Cord blood banking is the saving of the blood from the umbilical cord at the time of birth of a child. Most of the time if requested the doctor uses a syringe to collect the blood and then the blood is sent to a private blood bank whereby the blood if stored at a suitable temperature. banking cord blood is not an option that is viable for most families. Storing your child's cord blood can cost you an initial set up fee of about 2000$ and a monthly fee of about 10-20$. Fortunately, the need for cord blood is not great and your child—or other children—will hopefully never need a transplant with this lifesaving blood. Only about 1in 20,000 families that bank cord blood actually use the blood at some date. However you know you have some sort of "back-up" if ever the need arises.
In the event of your child—or any other children you may currently have or will have in the future—needs a transplant, the cord blood will be well within your reach. This is especially important for children of some races, as finding a proper match can be more difficult and depend greatly upon location. Furthermore, matches for critical aspects like bone marrow are a great deal more difficult without having cord blood on hand and the percentage of rejection by the body is low. To date, cord blood is used to treat over 45 diseases and disorders, including leukemia, sickle cell anemia, and metabolic disorders. This is especially critical if you have any family history of such diseases or disorder, since many of these medical issues are genetic and can potentially be passed to the next generation.
banking cord blood is nonetheless a good idea if you have the funds.
