Private Cord Blood banking

[bubblegumgirl]

Hi all,

I'm having my baby at a hospital where I cannot donate cord blood but wondered about privately banking my cord blood? Does anybody have any views on this, because I've read a couple of articles which suggest that it's pointless. Has anybody stored blood or done any research and can give me some pointers? Also, if you have stored blood privately, what company did you use and why?

Thanks a lot
BGG

Why not delay cutting the cord and let your baby have its blood?

We just donated to the Hospital, they had a great service. I understand that privately you'd be able to 'bagsy' your own donation though?

You can still delay cutting the cord and also collect blood from what I understand. The point is that the stem cells in the cord blood MAY be used someday in the future, but there's a lot of debate about whether this is realistic and feasible, especially where the idea is to use the stem cells for one's own use.

I did look into donating the cord blood but it's not possible at the hospital I'm having the baby at, otherwise I think there's definitely merit to doing that.

However, the question of private cord blood banking is still a bit of a mystery.

Wasn't it only on the news yesterday that there had been a breakthrough in cancer research involving banked cord stem cells? A person in their 60's had leukaemia and had received successful treatment with the cord stem cells. I shall try and find the link.