Cord Blood Banking Benefits

Expectant mothers make all kinds of decisions that affect the health of their developing baby. From prenatal vitamins to playing music to their bellies, new mothers go the distance to ensure that they have a healthy baby. Cord blood banking is just another way new parents are taking the extra step to make sure their new baby stays healthy.

Cord Blood Banking Benefits: Security and Peace of Mind

There are many cord blood banking benefits that convince parents to store cord blood, even considering the costs involved. Although in the majority of cases, a baby will never need the cord blood, parents want the security of knowing that it will be available in the slight chance that their baby is faced with a life threatening disease.

Cord blood is the blood that remains in the umbilical cord after birth. This blood can now be extracted and stored cryogenically so that it will be readily available if needed. It can either be donated to a public cord blood bank, or it can be stored in a private facility. It is not cheap to store cord blood privately, and yearly fees must be paid. Many new parents feel that the cost is worth the benefits.

The reason that cord blood is so valuable is because it contains stem cells. Stem cells can be transplanted in a similar way to bone marrow transplants. The stem cells that are found in cord blood are called haemopoietic stem cells, and they are the stem cells that can replicate into all blood cell types. They also have the ability to self-renew. This means that a small number of haemopoietic stem cells can self-renew into a very large number of daughter haemopoietic stem cells.

This self-renewal phenomenon is used in bone marrow transplants. The stem cells in cord blood can generate into different blood cell types more efficiently than the stem cells found in bone marrow. That is what sets cord blood stem cells apart from bone marrow stem cells and is also one of the major cord blood banking benefits.

Cord Blood Banking Benefits: Saving Lives

Before cord blood banks existed, the umbilical cords and placenta of a newborn baby were discarded as medical waste. In 1988, cord blood stem cells were used in a stem cell transplantation that saved a boy’s life.

Since that first successful transplantation, cord blood stem cells have been used to treat several blood diseases, such as leukaemias, anaemias, and some autoimmune diseases. Tens of thousands of people have since been treated with cord blood transplants, and 98% of those transplantations are successful. There is a 2% chance that the stem cells can be rejected, but this only happens in rare cases.

The last thing any parent wants is to have a sick child. When a parent is faced with a child who has a life-threatening disease that is treatable, they should have those treatments available. Cord blood stem cells are precious and should be saved, whether they are donated to a public bank or stored privately. The cord blood banking benefits are often worth the high price of private storage due to the miracles they can perform when faced with a life-threatening illness.