Some years back I watched a movie about of a child that was very ill and given few years to live, the mother then intentionally got pregnant so she can use her new baby’s cord blood to save the life her sister who had cancer. Although before that movie I had heard stories about the importance of cord blood and what it could do if saved, I never really paid attention to it.
When I got pregnant, a friend of mine asked me if I was going to save my baby’s cord blood and that made me revisit the case of cord blood banking. I did a lot of research on it and the pros and cons of it.
In 2011, some pregnant women in Benin were asked to donate their cord blood for research so as to introduce cord blood banking in Nigeria and while majority of them agreed , some refused due to religious and traditional beliefs.
In Nigeria the disposal of placenta is said to a very delicate thing with a lot of people refusing to even let the doctors dispose of the placenta, preferring to do it themselves.
Because the cord blood can be donated to other patients going through terminal diseases that may need it, some people refused saying that they would be transferring their child’s destiny to another person.
After a baby is born and the umbilical cord is cut, some blood remains in the blood vessels of the placenta and the portion of the umbilical cord that remains attached to it.
After birth, the baby no longer needs this extra blood. This blood is called placental blood or umbilical cord blood, "cord blood" for short.
Cord blood is collected right after birth. The collection process is painless and safe for you and your baby, and it doesn't interfere in any way with your labor or delivery. In fact, it's so quick and painless
Cord blood is a rich source of blood stem cells. Stem cells are the building blocks of the blood and immune system. They have the ability to develop into other types of cells, so they can help repair tissues, organs, and blood vessels and can be used to treat a host of diseases.
Cord blood stem cells have been used successfully to treat more than 80 different diseases, including some cancers, blood disorders, and immune deficiencies. Among these are leukemia, aplastic anemia, Hodgkin's disease, and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
Cord blood transplants are also accepted as treatment for sickle cell anemia and some inherited blood disorders. There are still a lot of researches going on to find more benefit of the cord blood.
Even with all the benefits of Cord blood banking, the truth is it is very expensive to bank it and there is no guarantee that your child would use it in the future. So the choice to bank or not bank is a very delicate decision and it is up to you to decide whether it works for you or not.