Becoming a parent is overwhelming. With so much information being thrown your way, it can be hard to know which choices will best serve your family in years to come.
Amidst the excitement of choosing baby names and nursery colours, there are a number of important decisions to be made in the days leading up to birth. These include the choice to delay cord clamping and bank your baby’s cord blood.
Unfortunately, a number of soon-to-be parents believe they have to choose between either delaying cord clamping or cord blood banking, when in fact, it is safe, easy and possible do both.
What is Cord Blood Banking?
Cord blood banking is the collection of stem cells from the baby’s umbilical cord following birth. It is a pain-free and risk-free process that ensures the storage of healthy cord blood stem cells that can be used, as needed, to treat 80 diseases including leukemia and other bone marrow diseases.
What is Delayed Cord Clamping?
Delayed cord clamping is when, instead of clamping the umbilical cord directly after birth, clamping occurs 1-5 minutes after birth. In addition to lowering the risk of anemia during the first 4-6 months of a baby’s life, delayed cord clamping increases iron stores that aid in the development of the brain.
Why It’s Possible To Delay Cord Clamping and Bank Your Baby’s Cord Blood
It’s easy to assume that you can’t delay cord clamping if you want to bank your child’s cord blood, and vice versa. The truth is, you can do both; and here’s why.
Providing the mother is healthy and not iron deficient, clamping after 30-60 seconds will provide the baby with plenty of iron to ensure healthy development. According to studies that look at the iron deficiency of infants up to 6 months of age, clamping the cord after one minute ensures a safe outcome for baby and allows for cord blood collection if desired.
This means that babies receive a sufficient amount of iron and that, following clamping, enough blood remains to allow for collection by a cord blood bank like Cells for Life.
Do you have questions about cord blood banking? Give us a call or drop us an e-mail! Wherever you are, we’re here to help.