If you are pregnant or expecting, you may have heard of cord blood storage. It is a relatively new trend but more and more parents are opting to have their baby’s cord blood stored, as it may have many future benefits.

As explained in this article, cord blood is the blood that is taken from the umbilical cord right after birth and is a rich source of stem cells. The stem cells sourced from cord blood can be used to treat a number of diseases, such as certain cancers, blood disorders, and immune system disorders.

We were very interested in this technology and planned to have our baby’s cord blood privately stored. This article provides more information regarding cord blood storage options in Hong Kong. As the article shows, there are many companies in Hong Kong. We did not know enough about the technology to make an informed choice, so we spoke to our doctor to get his input. In short, this was his helpful feedback:

• While both cord blood storage and cord tissue storage are available, he recommended choosing cord blood storage. Cord tissue usage in treatments is still in the experimental stage, while cord blood storage has proven usage for a number of diseases. Of course, depending on your preferences, you chose to store both.
• Find a company that has an international presence with offices around the world. You will be storing the blood for a long time (maybe as long as 20 years) and you want to make sure that the company will be around that long. There are no guarantees, but a company that has been around for a while already and that has an international presence is more likely to be still be around when you may need your stored cord blood.

We reached out to a few private companies and ultimately went with HealthBaby. They have a number of relevant certifications and their technology seems state of the art. They are part of a larger organization, the Cordlife Group, a Singaporean publicly traded company with a network of offices across Asia. Their representative was extremely informative and sent us a lot of pamphlets and information without being overly pushy. Our doctor has worked with them before as well. All these factors helped us to make our decision and go with HealthBaby.

In terms of logistics, you need to confirm before week 37 of the pregnancy, so if you are considering cord blood storage please keep this in mind. Typically, the storage company will send over an agreement / health form, as well as the blood collection kit, which you have to bring to the hospital yourself during delivery. Make sure both your doctor and the hospital know about your intention to store the baby’s cord blood and also include this intention in your birth plan.

Cord blood storage can add up to a significant sum, but we felt that potential benefits outweigh the costs. We want to make sure that we did what we could to ensure the health and wellbeing for our child.