By Wond PregThe reality of cord blood banking is that it is a huge expense for little to no benefit for the average person. Private cord blood banking has an initial collection fee anywhere from $1,000-$2,000 and then an annual storage fee that can be around $200 per year depending on the bank. Cord blood contains stem cells that can be beneficial in the treatment of different blood and bone marrow disorders. If there is a family history of a disease with a known genetic component, then there may be an argument to storing it, but not everyone has the money and not every disease can be predicted so you have to weigh the risks and benefits for your situation.
There is very little research involving stem cell therapies that involve using blood from umbilical cords and there is a real concern over how many stem cells can be retrieved from these frozen samples after a few years in the freezer. It is questionable if any child so far as ever benefited from having cord blood frozen, so it’s probably best to keep it limited to a few rare situations involving some rather rare diseases as part of a research protocol