Cord Blood: Reasons for Testing and Banking

KOLKATA, India - June 21, 2022 - PRLog -- During pregnancy, the umbilical cord connects you to your baby physically and emotionally. The cord blood plays an essential role in transferring the all-essential oxygen and nutrients to the baby in your womb, for the baby's development. Earlier, after a baby's birth, the healthcare practitioner used to cut and clamp the cord and treat it as medical waste.

Read this article to know why cord blood testing and banking are done.

Why is Cord Blood Testing Done?

Cord blood testing is done for the following reasons:

• Bilirubin level
• Blood culture (if an infection is suspected)
• Blood gases (including oxygen, carbon dioxide, and pH levels)
• Blood sugar level
• Blood type and Rh
• Complete blood count (CBC)
• Platelet count

If after testing the cord blood, higher levels of acid are found in the baby's blood, that is, (a low pH level (less than 7.04 to 7.10)). This happens either because the baby did not receive enough oxygen while in the developing stage in your womb, or the umbilical cord got compressed at the time of delivery.

After the testing of the cord blood, the blood is then sent for banking.

Why is Cord Blood Banking Done?

Once you take the decision of cord blood banking, you must realise why you took the decision. After a lot of research, it has been found that cord blood is full of haematopoietic (blood-forming) stem cells. These stem cells have the ability to differentiate into different blood cell types – Red Blood Cells (RBC), White Blood Cells (WBC), plasma, and platelets, while the blood gets processed in the lab.

What Are the Benefits of Cord Blood Banking?

While you've taken the decision of cord banking, two banking options come in front of you:  public and private cord blood banking. If you choose public cord blood banking, you might have to donate your baby's stem cells either for research work or to help others.

So, the cord blood banking benefits are:

• Highest possible recovery, while processing the stem cells
• Storing the baby stem cells anywhere between 21 to 75 years of your baby's life

Harping on the cord blood banking benefits (https://www.cordlifeindia.com/why-save-cord-blood), more and more expectant parents are including umbilical cord blood banking in your birth plan (https://www.cordlifeindia.com/blog/how-to-make-birth-plan...).