Cord blood/cord tissue banking????

[wantpink]

I'm about 2.5 months away from giving birth and cannot decide whether to do cord blood/tissue banking, whether to do a public bank vs a private bank. What are the benefits of storing blood only or blood and tissue. What do you girls think? Any thoughts are appreciated. TIA

[Brandles]

I don't have a lot of time to post but we did cord blood banking with our 3rd baby and will be doing it again with baby #4. We used CBR! They are a great company. The Dr I used to work for (my OB) talks very highly of them and its the only company she will do cord blood with so I'm stuck with using them, but trust her judgement!

If you go on their website they have a ton of information for you.

Cord Blood Registry

[nuthinbutpink]

We didn't do it after I saw a news show stating the odds of ever using it are in the 1 in 200,000 range. If the child has a genetic issue, the cord blood is tainted too and they only get enough out to treat a child up to 65 pounds so it has a shelf life.

I'm sure if I were the "1" I would be grateful but those odds were too high for us.

[strawberrymom]

Well the choice comes down to a financial decision really. Public banking is free, but you do not retain your childs sample. It goes to whoever needs it next. If you are in need at some point, you are put on the list and they search the bank for a suitable donation. I went with Viacord private banking for both my sons after a lot of research. They have had the most successful transplants and are the leader in research for new treatments (they send me notices to participate in studies frequently). I have a half brother with mild cerebal palsy and 2 cousins who had cancer so this was a no debate issue for me. Also at Viacord a lot of the new uses being discovered are for autocoagulous (using the childs own blood rather than a match from someone else) so that would be a negative against public banking. As far as what they can treat, this is a rapidly expanding field and like I mentioned, they are constantly doing new studies and have found new uses since my now 3 year old was born. You can check them out at viacord.com and I hope this helped.

[The Anchor]

I did a lot of research into this when I was pg with my DD (my first). Turns out I wasn't even an candidate for banking because of my age (WTF?) but I had a long chat with my doctor about. She told me that there are very few instances in which they can actually use the cord blood of your child FOR YOUR child. For instance any of the cancers...they assume that the cord blood would be tainted as well. And whenever cord blood is an option for an illness, they pretty much do an international blood bank search to see if there are any options out there. So if I had chosen to go ahead with it, I would have done the public bank. Obviously there are reasons (like strawberry) where you have a history of an illness that can be treated with cord blood...and I did hear that viacord was a popular choice. It's a tough one...GL!

[RedCanoe]

I did it with all my kids. Chances of needing it for something that they can treat right now are low, but I think the possibilities are fascinating. I look at it as insurance - hope to never need it, but you never know what can be done with it in 10/20/30 years...

[MrsLE]

I signed up for CBR as they now do tissue along with blood which provides several different stem cells to use. The chances of ever needing it are prob slim to none, but I would hate to not have it just in case. If money is no issue, I would go for it.