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Original poster

Would you keep your child's umbilical cord blood?

15 replies

BarefootDancer · 01/02/2007 09:49

Pay for someone to store umbilical cord blood in case of future need for your child?
Or is it just a way of making money out of stirring up parents health concerns?
If it is worthwhile then won't the NHS do it?

OP posts:
paulaplumpbottom · 01/02/2007 10:00

I didn't do it, but I wish I had. Its full of stem cells.

Original poster
BarefootDancer · 01/02/2007 10:09

From my reading of the article, it doesn't seem to have been shown that this cord blood is of any use yet though.

If it is shown or expected to be useful, then shouldn't everyone have their cord blood stored, not just the ones who can afford to pay?

Meanwhile, it seems that this is just a way of making money out of our fears.

OP posts:
themildmanneredjanitor · 01/02/2007 10:11

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

trice · 01/02/2007 10:13

I think it is just a way to make money from over anxious parents. It is a bit cynical and I am rather pissed off by the amount of free publicity the beardy one has managed to get out of the bbc etc over his new venture.

If it saves even one life I will eat my hat.

hana · 01/02/2007 10:13

is quite common in north america, and most trends come over here after a few years
but we didn't do it

paulaplumpbottom · 01/02/2007 10:18

Something bad happens to us all at some point Janitor.

TheBlonde · 01/02/2007 10:32

I looked into it for DS but the midwives wouldn't collect the blood

PippiLangstrump · 01/02/2007 10:35

I wish I did it too TBH.

WeaselMum · 01/02/2007 10:37

I looked into this but decided against it. As I understand it the only thing they are really used for at the moment is occasionally in the treatment of leukaemia - and it is believed that it will recur if you use your own stem cells for that anyway. I also read somewhere that in a stem cell bank in the States they have had one withdrawal out of something like 10 000 deposits. The likelihood of it being used is very small indeed I think.

themildmanneredjanitor · 01/02/2007 10:39

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

TheBlonde · 01/02/2007 10:42

Useful site for those interested parentsguidecordblood

WeaselMum · 01/02/2007 10:43

link

Original poster
BarefootDancer · 01/02/2007 11:43

Blonde - your link is to a website with the following mission statement: 'The mission of the Parents Guide to Cord Blood is to provide an impartial review of cord blood storage options...'
Good link, but already assumes blood banking is a good thing, impartial only about how to collect and store the stuff. The question is, is it worth collecting it in the first place, or is this just a commercial rip-off designed to extract money from guilt-ridden parents.

Weasel - your link argues against the whole business. Interesting. The media never put the full story.

Janitor - the thing is that this may just be a waste of your money, rather than you are putting your kids at risk if you don't do it. If it is worthwhile in the UK, then the NHS should support it.

OP posts:
TheBlonde · 01/02/2007 14:29

There used to be another site which did more pros cons etc but I can't find it

grouchyoscar · 01/02/2007 14:52

I remember asking the hospital to arrange to have DS's cord blood passed on for research. I honestly don't think they had a clue what and why I was asking.

DS was born at 7:30 Friday night, bet it went down the sluice tbh

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