Storing umbilical cord blood is once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that may help them later in their life.

If you are in dilemma that removing umbilical cord blood would cause any harm to the baby, well it is nothing like that. Umbilical cord blood has to be removed from the baby in one way or the other so there is certainly no issue with cord blood banking.

Infact saving the baby’s umbilical cord blood has only merits with it as it can save one’s life. The stored blood can further be used to treat various pediatric and therapeutic disorders like leukemia, sickle cell disease or metabolic disorders.

The most important reason of storing the cord blood is that an autologous i.e. self transplant can be done if the baby’s umbilical cord blood was stored earlier as there lays no point of mismatch in the genes of the patient and the stored blood. Cord blood can be stored in two ways- either in private cord blood bank or public cord blood bank.

In private cord blood banking the cord blood of the baby is stored for his/her possible use in the future and it is not available for the acceptors other than the autologous family.

Parents who get their child’s cord blood stored in private banks find this cost acceptable and are contented on making a good investment as it is a kind of insurance that the child would need at some point of time in their life.

Cord blood banking is a good option for the families who have their child suffering from leukemia, lymphoma, any other form of cancer, sickle cell disease, thalassemia or any other blood disorder that needs treatment through blood transplantation.

It would also prove to be a good option if any family member has a condition which can be cured by bone marrow transplant. The biggest argument against private cord blood banking is that it requires initial fee which is a big issue for many families according to their affordability. In addition to this surplus payment has to be made to these banks as a blood storage fee.

Public cord blood bank or free cord blood banks are available as an integral part of National Marrow Donor Program network in 12 major cities. Cord blood in the public cord blood banks is stored for selling it to a unrelated acceptor.

In this banking system, baby’s umbilical cord blood is donated so as to make this biological and medical waste available for any child who needs it.

There are various cord blood samples available in these public cord blood banks where you can get the most compatible blood as and when required. But in doing so you need to keep a check that the blood you are buying from the cord blood banks should be free from all sorts of infection or diseases.

These banks store the umbilical cord blood when the donor that is baby’s umbilical cord blood is made available for any other person who is in need of umbilical cord blood for any transplant.