Received the Bounty bag this week and in it there were 3 different pamphlets on companies that offer this service, so it does appear to be getting more popular and nationwide??
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Received the Bounty bag this week and in it there were 3 different pamphlets on companies that offer this service, so it does appear to be getting more popular and nationwide??
Yep there's alot of money in it.
While many cord blood banks will advise that the cord be cut immediately in order to bank cord blood, it is not necessary. All cord blood banks which are accredited to bank cord blood in this country must adhere to certain guidelines, and one of these is that they are not allowed to alter the policies and procedures of your hospital or health care provider. This means that they cannot compel you to cut the cord early. It is possible to bank cord blood after the cord has stopped pulsating, although this may affect the amount of blood collected. So, banking is still a possibility if you want to delay cord clamping. There are also companies that will send a special kit that will allow midwives to collect the blood and then have it couriered to its final storage point; at least one Australian private cord blood bank does this, but you'd have to google for it as I can't remember which off the top of my head.
As far as the benefits of cord blood are concerned, research is becoming quite conclusive that cord blood is of definite benefit to the baby. In fact, the research has so consistently shown that cord blood is beneficial to the newborn that the American Academy of Paediatrics has recently released a policy statement that advises that all institutions that participate in births should make delayed cord clamping policy. That is a pretty major step by the AAP!
While I agree that once the baby is born, blood flows both ways (both to the baby, and from the baby) there are a couple of physiological changes that favour the blood flowing too the baby. The first breath expands the lungs and this draws a LOT of blood into the baby, through the cord; the lungs are like enormous sponges that have been squeezed out for nine months and that have to be filled with blood the first time the baby breathes; that blood has to come from the placenta. Clamping the cord too early means that the baby will have insufficient blood volume and may have some hypoxia at birth. The rush of blood that the first breath draws from the placenta also contains months worth of iron stores.
As far as the usefulness of cord blood; well, it is quite useful for certain diseases. Cord blood can currently be used to treat leukaemia as a last-ditch attempt when chemotherapy fails. It has been used experimentally to treat a genetic condition known as x-linked SCIDs. However, apart from these, there are not currently any other diseases that cord blood can treat successfully (including, unfortunately, CF). This may change in the future. It is also important to keep in mind that cord blood cannot be used to treat the child who donated it in the first place. For example; imagine if you donated your new baby's cord blood, and a few years later, they developed leukaemia. Unfortunately, leukaemia is thought to be related to genetics; this means that the genetic code that predisposed your baby to leukaemia may already be in the cord blood. However, if you banked that baby's brother or sister's cord blood, then THEIR cord blood may be a match. In fact, it is usually better than using bone marrow from either parent, as most parents are not closely genetically related before they are married. At best, most parents can hope to be a 50% match to their child; not good enough to use for a bone marrow transplant. Siblings, however, all come from the same genetic background, and so have a 1 in 4 chance of being a 100% match.
I hope this information is of some help.
The company we have DD's cord blood with did send a kit and the Ob & midwife extracted the blood. They did not cut the cord straight away and got only 45ml but apparently that is enough if it is ever needed.
As Michael said above we were told the blood can be of direct benefit to the child in certain specific circumstances.
At the end of the day it is just like a really limited use Insurance policy really.
Do you mean allowing them to have the cord blood at birth? Or later on?:
Regards,
Michael