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    Treatments & Services

Baby’s Cord Blood Banking

As a new parent, there are a lot of choices to make — your baby’s name, whether to breastfeed or bottle feed, and whether to store or discard your baby’s cord blood. Get informed and make the best decision for your family.

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Learn the facts

What is cord blood and how is it used?

Cord blood is the unused blood left in the baby’s umbilical cord and placenta after the baby is born. It is rich in stem cells and can be collected, frozen and stored for future use. Like bone marrow, stem cells in cord blood may be used later to treat several diseases, including cancer, lymphoma, sickle cell disease, some forms of anemia and severe combined immune deficiencies.

Who can benefit from cord blood?

Your baby’s cord blood is a valuable resource. It can be used later to treat your baby, other family members or another person for a growing number of diseases. How and when to use the cord blood is your decision to make. 

When to decide

We suggest talking you do your research as early as possible in your pregnancy — but at least four weeks before your due date. Talk to your health care provider, visit your local library or Atlantic Health System hospital library, contact cord blood centers or go online to learn more. On your delivery day, make the hospital aware of your decision to bank your baby’s cord blood or discard it along with the umbilical cord and placenta.

Your baby’s cord blood

Bank it

For cord blood stem cells to be usable for a transplant, the stem cells must match the person who needs treatment. Banking cord blood privately means you will have a perfect match of stem cells for your child. You may also have a suitable match for any other children or adults in your family, should they need it.

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Your baby’s cord blood

Toss it

If you decide not to store the cord blood, it will not be available to help your child or others in the future. Following your baby’s birth, the cord blood, umbilical cord and placenta will be disposed of with other medical waste.

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