How common is cord blood banking?
by Emily Harrington
When you visit Motherhood Maternity at the local mall, you are given a handful of advertisements and coupons with each purchase. I typically rifle through them picking out the valuable—20 percent off any purchase at Buy Buy Baby—and shred the ones that will go unclaimed—“free” car seat canopy cover after you pay $20 in shipping and handling (in super fine print). I was duped by that one.
Each time, hidden among the ads and coupons, you are given a pamphlet explaining and encouraging Cord Blood Banking (CBB). I had never heard about the concept until I listened to a podcast about a year ago—now I hear about it all the time. There are advertisements on every baby app and in every parenting and baby magazine.
Often moms and moms-to-be discuss who to have in the delivery room, who their OB/GYN will be and whether or not they will opt for an epidural during delivery. But, the subject of CBB seems to be a quiet one, not often debated amongst moms. Maybe that’s because it is a relatively new science? Maybe that’s because of the ethical or political questions that the use of stem cells evokes? I’m curious about the subject and wanted to open up the conversation amongst moms and moms-to-be.
What’s cord blood banking?
Cord blood banking starts with the medical professional collecting blood from the fetal end of the baby’s umbilical cord within 10 minutes of a woman giving birth. This blood is then sent away and stored at a public or private cord blood bank for future use (if needed). Public banks accept donations to be used for anyone in need, much like donating blood. Private cord banks hold samples only to be used by the donor baby or by a relative who is a match, most often a sibling.
What’s the point?
Viacord.com explains that the baby’s cord blood holds stem cells—the building blocks of our blood and immune systems. Cord blood stem cells, like bone marrow stem cells, can be used to treat blood and immune system related genetic diseases, cancers and blood disorders.
I researched the cost of banking cord blood at some of the more aggressively advertising companies I’ve seen. These private companies averaged about $2,000 for the one-time setup fee, then each month you pay a storage fee of around $100.
I called my OB/GYN to ask about the possibilities of the cord blood collection happening at our local hospital. It turns out our doctor does in fact harvest the cord blood, if requested by the donor parents, but it is not stored at the hospital, hence the need for a private cord blood bank. Our doctor has never done it to date, though, and was unsure of the cost implications.
Has anyone heard of local private or public cord blood banks? In my research I couldn’t find any in the area. Also, no health care professionals I’ve seen during my 24 weeks have broached the subject of CBB with us. This makes me think it’s very uncommon or unnecessary?
Emily Harrington is a 29-year-old townie on the cusp of full-blown adulthood. She’s a wife still in the honeymoon stage and a mom of a borderline psychotic mini-Australian Shepherd. She has a full-time job in communications/marketing and a full-time life outside of work.
I used Via Cord and have stored 3 out of my 4 kids cord blood. I will always have the peace of mind should we need it. One child has Down syndrome so in all my research all docs say they will never use that child’s cord blood because of T21 and the increase risk of Leukemia from that. *** I stored the other 2 because of the genetic link to their sister (and each other plus us) and if she ever needed a stem cell transplant I have two other sources.
*** Not one clinic or hospital could give me an instance where they had the option to turn down cord blood from an individual with T21 so I hedge my bet given that maybe we might be the first. We are the Rarely family after all
My husband and I banked our daughter’s blood in December 2010 and our son’s in October 2012. My kids were both born at Provena Covenant and my OB performed the collection. Our blood is stored through Cord Blood Registry
We stored the blood for both of our boys (’08 & ’10). My OB had done it before and it was no problem. We pay an annual storage fee that isn’t that much when I think of what I’d pay in the situation where we might need it. I recommend it. We also used Cord Blood Registry.
I very much wanted to do it, but then decided against after doing a bit of research.
1) The cost was a bit prohibitive. But if I had the money, I would have.
2) I looked into donation — but there weren’t any decent options to do it plus you had to go through rigorous testing/interviews and being in the third trimester, I was too tired. (In hindsight, being tired is a poor excuse… but when you’re in the middle of it, you don’t think so straight)
3) The amount of stem cells that they do collect from the cord would only be enough to help a (your) very small child — so in the event that your child gets sick when they’re 10yrs old, there wouldn’t be enough cells to do that much with. If this is the case, they would look at a sibling for a blood match.
4) Heaven forbid that your child does get sick, AND it’s a genetic disorder…. the stem cells from their banked cord blood are basically useless.
5)If I remember correctly, there seems to be a lack of regulations when it comes to stored stem cells… so if the cells aren’t kept at the proper temperature or stored incorrectly, then all that money and time and “insurance” have gone down the drain.
It’s a great idea, but somehow for me, the cons outweighed the pros. I would’ve loved to have donated, but again, there seemed to be a lot of hoop jumping for it to happen.
I asked my OB about it, several years ago. I got the impression that she didn’t particularly think it was worth the bother and it wasn’t common, so we didn’t do it.
We stored my daughter’s cord blood through Cord Blood Registry. We had some friends who did it and were advocates for it. Our doctor seemed like she could go either way. There was something about having the only one chance to save that blood that made us decide to do so … what if the technology gets so advanced decades down the line and it could make a difference in her life? That said, I totally understand families who choose not to do so … whether it’s because of finances or being skeptical of the value or any other reason.
Oh, one thing to point out: My eyes popped when I read your sentence about the monthly storage fee being $100 a month after the one-time setup fee… I knew we paid nothing close to that. I just looked at the Cord Blood Registry’s website, and after the initial cost of collection and preparation and storage for a year (which is indeed pricey at more than $2,000), the cost of storage is $125 per year, not per month.
Thank you, Tara, for pointing out an error in pricing. After the initial collection cost, the storage fee is not monthly but annual.
CORRECTION: These private companies averaged about $2,000 for the one-time setup fee, then each year you pay a storage fee of around $100.