Umbilical cord blood is rich in blood stem cells. During your third stage of labour, after the umbilical cord is cut, a small sterile needle is used to draw out cord blood. This is then sent to the lab for processing. Collecting cord blood does not pose any risk to you or your baby.
These are immature cells that are mostly found in the bone marrow, which have the capability of growing into different types of blood cells. These are used for stem cell transplants which treat certain blood disorders and cancers.
Stem cell transplants need to be compatible and depends on both parents genes (meaning a parent and child is only half matched). Siblings can sometimes be compatible. For small families, that can be near impossible, hence the concept of cord blood banking.
This stores your child’s cord blood for your own use, like your personal bank account. Using your own blood stem cells may be preferable for certain diseases.
This stores cord blood from volunteer pregnant women at delivery in a public bank from which unrelated families can search for a compatible donor. Donating to a public cord blood bank means your child’s cord blood is publicly available and not for his/her personal use.
There is no right or wrong answer – you should discuss this with your partner and balance the information from both the public and private cord blood banks before making an informed choice.
