One thing you need to be aware of is if you wish to donate cord blood, the cord needs to be clamped and cut right away at birth so they can have that blood. There are lots of studies that have shown allowing the cord to stop pulsating at it's own accord and your baby getting all its blood (including red blood cells, cancer fighting T cells etc.) that it provides months of iron stores and lower rates of anaemia to start with. It's quite a bit of blood, and I am aware there are great benefits in donating the cord blood, but I would much rather my baby get this important blood. That's something they may not tell you. I think it's ironic, that the cord blood stem cells have the cells which fight cancer, yet they are telling us to keep it out of baby until they get cancer? Even then, it's a select group of cancers and diseases cord blood replacement can work with, not all.
I've written the studies into an article here: Cord Blood - Why Delaying Cord Clamping Benefits Your Baby (which I recommend all parents considering storage have a read of).
Collection is also very lucrative for the collector (midwives get offered training in this too, some decline but some do it) and they get paid hundreds for doing the collection. Very sad, when the best thing for babies is what should be being promoted. I guess money speaks louder than words...How likely is it that my baby will need stored stem cells?
According to Dr Sarah Buckley, in her well researched book 'Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering' (2005):
* The likelihood of low-risk children needing their own stored cells has been estimated at 1 in 20,000
* Cord blood donations are likely to be ineffective for the treatment of adults, because the number of stem cells are too small
* Cord blood may contain pre-leukemic changes and may increase the risk of relapse
* Autologous cord blood is only suitable for children who develop solid tumours, lymphomas or auto-immune disorders
* All other uses are speculative
Here are some other very good links on cord blood and cutting the cord:
Don't Cut The Cord!
Five Good Reasons To Delay Cord Clamping
Early or Late Clamping?
Early Clamping of the Umbilical Cord
Risks of Premature Cutting of the Umbilical Cord
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