Why should you bank your babies cord blood?
As expectant parents of a new baby, one of the things you might be thinking about is whether or not to bank the umbilical cord blood after your new baby is born. This is a very personal decision and should be carefully researched. There are many good reasons to bank this valuable cord blood and doing so may one day save the life of you or a family member. So start researching the various pros and cons so you can make an informed decision.
Cord blood banking refers to the act of taking the blood that remains in the babies umbilical cord and extracting from it the special stem cells contained in the blood. These stem cells are then stored in extremely cold storage using liquid nitrogen, so that they are available to use at any time in the future. After your baby is born, if you have requested the saving of the cord blood, a member of the medical team will extract the blood from the umbilical cord and this blood will be sent to a Cord Blood Bank. Before the birth you will need to tell the doctor that you intend to bank the cord blood and inform them which banking facility the blood should be sent to.
Research into stem cell treatments and the use of cord blood to acquire stem cells has shown the remarkable usefulness of cord blood and stem cells. Many cancers have shown they can be successfully treated with stem cells along with many other diseases and more research is being done all the time on the uses of cord blood stem cells.
So far more than 70 different diseases have been shown to be treatable using cord blood bank stem cells.
The obvious question therefore is, if cord blood bank stem cells are so useful, why doesn’t everyone bank the cord blood from their newborn babies ? There are many reasons why not, mostly related to people’s personal beliefs. However, cost is most certainly a factor in many people’s decision.
On average the cost to bank your babies cord blood with a reputable company will be between $1500 and $2000. This is just the initial charge for collecting the cord blood, delivering it to the companies storage facility, processing the cord blood to remove the stem cells and the cost of storage for the first 12 months. You then have annual storage fees of around $150 per year.
All parents expecting a baby, should take the time to acquaint themselves with all the reasons why banking cord blood should be considered. The cost is one thing to consider but more important are the many advantages that you may have avialable to you in the future should someone in your family require treatment using stem cells.