Are you going to be a new parent? Have you thought about cord blood banking?

Cord blood banking is a process to store and preserve your newborn’s umbilical cord blood right after the birth. The cord blood, in turn, is processed to get stem cells that have the ability to save your baby and your family from a number of diseases and conditions. For this reason, cord blood banking is now very common among by new parents. Even doctors, these days, are recommending cord bloods banking to utilize the infant stem cells to their utmost potential. But when it comes to cord blood banking, there are a number of notions you will hear as an expectant parent. Let’s see what doctors have actually recommended and what you should know about the process:

Critical for life threatening diseases and conditions

Doctors recommend cord blood banking because it can save you and your family from a number of critical diseases including cancer. Apart from that it can be used to treat the symptoms of various conditions including cerebral palsy and autism. In all these cases, transplants are dependent on suitable and unrelated matching donor. But cord blood banking ensures a closer match, as it’s taken from a family member. So, once you preserve a cord blood unit, it can offer you a lifetime of security.
Dr. Tiffany Werbin-Silver, MD said, “One of the things I bring up at the 20 Week mark is cord blood banking. Cord blood is the blood flowing through the placenta to the baby, and once delivery occurs, you capture it at that moment, and you have it for a potential lifetime, not only for the baby who is born, who serves as its own perfect match, but for family members.”

Cord blood may have other uses you don’t know

There are a number of researches going on involving cord blood stem cells and even doctors don’t know about its full potential. A few years back, people did not know that stem cells had the ability to treat some of the symptoms of autism. Now several trails are under to find out effectiveness of stem cell therapy in such nervous system disorders.
Dr. Preete Bhanot, MD said, “Right now clinical trials are going on to use these cells for children with autism, with hearing loss. In five years, we may have so many more things that we can use these cells for. It is a great investment. You have to do it. I can’t stress that enough.”

What should the expectant parents know

Doctors recommend that new parents should be aware of the high potential of cord blood banking from the first day. They also should know about the diseases and conditions that stem cell therapy can treat. All the information helps them make an informed decision for their baby.

Dr. Shetal Mansuria, MD said, “What I explain to patients is that the uses are incredible. Treatments of things like lymphomas, leukemias. I know that it can save lives and I have seen it save a life, and I always tell patients that. In that case, it made the difference for this child. The uses are incredible. I think everybody should bank.”

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If we had to choose between the natural and the artificial, undisputed, we lean towards the natural product unless the artificial one has undeniable properties. Nature has equipped womankind with ready made milk when they give birth to their child. Probably, this was nothing but the only option early humans. Since there was no rearing of cattle or no scope to feed the infant with formula milk, the breast milk was nothing but necessary and so was it rewarded to women. But with the generations passing by, humans became more civilized and discovered and invented many things to make their lives comfortable. Alternative sources of milk thus became extensively popular and a source of debate while attracting criticism.

There had been extensive distribution of literature on the benefits of breastfeeding for ages and it is an apparent fact that all the women want to feed their child with this exclusive food source meant only for their offspring. However, due to work commitments, health reasons or time clashes, many of them are unable to feed their younger ones.
It has been considered for years that mothers and babies enter into a special bond while the baby is being fed. However, mothers who feed their infants with formula milk can build a stronger bond too with their care giving and affection. Keeping the debate aside, many pediatric academics globally suggest feeding the baby for at least 6 months with breast milk exclusively and for one year with top foods.

Let us understand the benefits of both breast milk and bottle milk to let women choose the option that they are comfortable with.

Benefits for the baby:

• As we all know that breast milk provides the necessary nutrients to the baby as it is customized according to the baby’s age and requirement.
• The natural milk protects the baby from infections and they are less likely to be hospitalized. The mother’s milk builds immunity system for the lifetime by strengthening the immune system.
• Mothers pass antibodies to the baby while feeding which help building up a protective wall against many diseases.
• It is easy to digest and lessens the chance for the baby to fall sick due to indigestion issues. Colic, constipation and diarrhea are less likely when compared to formula fed babies.

