Why Parents Need A Guide To Cord Blood

Cara Paiuk

It's hard for me to remember exactly what was going on inside my head almost four years ago when I first saw an advertisement for cord blood banking. That was three children and a lifetime ago. I was a different person. I wasn't a mother yet. I had never nursed, budgeted for child care, disciplined a child of my own, bought kid's apps for my iPhone, or gone days (Weeks? Months? Years?) without a good night's rest. Nevertheless, cord blood banking advertising is designed to elicit a visceral reaction in parents-to-be, and it still has that effect on me now even after all the time and effort I have invested in educating myself on the subject. People are irrational and emotional, especially when dealing with fear, money, or children. Cord blood banking involves all three of these!

Fear is a powerful, overriding emotion. When a cord blood ad presents us with the risk that our child could contract a life-threatening disease, it's practically impossible to be calm and level-headed about it. To a corporation, money might be just a number, but to a person it represents so much more: livelihood, self-worth, survival. When a cord blood company asks us to invest several thousand dollars over the next few decades on cord blood banking, we don't know how to balance the costs versus benefits. Children are our greatest joy and our biggest frustration, and they embody our hope for the future as well as our fear of it. When cord blood advertising shows us images of children saved by cord blood, we are reminded of the tremendous responsibility we have for our children's welfare. How can I afford NOT to bank cord blood, the voice in my head asked. Wouldn't I regret not banking and needing it later, rather than the reverse?

I was able to step back from my emotions and put them into context through tireless research on cord blood banking. But we can't expect every parent to dedicate as much time and effort as I did to making this one decision, when there are countless other choices that must be made as your baby's due date beckons. I am sincerely grateful for Parent's Guide to Cord Blood for providing an unbiased source of information to expectant parents, and I sincerely hope that with the private industry's support, this valuable resource continues to expand its reach and help even more parents make this important decision in the future.

Parent's Guide to Cord Blood Foundation is recognized by the United States IRS as a 501(c)(3) charity.
All donations are 100% tax-deductible on United States tax returns.

Cara Paiuk is an author whose articles have appeared in NY Times, Huffington Post, Kveller, CT-Moms, and others listed at www.carapaiuk.com. She is also an entrepreneur running the company Nutty Cow Inc. as well as a family photographer. She lives in West Hartford, CT, with her husband, toddler son, and newborn twin daughters.