by One of our greatest concerns as parents of twins is that our twins stay healthy. Common health issues with newborn twins include premature birth and the complications that usually come with it — being underweight and having respiratory issues that may have been avoided if they were born full term. Even without these health concerns, however, it is natural for parents of twins to feel pressured and stressed due to worrying about the well-being of their little ones.
If you find yourself drowning in the sea of health-related materials and research you might have stumbled on discussions about cord blood banking. You may have already asked yourself: Should you do cord blood banking with twins?
What is Cord Blood Banking?
Typically, the umbilical cord and placenta are discarded (except in some cultures where it has a traditional or religious value) after birth. After it was discovered that they have potential life-saving properties, you can collect cells from them and store for future use. Stem cells from cord blood can treat leukemia, anemia and other serious diseases.
Why Is Cord Blood Banking Beneficial for Twins?
According to a WebMD article, if your twins passed the matching test, the stem cells of one twin can be used for the treatment of the other child. Fraternal twins can also be good donors for each other.
Does Cord Blood Banking Really Work?
According to Dr. Donna Dickenson of the University of London (writing for The Guardian here), there is only a limited range of conditions where cord blood transplants will be useful. It can be more valuable if the illness is based on a genetic disorder; however, the blood will only be useful until around 20 years in storage before it deteriorates.
Choosing a Cord Blood Banking Facility
What are the things to consider when choosing a private cord blood banking facility? You can only use stem cells for personal use if you pay a private storage facility; stem cells in public facilities are used for medical research. WebMD gives the following items to include in your checklist: the financial stability and sustainability of the stem cell bank; their policies; their quality control practices; the options you have should you want to move the samples; and the cost for upfront collection and yearly fees for storage.
Is Cord Blood Banking Right for Your Twins?
We personally didn’t do cord blood banking with our twins because of the financial commitment and the uncertain benefits of it. However, the choice to do cord blood banking, just like any other medical decision you make for your twins, requires your serious thought and study to find out if it’s really best for your children.
Picture by Banc de Sang i Teixits
I have several friends who have used cord blood banking and they highly recommend it. If the blood is not needed, at least the parents had peace of mind that they did everything they could for the child. We didn’t do cord blood banking with our twins either because it would have been a financial hardship. This is a difficult statement to make, because when you are speaking of your child’s health and future it feels selfish to say that ANY amount of money is too much to spend on them. Great article!
@Nikki – thanks for sharing your thoughts on this. It is a tough decision and finances definitely are a big consideration.