and the benefits of cord blood preservation

An important decision parents to be have to make is if they should store or donate their baby’s umbilical cord blood. On this page we will explain why stem cells found in baby’s cord blood are so important and why you should consider paying for private baby cord blood banking or donating these so valuable stem cells to a public bank.

 

Stem cell facts.

What are cord blood stem cells? The stem cells that we find in the umbilical cord are very powerful cells. Stem cells themselves are not able to perform a specific function that is why we call them unspecified. But they can divide themselves and produce cells with a specific function like muscles cells, brain cells and so on. This process is called differentiation.
Now why are these cells so valuable? Stem cells can be used to replace damaged cells in the body like for example blood cells destroyed by chemo and radio-therapy. Many people are unaware of the potential of these stem cells and their ability to treat diseases in the future, diseases that at this moment are considered un-treatable.

 Cord blood storage banks

Why save umbilical cord blood? Baby blood cord banking is a way of preserving your baby’s umbilical blood (that contains these valuable stem cells) to be able to treat your child in the unfortunate event he or she develops a serious illness or injury.

But not only the child itself can benefit from storing stem cells but also blood relatives like the mother or other siblings can be matching donors. At the moment they are already using stem cells to treat various diseases such as leukemia, bone marrow failure, metabolic disorders and blood disorders. To some parents baby cord blood banking may seem expensive with prices ranging from $1000 to $2000 for the initial collection and about $100 for annual storage. But most blood banks offer payment plans making it possible for you to pay this amount in 12 to 48 monthly payments.

Cord blood donation at child birth.

Instead of storing your baby’s cord blood in a private blood bank you can also donate it to a public blood bank. Why would you choose for donation of your child’s cord blood? Many people out there suffering from leukemia and other serious diseases are desperately waiting for a transplant of a matching bone marrow or cord blood donor. By donating cord blood at birth you could save the life of one of these patients. If you decide to donate your baby’s cord blood to a public bank you should be aware of the fact that the cord blood can be used for any matching donor and not only for your baby and family. Public baby cord blood banking facilities charge no fee for the whole collecting procedure and storage.

 

 

Cord blood collection procedure.

The collection of blood from the umbilical cord is a painless procedure that takes no more than a few minutes. Immediately after the baby exits the womb and before the placenta is delivered cord blood is collected. After clamping of the umbilical cord a needle is inserted in the cord and the blood runs into a collection bag. Together with the cord blood they will also send a few blood samples of the mother to check for infectious diseases.

Cord blood expiration date

Photo credit: Cord Blood Registry (CBR)

Before the cord blood is processed and the stem cells are stored the blood will be tested for infectious diseases like HIV and hepatitis B and C. Cord blood stem cells will then be stored in a mechanical freezer or liquid nitrogen tank at -196 degrees C. At this moment there is no evidence that stem cells stored under the right conditions will loose their quality or have as you could say an “expiration date”.

The advantage of stem cell research.

To be able to treat more diseases scientists need to know what triggers undifferentiated stem cells to become differentiated cells. They are looking for ways how they can "program" stem cells to become the specific cells that need to be replaced in the body.

If in the future scientists are able to control this process they can generate new cells and tissues to treat many more diseases. To be able to continue this kind of research they rely on your baby cord blood banking donations.

Embryonic stem cell controversy.

Embryonic stem cells as the word indicates come from embryos in the very early stage of development. Since these embryonic cells could possibly grow into a human being many people are opposed to the use of embryonic stem cells for research.
These stem cells are not harvested from pregnant woman but are grown in a laboratory from donated eggs. Normally these embryos that are not used during in-vitro fertilization are thrown away. With the mothers permission these embryos can be stored  and used for stem cell research.

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Return to Baby Safety Concerns Home Page.

Return to Umbilical Cord Infection and Umbilical Cord Care.

More on this subject

Umbilical Cord Abnormalities
That May Affect Your Unborn Child.

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The information on this page is given as a reference guide and is not to be used as a substitute for professional medical help.

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