Private Cord Blood Banking

When we fell pregnant with N all our friends told us to get on to cord blood banking.  Debate ensued as to which of the private cord banks were the best. Private cord banks are big here.  There are seven operating in Spain, and their marketing is evidently effective.  At no time did anyone address whether banking your cord blood with a private bank was the right thing to do.  So confident were they of the need for private cord blood banking that one can see how expecting parents come to assume that cord blood banking is a given obligation.  It almost feels un-parent like to be questioning the benefits of committing to anything that might benefit your child in future.  ‘How could we not invest in something that may one day save our child’s life?’ you ask yourselves.  This line of thinking is encouraged directly (or indirectly via your peers) by the well executed and powerful marketing messages of private banks.  Private cord blood banking is a very expensive programme with questionable benefits.  You need to go beyond the marketing material to make your decision.  Read more...