Benefits for mothers:

• Nursing is much easier when compared to feeding with formula milk. Sterilizing bottles is a pain. Preparation time is saved as mother’s milk is ready made.
• Women who breastfeed have lesser chances of getting breast cancer and ovarian cancers.
• The women who breastfeed have faster recovery post delivery and their uterus goes back to normalcy within six weeks thereby helping the mother to lose the baby weight as they lose many calories while feeding.
• Breastfeeding can be used as a natural contraception method under some stipulated guidelines which is popularly known as Lactational Amenorrhea Method (LAM).

Adverse elements of breastfeeding:

• Sore nipples initially trouble many women who start off breastfeeding.
• While breastfeeding, it is hard to understand whether the baby had enough milk or not as it cannot be measured unlike the formula feed.
• Breastfed babies require more frequent nursing episodes than the formula fed babies and hence this can be considered as a time consuming task and may be a hindrance to working mothers.
• Bottle feeding is more convenient when you are in public places.
• Nursing mothers need to take care of their diet as good nutrition helps them in producing healthier milk. They should avoid smoking drinking and substance intake.

With the established factors, it is upto the mothers to decide on the effective method of feeding that is in the best interest of their child after considering the entire circumstances surrounding them. Since both the methods have their own advantages and disadvantages, any method chosen should be trusted as the best source for the child.

Sources:
https://www.livescience.com/51260-breast-vs-bottle.html
http://www.webmd.com/parenting/baby/tc/breast-feeding-as-birth-control-topic-overview

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Doctors often recommend cord blood banking to expectant parents. And they have a number of reasons for doing so. First of all, if you have any family history of diseases, cord blood can offer you a safer future. Secondly, umbilical cord blood is the source of newborn stem cells, which are unique in many ways from the other type of stem cells. Apart from being able to differentiate into different types of cells, they have a lower risk of viral contamination and high proliferation ability. Moreover, once you store your child’s umbilical cord blood, the stem cells will be readily available to you in the future, whenever you may need them. There will be no dependency on finding a matched donor for the transplant.

If you are still thinking, here are some facts that will help you make an informed decision:

Cord blood can cure more than 80+ diseases and disorders:

Cord blood has opened a new getaway in personalized medicine. So far, cord blood stem cells have cured 80+ diseases including different types of cancer. And more than 35000 patients have recovered from their diseases with the help of cord blood stem cell transplant. Apart from various types of cancer, these stem cells can cure blood disorders, immune disorders and metabolic disorders.
Cord blood has the ability to regenerate and rebuild: It’s believed that cord blood stem cell therapy is a regenerative medicine, which is relatively new but has tremendous potential to repair damaged tissues and cells. For this reason, doctors and researchers consider this therapy as the next big thing in the future of medical science. Among all the sources of stem cells, umbilical cord blood is the richest source and has all the factors that are needed for a successful transplant.

Cord blood stem cells are ageless and are easily available once you store them:

Once these stem cells are preserved, processed and stored, they permanently retain their agelessness. Unlike other stem cells, umbilical cord blood stem cells are newborn, so they are less likely to attack the immune system of the patients. These stem cells remain in the condition for several years, so if you or any of your family members need them for any transplant, they will be instantly available. And you will not have to wait for an unrelated matching donor.

Several clinical trials are underway to find cure to new diseases:

Apart from those 80 diseases, mentioned earlier, several clinical studies are going on to see how impactful these stem cells are in treating diseases like hearing loss, heart conditions, Parkinson’s disease, autism, burn injuries, Alzheimer’s disease, lung problems, liver problems, bone injury, spinal cord injuries etc. Several trials have shown successful results already and it’s not a distant dream that scientists will be able to treat these diseases and disorders with umbilical stem cells.

So if you invest in storing your newborn’s umbilical cord blood now, it would not only save your child from future diseases, but also secure your family’s future and ensure your peace of mind. Decide wisely.

Sources:
https://www.babycenter.com/0_cord-blood-banking-what-it-is-why-consider-it_1362261.bc
http://www.webmd.com/parenting/baby/features/banking-your-babys-cord-blood

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Over the years scientific development in neonatal medical care has been revolutionary. One of the best advances in this domain has been in the form of cord blood and umbilical cord tissue banking. Between the baby and the mother, the umbilical cord acts as the lifeline as it comprises of many blood vessels, through which the umbilical cord blood pulses. The umbilical cord tissue, on the other hand, enables the blood vessels to weather the stress and the presence of the cord protects and supports them from bending.

