Welcome to Umbilical Cord Blood Banking
Public and Private Cord Blood Banking
Private cord blood banking is where stem cells are stored and kept specifically for the patient from which they are taken. A public cord blood bank stores stem cells from donors, for use on a matched patient, in a similar way to donations made to public blood banks.
There are a number of companies that deal with both private and public umbilical cord blood banking. Some companies also offer you the option to do both; that is, some of your child's stem cells will be stored in a personal bank for him or her, and some of them sent to the public bank to help anyone that needs them.
Cord blood banking usually costs somewhere from £1,000 upwards. There may also be a small yearly fee to pay to cover the cost of storing the stem cells, although some cord blood banking companies will offer this service for free.
If you are considering banking your baby's cord blood you should firstly contact a specialist company as early in your pregnancy as you can. The company should send you an information pack and give you the opportunity to find out as much as you can about the process.
The company will ask you to contact them when you are in established labour and will send a courier out to you to transport and store the cord blood. The collection usually needs to be done by a trained professional, i.e. a midwife or doctor, within an hour or two of your baby being born.