Cord Blood

Cord Blood Procedures

Once expectant parents decide to save or donate their baby's cord blood, many are at a loss of what to do next. Although the process of saving or donating cord blood varies, some general procedures are common.

About Cord Blood Banking

Expectant parents often hear about cord blood banking at some point during the pregnancy, but many are unsure exactly what it entails or if it is worth it. Cord blood banking has many advantages, but parents need to consider many factors before...

How To Preserve Cord Blood

Cord blood is normally discarded after a baby is born. This blood is found inside the umbilical cord that connected mother and baby during pregnancy. Preserving the blood has many potential benefits for the family or for a recipient if the blood...

How to Donate Cord Blood for Research

Within the blood of your newborn's umbilical cord and placenta are stem cells. Banking this cord blood can allow for future use as an alternative to bone marrow transplants, the treatment of some cancers, immunodeficiencies, metabolic disorders...

How to Save a Baby's Cord Blood

Saving a baby's cord blood is an option every parent has but the decision has to be made before the baby is born. Banked blood can be saved for the future use by the family to treat health conditions, such as childhood cancers, or it can be...

How to Donate a Baby's Cord Blood

Cord blood contains stem cells which, when transplanted into persons with certain diseases, can treat, cure or reduce the symptoms of that disease. If you live in an area with a hospital or banking center that facilitates cord blood donations, you...

Cord Blood Banking Cons

The blood from an umbilical cord contains stem cells that are capable of transforming into many different types of cells in the body. Umbilical cord blood can be collected and stored in a cord blood bank for possible later use. While the pros of...

Cord Blood Cell Benefits

Cord blood cells are a form of stem cells which can be extracted from the blood in the umbilical cord of a newborn infant. These cells, like other types of blood stem cells, can be used to treat patients with certain kinds of blood and bone...

How to Bank Umbilical Cord Blood

Imagine you are in the labor and deliver ward of your local hospital. Contractions are severe and you eventually push a baby out with all your strength. As the doctor lays the baby on your chest, your husband cuts the umbilical cord. Instead of...

What Are the Advantages of Cord Blood Banking?

The potential for stem cell research to revolutionize health care, combined with concerns over ethical issues surrounding the harvesting of stem cells, have garnered much attention from researchers, lobbyists and the media. Cord blood banking...

Cons of Banking Cord Blood

Umbilical cord blood contains stem cells that can be used to treat conditions such as leukemia and sickle cell disease, explains the American Pregnancy Association. In order to bank cord blood, parents must make the decision prior to the onset of...

How to Save Your Baby's Umbilical Cord Blood?

The benefits of cord blood are a fairly recent scientific discovery. Cord blood banking is becoming more common as researchers discover more uses for cord blood. However, the decision to save your baby's cord blood is a personal decision, and the...

How to Save Cord Blood After Birth

Cord blood is blood that is collected from the umbilical cord and the placenta soon after a baby is born. It contains stem cells that are similar to those found in bone marrow. Cord blood can be used to treat patients who have had chemotherapy or...

What Is Private Family Cord Blood Banking?

Private cord blood banking allows parents to store blood from a baby's umbilical cord and placenta for future use. Cord blood contains primitive stem cells that are capable of developing into several types of mature cells, according to the Kids...

Pros & Cons of Cord Blood Storage

Cord blood is stem cell rich blood collected from the umbilical cord after delivery. Because stem cells can grow into many different types of cells, including blood cells, banked cord blood can be used to treat some cancers, anemia and genetic...

Pros & Cons of Saving Cord Blood

Cord blood, found in the umbilical cord, contains stem cells that can develop into red or white blood cells, platelets or other cell types in the body. Expecting parents are encouraged to save their baby's cord blood so that these stem cells can...

Disadvantages of Saving Umbilical Cord Blood

Private cord blood banks tout the potential advantages of saving cord blood banking to expectant parents, but often skip over the disadvantages of doing so. While the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Congress of Obstetricians and...

Pros & Cons of Cord Blood Banking

Cord blood is the blood that remains inside a baby's umbilical cord after it's been cut. Cord blood, like bone marrow, is incredibly rich in stem cells, which are like the body's master cells that can transform into any type of cell in the human...

How Is My Baby's Cord Blood Collected?

Cord blood is the blood that remains in the placenta and umbilical cord after a baby is born. This blood contains loads of stem cells---the cells from which all other cells are created. Until the end of the 20th century, this blood was merely...

Umbilical Cord Blood Storage Procedures

The blood from an infant's umbilical cord and placenta is rich in stem cells, which are cells that have the ability to renew themselves and transform into other types of cells. Collecting your child's cord blood at the time of delivery provides an...

How Do Cord Blood Banks Work?

When expectant parents decide to save their infant's cord blood, they need to make arrangements, in advance, with the hospital and the cord bank. The cord bank provides the parents with the necessary collection equipment and send a courier to...

Information on Cord Blood Stem Cells

Cord blood stem cells are special cells which can be used clinically to repopulate damaged or injured bone marrow. These cells can be collected after birth and stored in case they are needed.

Are There Any Risks to Donating Cord Blood?

Donating your baby's cord blood to a public cord blood bank can save the life of a child in need. The stem cells in the cord blood can treat a large number of life-threatening illnesses. Occasionally, small or young adults can use these stem cells...

Who Should Consider Banking Their Child's Cord Blood?

The umbilical cord and placenta were your baby's source of nourishment during pregnancy. After birth, the blood in the cord and placenta are typically discarded. It is possible to collect and store this blood in a cord bank for later use by a...

What Will Happen to My Baby's Cord Blood After It's Collected?

When a baby is born, more than one precious thing enters the world. It has been found that the blood in the umbilical cord and placenta has special medical uses. Parents may choose to have the cord blood harvested. They may want the blood reserved...

What Kind of Blood Does the Umbilical Cord Contain?

The umbilical cord, which grows from the placenta and attaches to the baby at the center of the abdomen, is the source of the baby's nutrition, oxygenation and waste removal. The umbilical cord contains three blood vessels: two arteries and one...

Umbilical Cords in Pregnant Women

During pregnancy, the umbilical cord develops into a flexible tube that functions as a supply line between the fetus and mother. The umbilical cord moves blood back and forth between the fetus and the placenta, which is connected to the mother's...

Caffeine & the Umbilical Cord

Caffeine passes through the placenta and umbilical cord to your baby. Caffeine may or may not have potentially harmful effects in pregnancy, including an increase in miscarriage and birth defects, but studies have not given conclusive results. Few...

How to Deliver a Baby (Video)

Delivering a baby has several steps. Learn about obstetrics from a doctor in this video on understanding pregnancy.

Cesarean Section Health Video (Video)

A cesarean section is a surgical birthing procedure wherein the pregnant woman's uterus is cut open to deliver the baby, chosen when natural child birth is deemed dangerous. Get professional tips and advice on childbirth in this video.