Health Smart Mom

By ezinearticles.com expert author Stefani Padilla.

If you’re pregnant, no doubt you’ve already been bombarded with tons of flyers, e-mails, pamphlets, advertisements, and even phone calls regarding saving your newborn’s cord blood with a private bank. Cord blood is the blood left in the umbilical cord and placenta following delivery of a baby. This blood is rich in stem cells, which are becoming more and more important in the treatment of many diseases. You can spend months pouring over all the literature available on the pros and cons of saving your newborns umbilical blood with a private bank, but just to get you started, here are five reasons to save your baby’s umbilical blood with a private bank:

1) There is only a fifteen-minute window when cord blood can be collected. There is no changing your mind on this one, and no do-over’s. You can always decide later to not continue to store your baby’s blood and all you will be out is the cost. But you can never go back if you change your mind and decide you really wanted to save it. This is why it is so important to learn about cord blood banking early in your pregnancy so you can make an informed decision.

2) If your baby ever needs a transplant, you know you have a match. A large percentage of complications from transplants arise from the bodies rejection of the donated material or cells. If your baby ever needs a transplant in their lifetime, you know that their umbilical blood is a perfect match. For others, having cord blood from a family member can mean a reduction in complications, improved survival, and a better quality of life without the need for continual anti-rejection medications.

3) If your baby or a family member who is a match for the stem cells in the cord blood, it is immediately available for the family. No waiting on long lists to get to a match, actually no waiting at all – and faster treatment is always better.

4) There have been literally thousands of successful cord blood transplants performed worldwide for a variety of serious diseases in both adults and children. And the medical possibilities are increasing. It will be easier to take advantage of these new possibilities if you have your own cord blood available for use.

5) There are certain family situations that increase the likelihood of needing your own privately stored stem cell blood – those include:

Ethnic or Mixed Ethnicity – Ethnic minorities and families of mixed ethnicity have greater difficulty finding stem cell donors when needed due to a lack of donors in many ethnic groups.

Newborn Adoption – If you are adopting a newborn, you may want to choose umbilical blood banking to be sure you have a genetic match for your child.

In Vitro Pregnancies – If you used in vitro to get pregnant, you may want to be sure to preserve your baby’s cord blood because there is a very real possibility that you may not have another opportunity to secure a genetically related cord blood stem cells for your child through future pregnancies.

There are many different private cord blood banking facilities available to you and your family should you choose to preserve this potentially life-saving material. But now is the time to get all the information you need to make a good decision.

For more information about preserving your baby’s umbilical cord visit [http://www.babycordpreservation.com]Baby Cord Preservation

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?5-Reasons-to-Save-Your-Newborns-Cord-Blood-With-a-Private-Cord-Blood-Bank&id=4288967] 5 Reasons to Save Your Newborn’s Cord Blood With a Private Cord Blood Bank