Cord Blood Banking

We banked the cord blood of both of our children now ages 7 and almost 3. We ended up using different banks for each kid. Some people feel strongly for or against we felt that finacially it was a worthwhile investment on the chance someone in our family may benefit. I would encourage your daughter to investigate several banks as well as read some of the case studies where cord blood has been successfully used.

http://www.gentlebirth.org/archives/cordIssues.html

Summaries of Issues for Parents

From a parent:

I've been wading through the issues on this and came across an observation that really grabbed me (one of those "A-ha!" moments).

At the moment of birth, the placenta holds a portion of the baby's blood in reserve. Nature (God) designed an amazing system for insuring a smooth transition from womb life to breathing. The blood passing between the baby and the placenta carries oxygen to the newborn (possibly even after the placenta has detached and delivered!) This system is especially useful to the distressed newborn. Midwives have performed medical "miracles" by simply leaving a floppy baby attached instead of clamping, cutting and whisking off to the warming table. Try broaching the idea of performing newborn resuscitation on your belly or bed while the cord remains attached and see what your practitioner says. Might make a good litmus test for determining how committed a midwife/doc is to "natural" birthing.

OK, my A-ha... I read a post from a midwife that called the placenta one of the baby's organs. How thought-provoking! What rational human being would even consider amputating a live organ when waiting just an hour or so will cause it to expire naturally? The whole idea seems distasteful when considered in this light. Doctors swear to, "First, do no harm..." Clamping off a child's blood supply seems pretty harmful to me.
At separation, the placenta still has oxygenated blood in it, and this continues to be transfused into the baby for an undetermined amount of time, even after the cord stops pulsing.

Really recent research shows that the placental tissue contains pluripotent stem cells, in addition to the blood stem cells in the baby's blood, euphemistically called "cord blood" as if it's any different from the blood in the rest of the baby's circulatory system.

Advocates of lotus birth have claimed that there are immune system benefits to leaving the cord intact for multiple hours after the birth. I wouldn't be surprised if future research showed that some of the pluripotent stem cells from the placental tissue migrate along the cord into the baby's body to help heal birth trauma. It would sure be a huge advantage!

there are many more scientific studies done about allowing the baby to receive his cord blood fully and the prevention of anemia, physiological jaundice and many other factors- I just thought the above summarized my feelings about cord blood well. We are born with it for a reason- sticking with our grand design is most often wise. There are no inherent risks associated with allowing the baby to retain his own blood. For me there would have to be overwhelming evidence of genetic pre disposal of disease- or perhaps a living sibling who really needed it.
that said- I did donate my first child's cord blood- now I am more selfish :)

the same article that Alemama quotes, along with others that basically say that the rich cord blood is meant to go into the baby. When making this decision, we chose not to cut the cord until pulsating stopped. FWIW, I might have chosen differently if there was a sick older sibling involved, but IMHO, I feel good about my boy getting his "own" blood rather than it sitting frozen somewhere for a what-if scenario. (this last comment is not meant to be critical of those who choose to bank -- we all make the decision right for us at the right time :-)

It is amazing how many issues there are to consider when preparing for a child's birth! When we discussed banking with our midwife not being able to let the cord stop completely pulsing (and then some timewise) was one of the cons on our pros/cons list. We weighed our options and like with so many issues did what we felt was best on the long and short term.
I was fortunate to have midwives who were willing to engage in discussion with me on a variety of issues including the care of the baby after delivery. The babies did great, unfortunately for me POP was not one I even thought to ask about nor was it mentioned to me.

Put the cord blood in your compost pile (after baby gets everything he/she needs) and eat from the good earth for the rest of your days - may they be long or short.

We are becoming a cancerous, parasitic society. Those who do not want to pay the Piper suck the life blood out of the rest of us. The level of resources necessary to keep these sorts of blood/bone marrow banks alive is unsustainable! And the slow, lingering deaths of cancer patients kept alive TOO LONG in isolation units by salvage technology is an expense none of us can afford. Death is not our enemy. Lack of love is.

Give it back to the earth and say grace for every moment you breathe!

I wanted to donate my firstborn's cord blood but back then nobody wanted to collect it for donation. anyway, that whole birth experience was a mess, I doubt it would've happened anyway.

then when pg with baby number two, mw suggested what the other's have said. that in absense of a close relative in current need of it, the best use would be to let the baby get it for himself. we didn't cut any cords from baby 2 and on until the placenta was delivered and no longer pulsing.
last two births (homebirths) the placenta's went into mw's garden.

if anyone does choose to bank it, find out how long its viable for. last I heard (and I haven't done the research since my dd's birth 10 years ago, so things may have changed) it was only good for two years. or something like that.

At the moment of birth, the placenta holds a portion of the baby's blood in reserve. Nature (God) designed an amazing system for insuring a smooth transition from womb life to breathing. The blood passing between the baby and the placenta carries oxygen to the newborn (possibly even after the placenta has detached and delivered!)

My middle two children got to keep their cords intact for hours after birth. My first and last had their snipped too soon. My last child's cut and the ended up in the NICU (for no good reason) because she wouldn't "pink up." Every time she'd cry, her oxygen levels would go down-- we'll no kidding! #1 if they would have let her keep her cord intact, she'd have had that extra oxygen and #2 if they would have given her to me, she wouldn't have cried and my insurance would have had less to pay and I wouldn't have been separated needlessly from my baby for an hour. Sorry for my rant. I'm still healing from that emotionally.

Jane

I wonder if anybody has ever weighed a baby as soon as it is out of the birth canal, before the placenta is expelled, then waited for a few hours with placenta intact, and weighed only the baby again at point.

ie How much weight of blood comes out of the placanta into the baby, and

How much more bulky is the baby once it has received all the placental blood?

Maybe this is another of Nature's ways of getting a very big baby out intact through a very small hole? How's this for a scenario? First you get the foetus' fluid levels down a bit by pumping blood back into the placenta, which makes the foetus go all floppy and squishy, then the baby is birthed, and then the blood is 'transfused' back into the baby again via the narrow pipe called the umbilical cord, to p(l)ump the baby up again. This is a two stage birth. How sensible is that!! If I was God, I would do it that way.

I am not really joking about this.

DS2 was born with the cord three times around his neck, and his cord was cut and clamped before his shoulders were born. I have always wondered how much blood of his own blood he *didn't get back* after his birth.

Cheers

Louise