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Cord Blood FAQs

What is Cord Blood?

Cord blood is the remaining blood from your baby's umbilical cord and placenta after birth. Cord blood is loaded with "stem cells" which are the origins of the body's immune and blood system and may be the origin of other organs and important systems in the body. Stem cells are important because they have the ability to regenerate into other types of cells in the body. Harvesting and banking cord blood is a fairly simple procedure that can be performed during vaginal or cesarean deliveries without interrupting the birth process.

Why should I bank my babies Cord Blood?

It might just might save your baby's or another family member's life at some point in the future.
You will only have one chance to bank your baby's cord blood; the moment immediately after birth.
The cord blood collection process is simple, painless, and harmless to the baby and mother.
30%-70% of people who need bone marrow transplants can not find a match. Finding a proper match is especially problematic for African-Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and people of mixed ethnicity. By banking your baby's stem cells, the odds of having a proper match for the baby or another family member improve.
Especially beneficial if a family member has a condition that can be treated with a stem cell transplant, such as sickle cell anemia, thalassemia, aplastic anemia, leukemia, metabolic storage disorders and certain genetic immunodeficiencies
Future medical advances might allow stem cells to treat even more diseases and be used in more transplant cases than current medical practices.

Why should I not bank my babies Cord Blood?

High Costs: At Viacord, for example, the price begins at $1550 at birth, plus $150 for a courier to deliver the blood, plus $95 dollars for storage a year. At these prices, that will cost you $2840 by the time your baby is 21
Given the difficulty in estimating the need for using ones own cord blood cells for transplantation, private storage of cord blood as "biological insurance" is unwise. No accurate estimates exist of the likelihood of children to need their own stored cells. The range of available estimates is from 1 in 1,000 to 1 in 200,000.
If cord clamping is done too soon after birth, the infant may be deprived of a placental blood transfusion, resulting in lower blood volume and increased risk for anemia later in life
30%-70% of people who need bone marrow transplants can not find a match. Finding a proper match is especially problematic for African-Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and people of mixed ethnicity. By banking your baby's stem cells, the odds of having a proper match for the baby or another family member improve.
Extra emotional stress for the parents.

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This information was derived from an article on