Cord Blood Banking – What is it?

Perhaps you have heard about this before from your doctor or maybe you were in the throes of pregnancy research, but you are probably thinking “Cord blood banking? What is that?”. Hopefully, by the end of this blog, you will have a bit more information to go off. Read on to find out more about banking your baby’s umbilical cord blood.

What is cord blood?

As the introduction may have already given away, cord blood is the blood left over in the umbilical after the baby is born and the cord is cut. This blood can be collected and stored to preserve the precious stem cells it contains.

The process of collection is non-invasive as it happens after the placenta has been delivered and the cord is cut. It is 100% safe for both mother and baby. It is a service compatible with delayed and optimal cord clamping and shouldn’t interfere with other parts of your birth plan. This includes if you wish to keep the placenta, the blood can be collected, and the placenta returned to you.

What are stem cells?

Naturally, your next question might be “what is a stem cell?”. Stem cells are the building block for other cells, they are the raw material that all other specialized cells come from. Stem cells come from various places but the most common that you have probably heard of are

– Bone marrow

– Foetal

– Cord blood

Foetal cord blood comes with some ethical questions, but bone marrow transplants are fairly common. As for cord blood, there are no ethical questions as it is the collection of blood that would otherwise become medical waste. Nothing is taken away from the baby or mother.

These stem cells can be used in over 80 conditions and therapies worldwide including blood disorders, blood cancers and immune disorders. Clinical trials and research are also further proving the potential of these amazing cells.

How do you store cord blood?

There are two ways you can store the cord blood stem cells – you can privately store them or you can publicly donate them. Things to note about them are…

Public donation:

– Completely free

– Available at a limited number of hospitals in the UK

– Stem cells will be available for anyone on the donation list for treatment

Public donation vis the NHS or the Anthony Nolan Cord blood Bank puts the cord blood cells into a public bank. These can then be used by anyone waiting on the list for a transplant or treatment. It is limited to only a few hospitals around the country though so potentially isn’t accessible to everyone wanting it.

Private storage:

– Costs money

– Available in most hospitals across the UK

– Exclusive access for you and the family

Private storage guarantees your family exclusive access to stem cells. Should your child or their sibling get ill they will be able to access the stem cells immediately and not have to wait for a match. The child will have a 100% match to their genetics and their siblings will have a good chance of even being a partial match which can be enough for certain treatments. On top of that because the private storage company will be able to provide a phlebotomist your collection can happen at almost any hospital in the UK.

Should I store my baby’s cord blood?

The choice is entirely up to you. Further to that if you don’t want the stem cells to end up in the bin and still be useful, picking public or private banking is once again up to you. You can base the choice on a family history of illness or perhaps simply ensuring someone else has access to the donated cells. We hope at the very least this blog answered some of your questions and that you now know just a bit more about cord blood banking.