As Cord Blood Awareness Month draws to a close we will be taking a look at the differences between banking cord blood in a family bank and donating cord blood to a public bank.
Although cord blood banking is well established in the United States, there are still many misconceptions about the different ways parents can preserve or donate their baby’s cord blood.
Cord Blood Facts:
•It is estimated that up to 4.8 million cord blood units are stored in public and private banks worldwide.[1]
•In the United States, cord blood is donated from less than 5% of the 4 million babies born each year.[2]
•Your baby’s cord blood is a perfect stem cell match for your baby.
•Within the U.S. public cord blood inventory, almost all patients under 20 years of age, and more than 80% of adults, could identify a cord blood unit that met the study’s HLA matching and cell-dose criteria.[3]
What is Cord Blood Donation?
When you donate your baby’s cord blood you are giving it away; it could be used for a variety of things. It could be used for research to advance or discover therapies for illness or disease. It could also be used to save the life of a stranger in need of a stem cell transplant. However, you would have no say in how the cord blood you donated is used; that would be the decision of the cord blood bank you donated it to.
Cord blood donation is not available at every hospital in the United States. Whether you can donate depends on where you plan to give birth, whether your hospital participates in a public donation programme, and whether collection staff are available at the time of delivery.
Eligibility criteria for donation are also strict. Medical history, pregnancy complications, birth circumstances, and the quality and volume of the collected cord blood all affect whether a donation can be accepted. Once donated, the cord blood cannot be retrieved. Donations are anonymous, meaning that if your child were to need a stem cell transplant in the future, the donated cord blood would not be reserved for your family’s use. Instead, the most appropriate donor would be identified through the public registry.
It is also worth considering that donated cord blood is primarily intended for stem cell transplantation to treat blood disorders, immune disorders, metabolic conditions, and certain cancers. It is generally not available for emerging regenerative medicine applications or participation in many clinical trials involving a child’s own cord blood.
However, cord blood donation is provided at no cost to the family and has the potential to save the life of someone in need of a stem cell transplant.
What is Family Cord Blood Banking?
Family banking is a completely different service from public cord blood donation. When you choose to bank your baby’s cord blood with a family bank, it is stored exclusively for your baby and your family. You retain control of the cord blood unit should it ever be needed.
Family cord blood banking is available at thousands of hospitals across the United States, and collection is generally compatible with vaginal birth, cesarean delivery, multiple births, and, in many cases, delayed cord clamping. Parents who are planning a home birth should check availability with their chosen cord blood bank, as collection arrangements vary.
In addition to flexibility when giving birth, family cord blood banking also offers a wider variety of uses. Cord blood stored in a family bank can be used in regenerative therapies. It is worth noting that a 2014 review of 530 reported autologous cord blood transplant cases found that 82% were used in brain-related conditions, including cerebral palsy and anoxic brain injury. [4] Anoxic brain injury is a form of acquired brain injury happens when the brain is deprived of oxygen, while a traumatic brain injury is caused by external forces affecting the head or brain, such as a blow, fall or collision.[5]
Family banking remains the only way to ensure access to the full range of approved therapies and clinical trials.
While there is a charge for family banking this is negligible for the peace of mind and medicinal access that it offers. You can find out more here.
References:
[1] Waller-Wise R. (2022). Umbilical Cord Blood Banking: An Update For Childbirth Educators. The Journal of perinatal education, 31(4), 199–205. https://doi.org/10.1891/JPE-2021-0006 [2] AABB. (2025, October). Cord blood fact sheet. https://www.aabb.org/docs/default-source/default-document-library/resources/cord-blood-fact-sheet.pdf [3] Gragert, L., Eapen, M., Williams, E., Freeman, J., Spellman, S., Baitty, R., Hartzman, R., Rizzo, J. D., Horowitz, M., Confer, D., & Maiers, M. (2014). HLA match likelihoods for hematopoietic stem-cell grafts in the U.S. registry. The New England journal of medicine, 371(4), 339–348. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMsa1311707 [4] Armstrong, A. E., Fonstad, R., Chaudhury, S., & others. (2017). Current knowledge and practice of paediatric providers in umbilical cord blood banking. Clinical Pediatrics, 57(2). https://doi.org/10.1177/00099228176923 [5] https://www.spinalcord.com/blog/contrasting-a-traumatic-and-anoxic-brain-injury
