Storing your babys cord blood?

[erimela]

Ladies, I really could do with some advice, or someone to tell me I am being mad (I feel like I am being mad woman) - sorry for long post

So, I have been googling on on storing your baby's cord blood cells. Now in theory, I understand that storing your babies stem cells COULD possibly help them if they are facing a life threatening illness. The being;

- It is unknown whether you can use the same stem cells (the argument being that it was these cells that caused the issue to begin with)
- There is the possibility that the stem cells that are stored might not be usable
- Medical advancements is unknown and there is the possibility that the cells might not be of any use at all

The cost for storage is around £2K. And I know that that is a small amount compared to the life of your child. But this is a LARGE expense that we really cant afford. I wonder though if I am being to money orientated, that perhaps I am doing the wrong thing as a parent already. That I should pay to have the baby cord blood cells stored.

Thoughts? I feel like I am Anyone else storing their babys blood cells?

 

[midnight]

from what i gather if your baby does develope anything then the stem cells would be no use anyway and 2k if alot of money to put to something that we dont really know much about outcome wise iygwim

 

[Alexandra84]

I've read that you can donate cord blood to a public blood bank (at least in the US, I honestly don't know about the UK). That way it might help some other child that may need it and if there is a chance that it might help your child in the future then there is a very large chance that it will still be available, having been stored for free in a public bank.

 

[Belfast girl]

i think i have been told that for conditions where stem cells etc could help your child - they tend to be when they are a lot older, ie after the length of time that you could store the cord blood for.

 

[LouLou1986]

I never stored codies cord hadn't even heard off it tbh :/

 

[Nanc]

We have considered this too, but there seems a lot of conflicting information. The companies who store it obviously say how useful it could be, but the NHS give seem to suggest that it's unlikely that it would be useful. Baby's cord blood is stored by the NHS, but only harvested at three hospitals in the country. But this is used for anyone. I know what you mean, it seems a small price to pay for your child, but no one wants to be possibly conned by a company who may just cashing in on parent's worries. x