The umbilical cord tissue comes with a high concentration of mesenchymal stem cells or MSCs. A research article states that “MSCs derived from the umbilical cord tissue, termed UCX, were investigated for their immunomodulatory properties and compared to bone marrow-derived MSCs (BM-MSCs), the gold-standard in immunotherapy.”[1]

According to available proprietary technology, UCX is being sequestered from the umbilical cord tissue; the methodology has proven to be quite strong, reproducible and will work adequately for stem cell banking. [2] It has been seen to produce a greater number of cells along with approximately 100% success rate with limited bacterial impurities.

In the present scenario, stem cells found in the cord blood are being used in the treatment of a number of blood-related diseases. However, there is a major hindrance as the volume of blood collected from the umbilical cord is low and can pose a drawback in terms of transplants. Studies and researches are currently underway to understand possible methods to increase the efficiency of cord blood transplants. Some investigations have delved into “ex vivo expansion of the hematopoietic stem cells before transplant, intensifying the homing of hematopoietic stem cells to the patient’s bone marrow, direct injections into the patient’s femoral bone, and transplants with multiple cord blood units” as stated in Banking Stem Cells From Umbilical Cord Tissue For Future Regenerative Medicine Applications. [3] A more direct technique is to make use of another stem cell population – MSCs found in the umbilical cord tissue – for co-transplantation with a cord blood unit, could well be the solution.

With technology to extract MSCs from cord tissue, the first step is to mince the tissue. This is further supported by an enzymatic breakdown process to “melt” away the cord tissue that in turn releases the native MSCs. An alternative way to preserve MSCs is to process the tissue and extract the cells thus securing them in a “treatment ready” form.

The clinical tests conducted on these cells have revealed affinity towards treating auto-immune diseases (diabetes, Crohn’s disease, graft-vs-host-disease), neurodegenerative disorders (Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s) and cardiovascular diseases (acute myocardial infractions, ischemia).[4]

Deciding to store the umbilical cord tissue will give you the opportunity to take advantage of the therapeutic potential of stem cells in regenerative medicine. Umbilical cord tissue stored in cord blood banks represents an additional source of stem cells that may have both immediate and future applications. However, the choice to store your child’s umbilical cord tissue is only available to you once, therefore, think carefully while making your decision.

Sources used:

• http://www.bloodjournal.org/content/111/1/430.short?sso-checked=true
• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23755729
• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23998751
• https://stemcellres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/scrt394
• http://www.assembly.wales/NAfW%20Documents/hhs74_-_anthony_nolan.pdf%20-%2024012011/hhs74_-_anthony_nolan-English.pdf
• http://www.hindawi.com/journals/sci/2015/583984/#B30
• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23895058

[1] What Makes Umbilical Cord Tissue-Derived Mesenchymal Stromal Cells Superior Immunomodulators When Compared to Bone Marrow Derived Mesenchymal Stromal Cells? – R. N. Bárcia,1 J. M. Santos,1 M. Filipe,1 M. Teixeira,1 J. P. Martins,1 J. Almeida,1 A. Água-Doce,2 S. C. P. Almeida,2 A. Varela,2 S. Pohl,3 K. E. J. Dittmar,3 S. Calado,4 S. I. Simões,4 M. M. Gaspar,4 M. E. M. Cruz,4 W. Lindenmaier,3 L. Graça,2 H. Cruz,1 and P. E. Cruz1

[2] R. I. Ganchas Soares, M. C. Baptista Coelho, J. M. Silva Santos, et al., Isolation Method of Precursor Cells from Human Umbilical Cord, edited by INPI, Medinfar, ECBio, Lisbon, Portugal, 2008.

[3] Banking Stem Cells From Umbilical Cord Tissue For Future Regenerative Medicine Applications – Rouzbeh R. Taghizadeh, PhD, & Kyle J. Cetrulo

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