I did store the cod blood for my first child but not the second.Since they are sibling, I don't think I need to store both.

We have a lot of risk factors genetically but not any that would be helped by banked blood. Eventually, with little ds (not a viable option with my oldest), I decided not to bank as his privacy was a concern for me...anyone could basically access his genetic code in the future, and this concerned me since we are at risk for multiple issues. If I could have donated anonymously to research, I would have, but it wasn't an option here.

I still wonder if I should have, actually. If it could have helped another child...

I keep getting brochures in the mail about banking the babies cord blood. I think it might be a good thing to do. My husband thinks it's ridiculous and just another way to spend money. What does everyone else think?

We banked dd's cord blood. We decided to atleast do it for one of our children (we only have 1 so far). There is a high probabilty that her cells would be a match for other family members as well and with medical technology increasing so fast we wanted to have that option should the unfortunate need ever arise. Just make sure you look into the company should you go with one as there are a lot of options out there.

I have not done any research on this but have been getting the flyers too. What is the cost?

^i think they're all about $1500-$2000 upfront, and then you have to pay a yearly storage fee. at least that's what i see from the flyers.

still have not made my decision on this one yet. we may end up just donating the cord blood instead.

Shew....not cheap.

sweetneet- me too! do you know what's the benefit of donating? Do you just donate? I've heard there's some places where you can donate and receive some benefits?

jenniletv- yeah I read some where that they offer monthly finance. But if you're thinking of banking it for 10 years? it will be somewhere around 3k to 5k.

It seems that the only reason we wouldn't do this is because of the costs! Other than that there doesn't seem to be any disadvantages. Donating sounds like a great idea too. I'm going to look into that.

here's a helpful site with FAQs about donating cord blood (as opposed to storing it in a private bank)

http://www.marrow.org/HELP/Donate_Co...AQs/index.html

i guess for me the thing is i figure that if i donated it, it would be far more likely to get used than if i stored it in a private bank...especially since for some diseases you can't use your own cord blood anyway..though i'd have to do more research on this...

my hospital is not in the list of participating hospitals for donating but it seems like there are ways around it..will have to look into that.

I remember reading that you can only use it for a child up to so many years old.... is this true?

Originally Posted by JSH812

I remember reading that you can only use it for a child up to so many years old.... is this true?

I don't think its age, its size...I found this...

"After birth, the umbilical cord contains about 3 to 5 oz. of cord blood. While this amount is often sufficient for a cord blood transplant in a child, it is generally not enough for a transplant in a child or adult who weighs more than 90 lbs.. For this reason, researchers are investigating ways to multiply the cord blood cells to make them useful for larger transplants. While public blood banks discard cord blood units that are too small for transplants or use them for research, many private cord blood banks store them anyway, at the family's expense, even though they may or may not be usable later."

Also if you decide to bank, you can pay upfront for something like 18 years of storage and you save a substantial amount. My parents did this with my brother and I believe they saved over 1k.

^But if you pay for 18 years of storage, isn't there a good chance a lot of cord blood won't be used due to the recipient weighing more than 90 lbs? I guess I'm pretty confused on this whole subject. It doesn't seem like you'd get much return on paying upfront for 18 years?

*I'm seriously not trying to offend, it's just that I'm trying to understand :)*

^^^ I look at it more like an insurance, if something goes wrong, it's one more tool that we have that could possibly help a family member. It is pricey. Hopefully it's something that we NEVER have to use. Also, technology changes so fast, that there may be a way in the upcoming years to multiply the cells and the list of diseases that the cord blood can be used in is growing.

OP, I agree with your husband, personally.

But if you have more money than you know what to do with, go for it.