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Expectant parents today have a new item to add to their "to do list" as they get ready to welcome their newborn baby; whether or not they should store their baby's umbilical cord blood for future use. If you choose to store your baby's umbilical cord blood it is important to look into the different private cord blood banking facilities available, and of course, their pricing.
Make sure to ask each prospective bank as many questions as possible. Some ideas are:
- How long have you been in business? - The longer their track record, the higher their experience level and their potential to actually stay in business.
- What happens to my umbilical cord blood sample if you go out of business? - This is a reality, private cord blood banks are "for-profit" entities, and every business can fail. If that happens, what happens to your sample?
- How many transplants have you been a part of? And of those, how many were successful? - It is important that they be able to maintain the viability of your sample, and the only potential proof of their success is that of the transplants they have been a part of and their outcomes.
- What happens if the facility fails and your sample is lost? Do you receive a refund? - It is quite possible that events like earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, etc could damage the cord blood bank's facility, if that were to happen, you need to be reassured that you’d be compensated in some way.
- Where will your specific sample be stored? - It may be important to you to have it stored near your home for easy access if that is at all possible.
Then of course, you'll have to ask about pricing. It is a factor. There is often an initial storage fee (anywhere from $1,000 to $3,000), and then yearly fees after that (often between $100 and $200 per year) to maintain the storage. It can become costly. And, because of this, as well as the limited number of families that actually end up using privately stored umbilical cord blood, doctors do recommend that new parents forgo storing their newborn's umbilical cord blood, and if anything, donate it to a public cord blood bank. If you do choose to privately store your child's umbilical cord blood though, make sure the cord blood bank you choose is reputable and has the experience level that shows storing your sample with them is a good investment.
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