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I feel its too expensive for us to bank the cord blood.. so I dont think we will be doing it. we will probably donate it.
I need to do more research, but from what I know right now, we'll probably donate them.
I would donate it. The chances of your child needing their own particular cord blood are relatively rare, and the cost to store it is high. But, if more people donated it then it would be there whenever anyone needed it and you wouldn't have to pay to store it!
My first advice is to find out if your hospital supports any banking, public or private; we had talked about donating the cord blood, but our hospital doesn't support it at all.
Secondly, you may want to talk to your doctor or pediatrician about the benefits of allowing the cord blood to transfer to the baby versus banking. Some studies have shown possible benefits in the way of reducing the likelihood of distress and illnesses, especially in premies. Your doctor should be able to explain the benefits of waiting to clamp the cord. This is what we ended up doing, since banking was not an option for us.
Finally, there is a lot of controversy about how beneficial private cord blood banking really is. Diseases where the own person's stem cells can be used (as opposed to a donor's or a collection of donors') is relatively rare. Most people who benefit from stem cell therapies either can't use their own because the disease may be present in the stem cells (like in the case of genetic disorders, childhood lukemia, etc...) or because the patient needs more stem cells than what one collection or cord blood can provide. Here's an article from the American Pediatrics Association that says private banking for personal use is "unwise" (scroll to the Recommendations section).
Another option to look into might be public banking, where you donate the cord blood in hopes that someone else can use your baby's stem cells. Most (all?) public banks do not guarantee that your baby's cord blood will be available to him/her if needed, but some banks give priority or discounts to donors who later need stem cells therapies.
Mrs. Spring pretty much summed it up. I used to work with pediatric cancer patients, and it is very rare that one would be able to use his/her own cord blood for exactly what Mrs. Spring explained. Further, while a sibling could benefit from it, the chances of a sibling being enough of a match to donate cord blood without instead just doing a bone marrow transplant are also slim. At this point, in my experience and understanding at least, BMT's are preferred over cord blood transplants. Cord blood can certainly be helpful but it seems like a bit of false advertising that these companies do to me. Public donation makes more sense to me, so that your baby's cord blood could help others who do not have matches. This is what I would do; however, our hospital does not support public cord blood donation. Therefore we will be talking to our doctor about delaying the clamping of the cord, as Mrs. Spring said.
One thing to add--if you do/can go the donation route, make sure you look into it well in advance. Our hospital didn't participate directly but a nearby one does. I had to sign consent forms and my doctor had to fill out some paperwork as well. Then they were supposed to mail me a collection kit but I never received it. I guess when we were close to the due date there were a million other things to think about so I never followed up. We did delay the clamping of the cord slightly since we weren't donating it.
From what I've heard, it is very expensive to store cord blood and the chances of you needing it are very small. Like previous posters have suggested, I would look into donating it.
I'm going to look into donating it, but if that's not available at my hospital I won't be upset. Not going to pay to store it since the odds of ever needing it are slim, and if we do need it, the odds of being able to use it are even slimmer.
We looked into it, but decided that donating was more worthwhile than banking it. Unfortunately there wasn't a hospital nearby that supported cord blood donation. We ended up just waiting until the cord stopped pulsing to cut it, so DS got the maximum benefit of the cord blood at birth.
This is something that I've been thinking about and what to do more research. I had heard a lot of information that there is a strong likelihood that you will never need the cord blood, and if you do, your child's cord blood might not be the answer. But on the other hand, I have a few friends/SIL who are strong believers/pushers of the idea of banking cord blood. My SIL went so far as to say that she didn't understand why you wouldn't bank the cord blood if it had the chance of helping save your child. She also said that she researched that they are starting to use cord blood for other things, like helping cure heart disease (in whichi case the cord blood of a child could be used for a parent), etc etc.
So I need to do more research before we make a decision on what we'll do. I also want to research the benefit of waiting to cut the cord-- it seems like that has a lot of benefits too, which you would be taking away from the child if you bank the blood.
