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Ask HN: Parents of HN, did you store your babies cord blood?

2 points by noam_compsci ↗ HN
My partner and I are about to be parents and are fortunate to have the option to store the babies cord blood.

Has anyone done/not done this before and would you kindly share your thoughts/rationale?

(Sorry if this post is not fit for HN, its quite scientific and I'm looking for evidence backed reasoning and so felt this would be better than Reddit.)

2 comments

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geoah
> Cord blood banking is a process of collecting potentially life-saving stem cells from the umbilical cord and placenta and storing them for future use. Stem cells are immature cells that can assume the form of other cells.

Didn’t known they used cord blood to get stem cells. Has any progress been made to what they can do with them? I’ve been hearing about stemcells for over 10 years now at least.

31337Logic
We had the option but declined. Seems like a good idea on paper, but upon closer inspection it seemed a bit over hyped. If I remember, there are limitations to the amount of time the cells are potent (it's not indefinite), and only certain categories of diseases and disorders could be addressed, and even then the success rate wasn't all that impressive.

In the end, we opted out. But that was nearly 15 years ago and things might be different now. I encourage you to research it and not feel pressured. One thing I found back then was a lot of "guilt tripping" around what it means to be a "good parent". You'll be made to feel guilty for not buying the latest xyz or enrolling your child in the latest safety/Child-Find services, or feeding it the healthiest foods, etc. Be on guard for that stuff and confidently say No, with no regrets, where appropriate. This is a massive profitable business, like any other. Buyer beware.