Delayed Cord Clamping And Successful Cord Blood Banking

By Author: Aly Valdez
Total Articles: 14
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Can I still collect my baby’s cord blood if I want to delay clamping the cord?

Yes. Many people believe that it is not possible delay clamping the umbilical cord and also bank your baby’s stem cells. But it IS possible to do both.

Some parents and midwives prefer to wait a little longer before cutting the cord, and believe that the chance to collect the stem cells and have them cryopreserved for future use is no longer an option. But this is not the case.

There is very little impact on the ability to collect cord blood when parents choose to delay the clamping of the umbilical cord. While a growing number of expecting parents have been learning more about the option to delay clamping of their baby’s umbilical cord, many have also been misinformed that they must choose between delayed cord clamping and cord blood banking. Both actions provide important value to parents and baby and are not incompatible with one another.

The placenta and umbilical cord can contain up to 200 ml of blood, which contains many different types of stem cells. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, ...
... roughly 20-40 ml of blood can ‘pulse’ from the placenta to the newborn during birth. Current industry benchmarks for cord blood collections are a minimum of 50 ml of blood. Given the amount of blood likely to flow out of the placenta at the time of birth, there is typically plenty to be stored for later use.

Delayed clamping can provide important value to the baby immediately, and stem cells from cord blood can provide long-term protection. To date, more than 80 diseases have been treated using cord blood stem cells, and they have also be used in transplant medicine in lieu of a bone marrow transplant for leukemia. In our experience, parents can both delay clamping and store stem cells from cord blood, without choosing one over the other.

It is important to know that expecting parents can both delay clamping and store your baby’s cord blood. In general, there is no negative impact on cord blood banking by delayed cord clamping. It will also help if you discuss both options with your doctor, so they can also support you to do both.

We are happy to say that Cells4Life support parents who wish to delay cord clamping. If a collection falls below the industry benchmark, parents are given the option to store their cord blood and are not charged if they decide not to keep it.

Are you looking for more information across the web about Cord blood banking, Stem Cells and Volume-Reduced Cord Blood Storage? Just visit us in our website at http://www.medcells.ae/blog/author/admin/