Thursday, January 31, 2008

Cord Blood Banking?

Looking for advice and thoughts on Cord Blood Banking. I'm trying to start thinking about it, but can't get much further than - hmmm, I should look into that...

Anyone have any experience doing this? Anyone know of someone who had a good future outcome from doing this? I'm all ears!

7 comments:

Natalie said...

From everything I've read, it's a bad idea. Here's one article that describes it:
http://www.webmd.com/news/20070103/aap-opposes-private-cord-blood-banking
It's expensive, and from what has been written by doctors and my friends who have spoken to their doctors about it, if your child gets sick they likely won't be able to use their own cord blood... they'd need someone else's.

Donating that cord blood is an option, though... no storage fees, and it could get used by someone who needs it. You would have to talk to your doctor/hospital about what options you have for donation.

I, however, will be letting the cord pulse all that cord blood into MY baby. (The only way you can donate it is if you clamp it right away, trapping the cord blood in the cord.) There are some studies that show that a baby who recieves the iron-rich cord blood is less likely to be anemic and have other issues in their first year of life. The way I see it, that cord blood is full of lots of Good Stuff. So I'd rather just make sure my baby got it all!

Kate said...

Yeah, I think that banking it is largely a money making venture. Not that I'm knocking the science, but I get a little leary when I get three flyers in the mail every day trying to talk me into it.

Anonymous said...

I've been thinking about it too, but when I read the flyer I was shocked by how much it cost. So, no banking for moi.

the rotten correspondent said...

I don't know anyone who has done it either. It sounds interesting, but how useful would it really be?

MrsSpock said...

I don't know anyone who has done it myself. I plan on delaying cord cutting until it is done pulsating.

DebbieDo said...

My BFF did it with her new baby that was born just 4 weeks ago. We have doctors in the family (not ob/ gyns though) that recommend it and we will most likely do it when we get pregnant one day.

Did you know you can register for it? Nice gift from parents???

ultimatejourney said...

This is something I've wondered about in passing for a while. Judging by others' comments, it sounds like I'm probably not making a horrible mistake by not doing it.

I hope things are still going well otherwise.