Cord Blood Banking - Is it worth it?

Anonymous
Have any of you decided whether or not you are going to do cord blood banking? Does anyone know someone who actually needed or used cord blood to treat a later illness in a child or family member? We are trying to decide whether or not it is worth doing and the expense doesn't really bother me if it can actually be used in a medical situation later, but in doing a little research it looks like the American Academy of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Academy of Pediatrics doesn't recommend it because of the unproven nature of it. We asked our OB and she didn't say not to do it, but wasn't too enthusiastic about it. She also said that for a Caucasian, there are often matches in the donor registry, so maybe just donating it would be a better idea.

I don't want to waste money on something of little value, but if I had a child who becomes sick will I really regret not doing it? Thoughts?
Anonymous
I would rather have my OB delay the cutting of the baby's cord (which can return about 1/3 of your baby's blood from the placenta to baby) than immediate cutting of cord in order to "milk" it for collection. It is an expensive, unproven business right now. I would say no.
Anonymous
We did it via via cord - just seems like so many medical advances in future years could benefit from it . I also had a csection though so delaying cord cut wasn't possible - might have felt differently if it were. For us it was more of a - why not do it
Anonymous
I say yes. We did it and things that are being done and cured with stem cells are increasing all the time. It is a bit of an unknown, but for us, I would hate to need it someday and not have it.
Anonymous
We decided to donate to the national cord blood bank instead. The chances of needing it ourselves are very small, and the cost of keeping it is pretty high (when you think about how many years you would be paying to store it, it really adds up). If we had specific reason to think it might be useful to us down the road, based on family history, it might have been a different decision, but with our current situation, it didn't seem worth it.
Anonymous
I don't know if it's a waste, but we did it.
I just couldn't live with myself if we needed it and it wasn't available.
They cost wasn't a big deal to us though. If it was a stretch, I think saving for college is probably a better choice.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:We decided to donate to the national cord blood bank instead. The chances of needing it ourselves are very small, and the cost of keeping it is pretty high (when you think about how many years you would be paying to store it, it really adds up). If we had specific reason to think it might be useful to us down the road, based on family history, it might have been a different decision, but with our current situation, it didn't seem worth it.


+1 to all of this. We will be donating as well, and hope that it'll be useful to another family out there.
Anonymous
Its bull shit , the public free one is ok . The irony is that you will get better result matches on the public one.
Anonymous
We were going back and forth on it before we had a first, but then we heard a pediatrician break ranks and say, "If you can afford it, it's not optional" and talk at length about the breakthroughs the medical community is expecting to make in the use of stem cells in the next decade, or so. We did it for our DD and we're doing it for our DS when he arrives.

I think of it as a family insurance policy. It's actually more likely that a sibling or parent will benefit from the cord blood than the baby it's collected for, so having two cord blood collections banked for us helps me sleep better at night.

It's true that there are limited uses for cord blood right now, but there are extensive studies going on involving cord blood use for treatment of all kids of diseases and conditions and many of them seem extremely promising, so I don't think of cord blood collection as a scam or junk science. Cord TISSUE collection, on the other hand, is much newer and more uncertain, so we haven't opted for that.

I think it comes down how affordable it is for your family. If it's going to be a huge hardship and interfere with your ability to, for instance, buy your baby books and toys or pay for quality child care, don't do it. If this is something that fits into your budget, though, I don't see any drawbacks and huge potential advantages down the road.
Anonymous
PP here-- We used CBR, by the way, for our first and we're using them again for our second. They are freakishly on the ball and make donation super easy and seamless.
Anonymous
We did it with our first and the kit just arrived for #2. My husband is a diabetic and I have diabetes on my side as well. This is one area where stem cells can be used. Yes it is expensive and I hope we never have to use it, but as PP said, it is an insurance policy. Same with my life insurance, hope my family doesn't need it, but would hate to nt have that option for them. Agree on holding off on tissue banking. Too new to put the money into. Do what works for your family and know the public registry is there should you need it.
Anonymous
We didn't do it. I think frankly the whole industry preys on people. Our ped said even if it somehow turned out that there was a use for it, there was a very good chance the cells wouldn't be much use after storage. That said, I've probably wasted that much money on lottery tickets, so if you go into it recognizing it's probably a waste of money...
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:We didn't do it. I think frankly the whole industry preys on people. Our ped said even if it somehow turned out that there was a use for it, there was a very good chance the cells wouldn't be much use after storage. That said, I've probably wasted that much money on lottery tickets, so if you go into it recognizing it's probably a waste of money...


Our OB was not in favor of it either - he felt it preyed upon people's worst fears and there was little evidence that it was useful after freezing. We opted not to.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:We did it via via cord - just seems like so many medical advances in future years could benefit from it . I also had a csection though so delaying cord cut wasn't possible - might have felt differently if it were. For us it was more of a - why not do it


As long as baby is stable. OBs can do delayed cord cutting with a c-section.
Anonymous
Personally every doctor I spoke to about it did NOT do it for their children because they thought it was so unproven. I think it's almost a scam.
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