Cord blood donation

[WorkingBling]

Recently I have had a few friends and acquaintances dealing with serious illness, including children with cancer. I am pregnant and ds has O- blood which I know is both fairly rare and very useful.

On the basis that this baby may also have a rare blood type (or even if it is more common) cord donation could be very helpful.

I mentioned it to the midwife at my appointment today and she was very very neutral. I haven't done a lot of research yet but as I understand it, it can really help other people. But am I missing nuances or issues?

Any thoughts?

I've just done a little more research and I think it may have been a misunderstanding between me nd midwife. I want to donate cord blood. But it looks like my hospital can only do private collection for storing for our own purposes. Ie when a commercial firm is paid to harvest it. That would explain her reticence.

It's a pity that more broad donation options aren't available.

She might be neutral because cord blood donation involves clamping promptly, whereas delayed clamping is good for the baby's iron stores (particularly if you're breastfeeding).

I am donating my cord blood to anthony Nolan. You can still have delayed cord clamping, they said they work around my birth plan.

Cords4life are a great charity with lot of info!! NHS does harvest cord blood but only in very few of the main big hospitals so for most unfortunately it is not an option who his such a shame!! This charity is campaigning for that to change x

I had the choice of 3 hospitals, and 2 of the 3 collect cord blood for donation. I chose the one that didn't - not because of that, but because it is much closer and has a better reputation and is brand new.
They can still collect with delayed cord clamping, so it shouldn't make any difference to your baby. I wanted to donate. It's a shame.
Keeping it for private use is very expensive, and apparently the blood is only currently useful for 5 years.

Ill keep looking into it. But I think unless I am willing to chane to a hospital far away from me I don't see how I can donate. It's a real pity as it seems like such a simple thing I could do that might help someone else's child.

Hello, I looked into it too but I didn't have any local options. Here is a bit more info...
www.nhsbt.nhs.uk/cordblood/