Welcome to the second article on our Cord Blood Banking 101 series! On the first part, we talked about the history of cord blood, it’s benefits and medical conditions that can be treated. Click here if you want to read it again.

In this article, we will talk about why it is important to bank the cord tissue as well, how cord blood and cord tissue banking works, and we’ll also discuss the reasons why expecting parents are deciding to save their baby’s cord blood with a private cord blood bank.

Should You Save the Cord Tissue?

In addition to cord blood banking, parents now have an option to store a piece of the umbilical cord tissue as well (also known as cord tissue banking). Scientists have discovered that umbilical cord tissue also contains some potentially valuable biological material including stem cells and growth hormones. This article – Should You Save Your Baby’s Umbilical Cord Tissue covers some of the most recent research findings to help parents decide if they should preserve cord tissue as well as the cord blood. Stem cells from the cord tissue may be useful for regenerative medical procedures into the future.

Why Save the Cord Blood in a Private Bank?

This article – Reasons Why You Should Consider Stem Cell Banking in UAE reviews the many conditions which cord blood stem cells have been used to treat. It also talks about the reasons why parents in the UAE are increasingly deciding to preserve their child’s umbilical cord blood in private cord blood banks.

There are a number of advantages to having full control over the stem cells from your child’s umbilical cord blood. This article – Public & Private Cord Blood Banking: Pros & Cons discusses the benefits as well as the disadvantages of both types of storing the cord blood.

The advantages of private cord blood banking include:

• Your child’s stem cells remain under your control, exclusively for the use of your family.
• The success rate of transplants between family members is higher than between non-related people.
• Your child’s stem cells are in a very safe location and won’t get lost amongst other samples.

The disadvantages to private banking include:

• Autologous (where the person uses their own stem cells) cord blood transplants might not be useful if there is a genetic condition involved. This is because the stem cells in the umbilical cord blood may carry the same genetic defect (making the stored cord blood unusable for treating that condition).
• There is a financial cost involved to private cord banking.

This article – 4 Best Practices for Signing up to Cord Blood Banking highlights the initial steps that parents should take before signing up to private cord blood banking.

• Learn about cord blood banking and the benefits of having your child’s stem cells preserved.
• Choose a cord blood bank wisely, looking at all competitors and choosing the one that is reputable.
• Read the storage agreement thoroughly before signing.
• Get your sample collection kit from the blood bank well in advance of the delivery date.

This article – 4 Useful Tips When Choosing a Family Cord Blood Bank offers more useful advice including: doing your research on the different cord blood banks, ensuring the cord blood bank meets regulatory requirements and selecting a cord blood bank that has been in the industry for a long time.

Questions to Ask Your Cord Blood Banking Specialist

To ensure that you have selected a high-quality facility, it is important to ask the right questions. This article – 8 Questions to Ask Your Cord Blood Banking Specialist talks about the questions you need to ask before choosing a private cord blood bank including the below topics:

• Find out the geographical location of the storage facility.
• Ask if the bank uses a specially designed container to ship the collected cord blood sample.
• Check if the laboratory is privately owned or if a number of companies share the space.
• Check if the same will be divided and stored in multiple locations as a safety measure.
• Find out what kind of documents you will receive for cord blood storage.
• Check which accreditations the cord blood bank has.

How to Ensure Successful Cord Blood Banking

This article – Parent’s Guide to a Successful Cord Blood Banking offers a number of tips to ensure the collection process goes very smoothly. The tips include:

• Ensure that the cord blood collection kit given to you by the cord blood bank is looked after. Keep the kit close and ready to hand to medical professionals at the hospital.
• Clearly communicate to the doctor or midwife that you want the umbilical cord blood to be collected. This should be done well in advance of the delivery date.
• Contact Cells4Life when you go into labour so they can make the necessary arrangements for shipping the cord blood sample to the laboratory for processing.
• Wait for the results and read them carefully. If you are unsure about any of the information on the laboratory report, simply ask the cord blood bank representative what it means.
• Pay your balance on time! It is crucial to select right payment plan to match your financial situation. If your financial situation changes, you can contact your cord blood bank and make alternative payment arrangements.

Even if you want to delay clamping the cord, you can still save the cord blood and cord tissue. This article – Delayed Cord Clamping and Successful Cord Blood Banking discusses the effects of delayed cord clamping on the collection process. Cord blood banking still remains viable even after delayed cord clamping.

Watch out for the part 3 in our Cord Blood Banking 101 series!