Cord Blood Stem Cell Collection - anyone planning it?

[mears]

If you are, please check out your hospital beforehand as you might find that the midwives are unable to colect it for you.

Richard Branson is making a packet out of this but not paying hospitals to collect the cells or providing people to do it.

For those families with genetic problems then stem cell collection is done by the NHS. Comercially it is being offered at a huge price for the 'just in case' scenario.

Very controversial subject.

I'm confused. Branson runs a company which offers to store the blood, but doesn't collect it? How is the collected blood supposed to reach his storage facility?

What I mean is that it is expected that a midwife will collect it at the delivery by putting the needle into the cord. It goes into a bag that is then packaged and collected by a specially arranged pick up.

The RCM does not support midwives to do this. It is not a requirement that they do it at all.

I'm donating mine as part of a research project (so not stored for me to access later but used for research) - part of the deal is they send someone specially to collect it from the placental end of the cord who's not involved in the birth in any way.

They'd never have got ethical approval for the MWs to be involved.

i am 40 weeks tomorrow - i have included this as part of the birth plan and discussed it with the mw. she is keen for it - they collect it for research purposes at glasgow uni.

Hi mears can I ask a quick question if you do collect it (eg for research not Richard!) can you still do late clamping or is it that bit f blood that is collected?

It's that bit of blood that is collected idilemma.

Research purposes is fine - it is the commercial aspect that the RCM does not support

Ooh, I think mine said they could still do late clamping so long as they had access to the placental and cord once cut. Will have to read the small print again.

(and I know you didn't mean research in the OP, was just emphasising that there was no way they'd make MWs take cord blood even for pukka research, let alone to make a profit for a commercial company)

Mears what are the prospects of these stem cells being helpful to people with diabetes in the near future do you know?

I wish I'd known about this when I was pg with ds4 as I would like a few stem cells in a bank somewhere in case diabetic ds1 could use them. It would almost be worth having another baby - that is if one were waivering anyway of course.

could i please motion you to my lighthearted but with a serious (if totally mad) undertone umbilical cord fantasy thread which was inspired by seeing this one in active convos.

Have posted sophable - not sure if that would be a goer.

Spidermama - there was a report this week about stem cells being used with some success. The stem cells were obtained from the patiemt's own bone marrow which contains stem cells. It needs followed up more because the study wasn't long enough.

This is really interesting. I will bear it in mind when I look into this as I planned to. Can someone explain the late clamping? I get the gist that it's better for the baby but that that is the blood needed for this purpose? thanks

Hi All! New to this thread, but couldn't help but throw my two cents in... this is, of course, my opinion:

Early cord clamping, i.e. clamping and cutting the cord before it has stopped pulsating, is something to be avoided if at all possible. You would be depriving your child of 20-40% of its blood volume.

"Early cord clamping may impede a successful transition and contribute to hypovolemic and hypoxic damage in vulnerable newborns" (Mercer, 2002).

Please see any of the following, or simply do a search:

www.bellybelly.com.au/articles/birth/cord-clamping-delaying-cord-clamping

http: //www.midwifeinfo.com/content/view/61/40/

www.naturaltransition.com/natural-childbirth-3rd stage.htm

cordclamp.com/

As for donating cord blood, from what I have researched it helps if you have an older child with a condition that could benefit. Genetic diseases are already present in umbilical cord blood, i.e. the cells cannot help the very child who may later develop that type of disease, although they could help other family members.

According to an article on WebMD.com (www.webmd.com/baby/guide/banking-your-babys-cord-blood) "There are very few documented cases of a child receiving his or her own banked cord blood as treatment. The Institute of Medicine says that there may only have been as few as 14 total of these procedures ever performed."

And, if it's for the sake of research, I ask any mother this: After reading up on delayed cord clamping, would you be willing to deprive your own child of those benefits for the sake of research?

Please do your own research and then decide what is best for your baby(ies).

Cheers to all!

Many thanks, that is really interesting. I don't know anything about cord clamping (yet!) on average, how long should you insist they wait for the benefit of your baby, do you know?

I donated mine for research. Being a stem cell scientist could hardly say no