Donating umbilical cord blood to a blood bank

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Donating umbilical cord blood of your baby can become a lifeline to another person with certain deadly diseases. Umbilical cord blood is stem-cell rich and can be used in the treatment with certain deadly blood-borne diseases like leukemia,sickle cell anaemia etc.You can even store the blood cells in a private blood bank for your future use. However storing in a private blood bank can be quite expensive.

Umbilical cord blood contains all the basic elements of blood such as red blood cells, white blood cells ,blood platelets and plasma. On an average, 180 ml of blood can be obtained from the placenta at the time of delivery.

Is it safe for the newborn child to donate umbilical cord blood ?

It is absolutely safe to donate cord blood. The cord blood is collected from the umbilical cord after your baby is born and there is no surgery involved in the process. Donation does not interfere with the normal delivery process and it is painless for the child. Besides the donating family doesn't have to bear any cost and the information regarding the donating family will be kept confidential by the blood bank.

Donating Umbilical Cord Blood

You will have to register with a public blood bank during your pregnancy.There are more than 200 public blood banks across the US which collect umbilical cord blood. You can register in any blood bank during the 6th month of your pregnancy. The blood bank will conduct a blood test to detect if you have any infectious disease. If the result is negative for such diseases you will receive a consent letter From the blood bank. You need to inform your doctor about this and at the time of childbirth, your doctor will collect the cord blood. The blood will then be picked up by the collection program of the blood bank.