Saving stem cells from baby's cord blood

[CoteDAzur]

Has anyone done this?

And if you did, which company did you choose to preserve your baby's cord blood stem cells?

We did this with DD three years ago and used Future Health. In the interest of not putting all eggs in one basket, I'm looking for another company this time.

Is there one that is very reputable and used by most people?

Anyone?

Hi CoteDAzur,

We used Cells4Life in September and had no problems. To be fair I do not have anything to compare them against though!

Good luck with your choice!
X

Thanks for your answer.

I guess my main concern is not really knowing if any of these cord blood banks really exists. All I know is there is a website and that they send a letter saying the stem cells are preserved.

how much do they charge per year - if u dont mind me asking?

Richard Branson now has a company here.

Iirc, we paid EUR 2000 for 20 years.

DH thinks it was about £1,400 for 25 years and it's stored in 2 separate locations around the UK in case of fire, damage etc. Also three separate samples in both location. He seemed to recall Virgin give half to the NHS public bank, which is not a bad thing, and kept in one location.

Sorry I did not do any research and left it to DH

We would use them again!

I had a conversation with Virgin Health Bank.

They donate 80% of your baby's cord blood to a public bank Only 20% is saved for you

The place to put the blood from your baby's umbilical cord is into your baby. Blood collected this way takes up to 180mL from the neonate (sometimes up to half of the total blood volume) which is a highly controversial subject in perinatal medicine.

This reduced blood volume is linked to jaundice, aneamia and the early clamping of the cord is linked to respiritory distress.

The cord should be left to finish pulsating before it is clamped and cut, this gives the baby the maximum blood volume and also plenty of time to start breathing in it's own time rather than having to try to breathe instantly because the oxygen source has been disconnected. "Early clamping and cutting of the umbilical cord is widely practised as part of the management of labour, but recent studies suggest that it may be harmful to the baby."

I tried to donate mine publicly and nobody wanted to know.

Greenmonkies - DD started crying before she was fully out of my body, so I can assure you that she wasn't "forced" to breathe because her cord blood was collected some moments later.

She will still have had reduced blood volume as a result, even if she was already breathing by herself. It's just a very overlooked aspect of early cord clamping and cord-blood harvesting, most people have no idea that it is roughly half the babies blood volume and can be harmful. Anyone considering it needs to be aware that there are risks and what they are.

What risks?

Baby doesn't need the oxygen from cord once he starts to breathe on his own. "More oxygen" means little since he will breathe the oxygen he needs, no more, no less.

And those "risks" - Are they comparable to, say, leukemia?

It's not just about oxygen, although the fact that your first baby was crying/breathing before she was fully born is far from normal, it's also about blood volume, anemia and jaundice as well. Have you done any research at all into the risks or just read the pro-literature from the cord banking companies?

I've done the research. And there is nothing there that says the last bit of blood from the cord is oh so essential to the baby.

It's not. Cords are routinely clamped in our hospital as soon as baby is out and I have not heard of a single case of anemia or jaundice among the 60 or so children I know who were born there.

I know there is an argument that cord should stop pulsing etc but that incremental benefit seems to be a small one. Definitely not in the league of, say, leukemia which is successfully treated by cord blood stem cells.

How about you do your thing and I do mine? Live and let live and all that.

I'm all for live and let live, and most of all informed decisions. If you have done the research and are happy with the benefits/risks balance then fine.

But many people are unaware of any risks involved in early/immediate cord clamping (either routine or for cord blood collection). There are many Drs and MWs who argue for delayed clamping, from waiting 30 seconds to right up until the natural cessation of pulsation, but it is so deeply engrained in our maternity practices that it is done out of habit, sometimes (like at my DD1's birth) even when it has been requested it not be done.

I am hesitant to answer, since this might not be in the spirit of the OP?! We looked into the possibility of saving stem cells, but didn't do it, because of the early cutting of the cord. (Was cut in the end early anyway, but we couldn't have anticipated that). But it seems you know about this and are fine with it. Good luck finding a company you like.

anyone want to start up this debate again?? it seemed to get quite heated last time.

CoteDAzur - who did you end up using? I am looking into the services at the moment and i'm quite confused by the companies available. In regards to the debate you had previously, some of the companies I've spoken to say it doesn't matter when the cord is clamped and cut - it's parent choice. what did you do?

Bit of a zombie thread here reactivated by someone plugging a company.... Lavanyamhan, how did you not realise that the op delivered 6 years ago?