Cord Blood Banking

Parents worry about the health of their children from the moment they are born, and many are making the choice to help protect the future health of those children with cord blood banking. The deciding factor for many parents is the cost.

Cord blood banking can range in price from $1,000-$2,000 for initial collection and storage (plus several hundred dollars for the cord blood collection kit), and usually around $100 annually for the maintenance fee.

The placenta, once discarded after the delivery of a newborn, has been found throughout the years to be very useful in a variety of ways. Many people may have heard of, or even used, shampoos and conditioners containing human placenta. I personally used one called NuSkin, which I wish I could find today, it worked great and kept my hair really healthy.

The placenta is the temporary organ that transfers oxygen and nutrients to the baby while in utero. It is delivered immediately after the baby, along with the umbilical cord.

During the 1970s, researchers found that umbilical cord blood could supply the same kinds of hematopoietic stem cells as a bone marrow donor. This began the collection and storage of umbilical cord blood.

Hematopoietic (blood forming) stem cells are primitive cells found mainly in the bone marrow. These stem cells have capability to develop into three types of mature blood cells present in blood: white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets.