Cord Blood Banking

Hello all,

I am not sure if i am even posting this in the appropriate section but here goes.

I am seriously considering collecting the cord blood from this pregnancy for future use. I would have been quite happy to dontate the cord blood to a cord blood bank, but at the moment in Perth I dont think that is an option.

I would be interested to hear if anyone else has saved their cord blood after previous pregnancy's or from anyone who is planning to collect the cord blood from this pregnancy?

Also if anyone knows how you go about organising this process any information would be greatly appreciated :confused:

Any help or opinions would be great :D

Cheers

Not sure on how you go about it, but one thing I found out that I didn't realise is that it can't be used for the baby it came from. So if that child gets ill, it can't get it's own cord blood. Someone correct me if I'm wrong about that though...

Did you realise if you donate cord blood, or store it, the cord needs to be cut immediately after birth? There are MANY good reasons to allow your baby to have it's own cord blood which you can read about here: https://www.bellybelly.com.au/birth/...-cord-clamping

I thought about it in my first pregnancy, but wasn't prepared to pay the amount for private storage. I was happy to donate the cord blood for anyone elses use. If it helped an ill person - and saved anyone's life - then it would be a great thing...

I believe there are only two hospitals in melbourne that collect 'public' core blood - although I might be wrong there...

The other thing I question is if I would be able to donate cord blood (publicly or privately) as I am not allowed to donate normal blood, because I lived in England for 3 years during the 'mad cow' experience.

I might make some more enquiries into it this time around. If I am able to donate the cord blood - I will definately do it.

I researched this a little when I was pg and I think I couldn't find a facility to donate the cord blood in Perth.

I wouldn't do it for the reasons Kelly's article mentions. Cutting a baby off it's cord is injurious to it's health and can leave a high proportion of it's own needed blood supply behind in the placenta. That doesn't really help anyone. It sounds like a great altruistic thing to do but there are other ways to help people like donate your own adult blood which you can spare rather than that of a baby who isn't making the choice themselves and who needs every drop of their own blood to function optimally after birth.

we saved elysia's cord blood - well her uncle paid for it to be used for his son who has CF & if any one else needs it! as i had a c section the cord blood was collected after the cord was cut & they got more than enough from the cord & it is now stored in sydney - i had a few health issues in the past including living in england in the mad cow period as well as having viral hepatitis but after further tests before the cord blood collection i was given the all clear - we are the guardians of the cord blood till elysia turns 18 so im hoping it can be used to help her cousin in some way -there are sooooooooo many illnesses it can help & after processing it they have only stored 42mls which i was told is more than enough

My DD's cord blood is also stored at a private facility. There were 2 places that stored it at the time. We decided it was like an insurance policy and wecould afford it then. With the next one we can't afford it but it is possible for a siblings blood to help the other.

This time I am also delaying cutting the cord so I guess there won't be any cord blood anyway.

Have you triedgoogling it or talking to the hospital? I can't afford the storage costs (isn't it 6k?). I want bubs to get all his blood though it's what would naturally occur without human intervention and is beneficial for bubbers.

The amount of blood donated from a cord is about 70mls,this isn't enough to make a big difference to a major disease. If you have a physiological third stage the baby will benefit immediately from the blood instead of storing it just in case.
Lisa Barrett

I will donate the the cord blood from my baby.
This is just my thoughts. As the cord pulses, yes arterial blood runs from placenta into baby, but venous blood is running back at the same time. My baby will have been getting the nutrients from the cord for 40 weeks, and i dont think in the last 3 min he/she will get any super special blood.
If i have a sick/dying baby in the future i would like to think that someone else has donated their babies cord blood inorder to save mine.
It is not the volume of blood that is important, so much as the stem cells. They can be used to generate red blood cells and cells of the immune system. This can treat immune system diseases such as leukaemia, and autoimmune diseases.

Yes i agree my baby could benefit from the blood, but perhaps not as much as a baby with leukemia.

Also from what I understand, the only cancers etc they can help are the really uncommon ones, so worth looking into what problems they do help. The list is impressive, but I think from memory the more common forms aren't covered, so they don't help as many as you may think.

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The amount of blood donated from a cord is about 70mls,this isn't enough to make a big difference to a major disease.

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I beg to differ about the difference it makes.

I worked in a paediatric oncology/haematology ward for over 2 years before I fell pregnant, and it made such a difference to those children with aggressive forms of blood born cancers. I'm not going to bore people with the specifics, but it made a significant difference and all three of those children who received products from cord blood are still with us today, something that may not have been possible without the blood product.

I understand that people are entitled to their own opinions, but I think gms78's question was about storing blood, and not about the benefits of storing blood. Perhaps we should get back to the original question?

gms78 - I think the best thing to do would be to call your hospital and determine whether or not they have the facilities to store the cord blood, as it needs to be done immediately after birth and some hospitals cannot collect blood because they cannot store it properly.

Hope that helps

I don't see a problem with providing some information she may not know, and many people do not know, because of the myths surrounding it and unbalanced info - there is only one side to donating cord blood available in marketing material. I am sure she will tell us if she doesn't want this info - she did ask for opinions after all.

Hi,

Perth has only recently had the capability to store the blood, it was not taken before December of 2006. The initial cost is around $3,000 with a payment of about $600 a year for storage. I konw I wasn't able to store the cord blood even if I had decided to because I am A-, I know some Ob's aren't in favour of it, but my friend had hers collected at SJOGS.

I just finished reading Gentle birth, gentle mothering by Sarah J Buckley and she discusses this topic in some detail and i have to say i wouldn't do it now. I wasn't aware of the risks associated with cutting the cord early and the fact that there are few illnesses it can cure especially for your own baby. Of course i feel for any sick child that could benefit from it, but i'm sorry, not at the expense of my baby's health.
I honestly don't know with my first how long after the birth the cord was cut, but having done a bit more reading on the topic this time around it is a question and issue that i will definately be discussing. I am more than happy to have a "messy" baby and cord all over me for a few minutes while I help my baby make the transition from womb to world.

This is definitely something I'm thinking of doing but dont yet know all the in's and out's. I have my first ob appt tomorrow so will sus it all out then.

If it wasnt as expensive as it is to bank it privately I would do it because it helps with research into Multiple Sclerosis and I have that so thats my reason. Probably would have been better if it was mine that was donated/stored. I have seen a programe on TV where the parents of a sick child that needed the steam cells to get better became pregnant to get the cells from the babys cord. That was kinda interesting but I cant remember what was wrong with the kid.

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.

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As Michael said above we were told the blood can be of direct benefit to the child in certain specific circumstances.

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Do you mean allowing them to have the cord blood at birth? Or later on?

Regards,

Michael