Mom-to-be Seeking Advice on Cord Blood Storage

Which company are you going through? We have our older daughter's cord blood stored through Cord Blood Registry (CBR) and it is definitely NOT $600/year to store. It did cost about $1000 initially to bank, but it costs us a little over $100 a year to store. My husband is diabetic and we did it with the thought that it might help him, my daughter to whom the blood belongs should she become diabetic, or now my youngest who is 10 months. I do agree that science has come a long way, but not nearly far enough with the current political climate we have stopping the advancements. When you have a loved one who could be cured of something like diabetes, but research is halted time and time again, you become a bit frustrated to say the least! I think storage is a fabulous idea and you should explore all companies to be sure you get the best rate. Good luck!

We were deterred by the financial costs. With our first child, we donated the cord blood, figuring that if it was used for research our child would benefit in that his world would be better off medically in general.

I did a lot more research with our second baby and found that the absolutely best thing you can do with cord blood is to let your baby have it back! We waited until the cord stopped pulating, and didn't cut the cord until the placenta was delivered. By waiting, he absorbed that blood and increased his iron reserves. It also helps baby to maintain his/her birth weight until your milk comes in. There are other benefits as well, that I forget, but could look up again for you if you are interested.

Hi J.,
I'm expecting in May as well, and the cost of banking cord blood was too high for us right now, but I just read about another option. You can donate the cord blood at no cost to yourself, and there are some cord banks (you have to check with each one) which, if you ever needed the blood, will let you have it back if it has not already been donated. Obviously, there is no guarantee of its availability like there would be if you stored it at your own expense, but it would be better than not storing it at all. The article I was reading stated that there was more of a demand for cord blood for minorities, but not so much for others. Anyway, I haven't had a chance yet to research it as much as I wanted to, but you can find different cord banks and info. by googling "cord blood donation." Good luck.

I thought about it too, but decided it was just not needed. There is so much breakthrough in scientific research. Just the other day on the Sunday Morning News show there was information about regenerating cells. It was called Medicine's Cutting Edge: Re-Growing Organs on March 23

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/03/22/sunday/main###-...

Science has come a long way. Check out the information and then make your own conclusions. Hope this helps.

We went with Stembanc. At the time, we were able to prepay for 20 years of storage. The total cost (almost 3 years ago) was around $2000. It's a lot of money, but prepaying saved us some money and now we don't have to worry about it. Ask about discounts.
Good luck,
J.