Cord Blood Banking

When you're expecting a baby, you have an infinite number of decisions to make. Who should be your health care provider? Do you have a home or hospital birth? What should you name your bundle of joy? The list goes on and on. While you try to decide all this, consider one more issue: cord blood banking.

Perhaps a friend or relative has mentioned this to you already. Maybe the idea of banking umbilical cord blood is completely new to you. Either way, it is an important decision that all parents need to consider when they have a child on the way.

What is Cord Blood Banking?

It used to be that, once your baby was born and her umbilical cord was cut, the cord was just thrown out. However, in recent years, scientists have realized that the blood in the umbilical cord contains vital stem cells. As a result, numerous facilities have opened that allow parents to bank their child's umbilical cord blood.

Because it is so much easier to collect stem cells from umbilical cord blood than from adult bone marrow, and because it is much less controversial than using embryonic stem cells, many parents nowadays are encouraged to bank their child's cord blood.

How is the Blood Collected?

The process is very simple. As soon as your baby's umbilical cord is cut, a doctor or nurse takes the cord and drains the blood from it into a bag or vials. The collected blood is then sent off to a laboratory for testing before being sent to the storage facility. At no point does the collection interfere with you and your baby. The process also causes absolutely no harm to your child.

Why Should I Bank?

Deciding to bank your child's umbilical cord blood is a very personal decision. For some families that have a history of certain diseases and illnesses, banking cord blood can literally mean the difference between life and death for their children. For other families, banking cord blood can act as type of life insurance for their children.

Everyday, new advances are being made in the application of cord blood stem cells. Thanks to cord blood banking, more and more children are being given the opportunity to enjoy a healthy life instead of having to deal with a serious illness, like leukemia. To help ensure your children get to live life to their fullest, consider banking their umbilical cord blood.

Visit Cord Blood to learn more about cord blood banking.