Decisions decisions!
Heathahh- I DONATED my daughter's cord blood to a public bank that works with ANY hospital.
As a molecular biologist and cancer researcher, I can say that all my friends in the medical and scientific fields opted to donate. As Mrs. Spring brought up, there are very few applications where one's own stem cells could be used- if you have leukemia, your own banked stem cells would harbor the same genetic mutation and wouldn't be useful.
The hospital I delivered at didn't have a donation program, but I found a reputable organization that sends you everything you need to take with you to ANY hospital. Even though mine didn't have a program, the staff was able to collect everything- and donated their services in doing so since it was for donation.
This is the organization I used: http://www.cordforlife.com/public-donation.html
I'm pregnant again now, and I plan on doing this a second time. It was pretty easy- just make sure you contact them early, because they do need several weeks to get everything processed and send out the kit.
@rosychicklet: That is so cool! I've never heard of that organization before, but now I'm going to look into it.
And congrats on baby #2!!!!!!
I looked into it, but we have decided that the chances of being able to use the cord blood are far to slim to justify the expense of the collection/screening/storage. I would have loved to donate to a public bank, but I am not a candidate due to all the medications I needed for my morning sickness (the public bank here does not want cord blood if any medications are used). I am currently looking into delayed cord clamping, and if my baby does not need resuscitative measures after delivery, I would like to do that, but obviously ensuring my baby is breathing properly is more important to me then delayed cord clamping.
Please donate it if you have the opportunity. You may be saving someone elses child, and that is something that is priceless.
I found this website to be incredibly helpful when we were weighing options with cord blood donation vs. banking. We decided to donate, but unfortunately the staff botched it and they weren't able to donate Baby X's cord blood. The equipment to collect the blood was put out too early and was no longer sterile when time came to collect it.
As a sidenote: My cousin received donated stem cells from cord blood as part of an experimental therapy for a rare genetic disease. She still died from the disease, but for a while there was hope that she might retain some quality of life. You can read her story here. (I thought I'd throw that out there as an example of what it's like to be on the receiving end of the donation.)
When the time comes my SO and I want to ask the doctor to delay clamping the cord (: That's what my parents did with me and it's what we hope to do.
^ I was just going to ask about that...
If we delay clamping and cutting until the cord stops pulsating then can we can't "save" the "cord blood" right?..
Thanks everyone. I am wondering now if I was on too many medications during pregnancy to be able to donate? I was on Metformin and progesterone supplements for 12 weeks. What do you think? i will have to look in to it, but as of right now, donating is what I would prefer to do.
Thanks!!
Donate! My mother received a stem cell transplant from an adult donor, but her transplant doctors were experts on cord blood as well. Even given my family history they strongly receommended against private donation - given current usage, it is incredibly rare for it to be helpful if your child gets sick (because then the cord blood would have the same problems) as PPs said.
If you donate it, and you do need it for some reason, you have full access to it if it hasn't been used. But it is more likely you might help save someone else's life by donating!
I think the best rationale for private banking is that there is some future discovery of usefulness for the donor + you end up having a need for that use.
@heathaah: We're also delaying clamping the cord, it's only an extra 5-10 minutes after the baby is born, you just wait until it stops pulsating and there is a lot of benefits to baby getting all the placenta body.
If you decide not to donate it, I would suggest that.
I had never heard of delayed clamping until I got pregnant and enrolled in care at my birth center, it's a standard practice for them.
I was going to donate the cord blood (I donate blood every eight weeks in my non-preggo life). When I mentioned it to my midwife, she advised against it because delaying clamping and cutting the umbilical cord until it stop pulsating is good for the baby's iron levels. Given my history with anemia (iron twice a day, plus a prenatal AND still can't get my hemoglobin up), I want to make sure my daughter gets a good start with iron. So we're not donating.
Personally, storing it seems like a scam. Anything I get multiple mailers a week for is probably not a good use of my money.
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I feel like I am being bombarded with info about this from everywhere. What are your thoughts on it?