Cord Blood Banking

[mhk425]

DH and I are trying to decide if we should do cord blood banking. The issue, obviously, is the cost. It appears as though the initial fee is going to be at least $2,000, and then we'll have to pay $125+ a year to store it. Of course, I can't imagine if something happened where we needed it but didn't have it because we didn't want to pay. Does anyone have experience with cord blood banking? If you're in the US, what company did you go through? Why did you choose that one over the others?

 

[TMonster]

I did a lot of research on this and decided to opt for delayed cord clamping and I am donating my placenta.
This blog post was what helped convince me to donate.
https://mommacommaphd.wordpress.com/2012/04/30/im-donating-my-babys-cord-blood-to-a-public-bank/

 

[Rainstorm]

We had a talk with our OB about that today. My OH was not convinced, so the doctor told us that his daughter had leucemia as a child, and if he had been able to do the cord blood he would have given anything for it, but it didn't exist back then. I guess it's expensive, but I'm thinking of giving it a try. A friend of mine did it and it apparently can be used with her second child as well, even if it belongs to the first child...

 

[mhk425]

I did a lot of research on this and decided to opt for delayed cord clamping and I am donating my placenta.
This blog post was what helped convince me to donate.
https://mommacommaphd.wordpress.com/2012/04/30/im-donating-my-babys-cord-blood-to-a-public-bank/

Great info! Thanks! I never even thought to consider the claims of those companies. How stupid of me! After reading that blog and doing a little more research, the one thing that concerns me about donating is that half to two thirds of blood that is donated gets discarded b/c there "isn't enough of it." What a waste that would be! Although it's definitely a waste if you don't do anything with it anyway!

 

[mhk425]

We had a talk with our OB about that today. My OH was not convinced, so the doctor told us that his daughter had leucemia as a child, and if he had been able to do the cord blood he would have given anything for it, but it didn't exist back then. I guess it's expensive, but I'm thinking of giving it a try. A friend of mine did it and it apparently can be used with her second child as well, even if it belongs to the first child...

Did your doctor have another child? Because from what I've read, someone who has leukemia can't use his/her own cord blood anyway (because the mutation that caused the leukemia will be in their cord blood). The main reason I'm still considering it is b/c family members are more likely to be a match than non-family members.

 

[TMonster]

Its completely useless for most conditions that your child might get like leukemia and lymphoma. It might help a second child but considering there is no history of these diseases in my family and the likelihood that my child would ever get one of these diseases is so slim, the cost doesnt justify it.

I think its a ton of fear mongering honestly that pray on hormonal pregnant women who want to do everything they can to help their children. That money could go to a much better use and frankly I would prefer to have the delayed cord clamping which I know would give my child a benefit.

I know most of the blood donated to banks is discarded but I am going for delayed cord clamping so my Zoe gets the additional blood and then I am donating the placenta for scientific research. Even if the placenta does end up discarded, its going to get tossed anyway and most likely it will be used for research purposes which may end up helping many more people in the future. It costs me nothing and since I am not planning on consuming my placenta, I am happy to donate it to a worthwhile cause.

 

[Glitter_berry]

Its completely useless for most conditions that your child might get like leukemia and lymphoma. It might help a second child but considering there is no history of these diseases in my family and the likelihood that my child would ever get one of these diseases is so slim, the cost doesnt justify it.

I think its a ton of fear mongering honestly that pray on hormonal pregnant women who want to do everything they can to help their children. That money could go to a much better use and frankly I would prefer to have the delayed cord clamping which I know would give my child a benefit.

I know most of the blood donated to banks is discarded but I am going for delayed cord clamping so my Zoe gets the additional blood and then I am donating the placenta for scientific research. Even if the placenta does end up discarded, its going to get tossed anyway and most likely it will be used for research purposes which may end up helping many more people in the future. It costs me nothing and since I am not planning on consuming my placenta, I am happy to donate it to a worthwhile cause.

What she said.

( sorry for being lazy and stealing your answer )

 

[Dream.dream]

It's a waste o money I donated my sons .

What most people don't actually know is that even if you don't have your child's banked , some places you can use cord blood donated by other people to a public bank they tried it with this OH when he had aplastic anemia , and he'd never had his cord blood donated so they got it from somewhere , it didn't work for him but still

 

[Rainstorm]

I'm just telling you what I was told... I am planning on doing more extensive research before I make a decision about it. I don't know anything about delayed chord clamping so I'll be checking that out too

 

[mhk425]

I'm just telling you what I was told... I am planning on doing more extensive research before I make a decision about it. I don't know anything about delayed chord clamping so I'll be checking that out too

I appreciate it! I realize that the more I think I know, the more I realize I don't know. I definitely have a lot of research to do too!