Mobile phones, tabs, PSPs and laptops – the average toddler has most likely logged in hundreds of hours on digital technologies before they are even admitted into playschools. The presence of these accessible digital technologies in turn has transformed traditional parenting methodologies.

Digital technologies today do provide parents with certain advantages like entertainment on the go or simply to keep track of their toddlers. However, the downside is parents are making more decisions, having to research a lot more, make new rules with their children because of this.

When Sunita first became pregnant 14 years ago, there weren’t so many online forums or websites to refer to. To Sunita, her pregnancy meant, delving into an entirely new world of motherhood. Traditional mediums of information like buying a copy of “What to Expect When You Are Expecting” or notching it up with reading articles on Baby Centre online was the furthest she went. Best advice and suggestions always came from family and friends.

Sunita had no idea that there were this many facets to a pregnancy, or raising kids and so many people debating possibilities on so many multiple parenting ways. She says, “If I screwed up, there wasn’t a stranger with an iPhone nearby to snap a picture and write “An Open Letter to the Mom Who (Insert Screw-Up Here)” and post it on Facebook to go viral. I couldn’t go online and discover that a large number of moms or doctors felt that whatever method of sleep-training I used (or didn’t) was going to leave my children socially isolated and unable to love for the rest of their lives.”

Today, many parents are using digital platforms as a babysitter. Alexis Lauricella, a researcher at the Center on Media and Human Development at Northwestern University in Illinois says, “We felt like we kept seeing iPads at every restaurant we went out to with every young child. We wondered: Was that really the case? Are parents just forking over an iPad to keep kids quiet?”

This helped Alexis Lauricella and colleagues to launch a research in which they survey approximately 2,300 parents on both traditional and digital parenting.

According to the survey, almost 70% of the parents reported that digital aides like smartphones and tablets did not make the job of parenting any simpler. What most parents tend to do is to use the gadgets towards creating a temporary distraction or even to appease an upset child. More often than not, access to these devices and digital platforms could be a reward for good behaviour too.

However, with constant access, parents are making many more decisions than one would have made even 10 years ago during traditional parenting days.

Lauricella says, “There really are a lot more options, which means parents have to dig into them a little bit more. Growing up, we had a PBS station — and that’s basically what my parents considered good television, and that’s what we were allowed to watch. It’s not that easy anymore.”

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As the science of stem cells took off in the 1970s when doctors realized that the stem cells found in the blood inside an umbilical cord could offer a much more secure substitute to bone marrow transplants that may find its way in the utilization of treating conditions such as leukaemia, lymphoma, and sickle cell anemia. This is so since cord blood is power packed with multipotent, self-renewing hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), which are the forerunners to blood cells.

The process of extracting this cord blood immediately after birth and storing it in state-of-art laboratories in India and overseas for future use is now a convenient and affordable reality for many Indians, thanks to health companies like Cordlife India. In fact, Cordlife is the only private Cord Blood Bank in India to offer automated cord blood processing with Sepax2, a versatile patented Swiss technology. This advanced technology enables easy handling and safety of processing and aids in highly efficient and consistent cell recoveries.

Once the umbilical cord has been clamped from the newborn, the cord blood is collected from the umbilical cord vein attached to the placenta. Cord Blood extraction is not only a painless process for both mother and baby unlike bone marrow extraction, but there is a 60% higher chance of matching cord blood unit in the family vis-a-vis bone marrow. Cord Blood cells are mature, flexible and have more usage advantages than stem cells extracted from the bone marrow or umbilical blood.

After cord blood is extracted, Stem Cell Banks preserve the stem cells via Cryopreservation. Under various such methods of Cryopreservation, any damage to the stem cells caused by any enzymatic or chemical activities is prevented by cooling to very low temperatures, without further damage being triggered by the formation of ice during freezing.

Stored Cord Blood can now be available between days or weeks of processing for treatment. There is a low risk of complications when cord blood is applied for stem cell transplants and therapy since they have the ability to regenerate in the desired way.

Globally, an estimated 35,000 transplants have taken place where cord blood stem have been utilized to treat over eighty life-threatening ailments, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, bone marrow failures, genetic disorders, blood disorders and immune disorders. Several medical professionals are also researching cord blood as a potential cure for conditions that cannot be remedied presently. Umbilical Cord Blood banking is no more an option, but a necessity to secure a healthy future for the entire family.

For more details about – Why Banking Umbilical Cord Blood should be on your “To Do” List? – visit https://www.cordlifeindia.com

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