Archive for the ‘New Born Baby HEALTH’ Category

Baby Cord Blood Banking- Things You Should Know

Friday, January 22nd, 2010

Parents save their baby’s cord blood stem cells viewing it as a “biological insurance” of their child as well as for the other family members. Though some parents don’t have family medical record indicating inclination towards any particular life threatening disease (nearly 80 diseases like leukemia, blood disorders, sickle cell anemia, thalassemia, cancer, juvenile diabetes, brain injury etc) but they recognize the potential of newborn’s cord blood stem cells as a most trusted natural biological resource if needed in future. Many common diseases treated with cord blood cells are not necessarily hereditary and may occur without warning signs.

Couples using fertility treatments prefer cord blood banking because they know the possibility of having no other chance to secure genetically related cord blood stem cells for the medical benefits of their child. Cord blood stem cells banking is the smart choice for the parents having ethnic minority or mixed ethnicity family history. Parents who adopt a newborn choose cord blood banking because stored cord blood would be the only genetic source available in the future for the treatment of their child because complete family medical history may not be available.

Various studies have predicted the global likelihood of using stored cord blood as 1:1400. Though public banks may provide adequate sample of cord blood stem cells for transplant but it may not be the best sample. More than 50% of patients are unable to find a genuine donor fulfilling all the requisite medical parameters.

Before choosing a cord blood bank, you are expected to do your own research also besides discussing the issue with concerned obstetrician. Only the cord banks that are accredited by AABB (American Association of Blood Banks) or AATB (American Association of Tissue Banks) or CLIA (Clinical Laboratory Improvement Act) or CAP (College of American Pathologists) like agencies should be considered. Parents must compare the sample collection procedure, location of storage, delivery policies, privacy policies and price structure like aspects of various options.

Cord blood stem cells banking should be accepted and promoted as a global mission keeping aside personal interests.

I see the growing trend among the parents for accepting cord blood stem cells banking as the medical necessity as a good sign. It reflects the success of various programs introduced to promote the use of cord blood stem cells for future medical needs, which were thrown away till some years back. Because of the regular research studies being made around the world, new applications of cord blood stem cells are being invented to make the treatments of life threatening diseases (till date more than 80) less expensive, less complicated and more effective. It has been proved that cord blood stem cells are far better than adult stem cells because of having better immunological and proliferation properties.

Cord blood stem cells are being used in two areas of injury treatment and disease – transplant and regenerative medicine. In transplant medicine, patient undergoes through chemotherapy to receive cord blood stem cells to regenerate healthy immune and blood system. In transplant medicine, availability of more cells helps the patient to recover faster reducing chances of complications considerably. Regenerative cord blood stem cells applications are used to repair damaged organs or tissues. In regenerative treatments, availability of more cells makes multiple treatments at a time possible. Today, cord blood stem cells are being used widely to treat hearing loss, brain injury, Cerebral palsy, heart disease, congenital heart defects, Juvenile diabetes, liver disease, orthopedic injury and spinal cord injury etc.

Cord blood stem cells can be reprogrammed to act like embryonic stem cells for off-the-shelf applications setting the basis for creation of comprehensive bank of tissue-matched, cord blood-derived pluripotent stem (iPS) cells ( A report by- Salk Institute for Biological Studies and the Center for Regenerative Medicine in Barcelona, Spain). Encouraging results of ongoing research works promise new applications of stem cells in genetic therapies and therapeutic cloning.

The value of cord blood storage is more particularly for the families with a history of particular diseases, having diverse ethnic background, adopting a newborn, getting help of sperm donor or having a family member who may need a stem cell transplant in future. Inspite of considerable advancement in proven cord blood stem cells application, many parents still have misconceptions. So, instead of deciding being influenced with those misconceptions, better you discuss the doubts with concerned medical professional otherwise free advice can be had from various cord blood stem cells banks.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Cord Blood Banking, New Born Baby HEALTH | 1 Comment »

5 Most Important Things You Can Do For Your New Born!

Friday, October 30th, 2009

For every parent, nothing can be more important than to ensure the health of your new baby. You can do anything to ensure the health of your baby. Below are five most important things that you can do for your newborn.

Ensure a Healthy Start!
To ensure the health of your new baby, nothing can be more important than taking the best care of yourself before the baby is born. Good prenatal care, eating healthy food, drinking enough water and minimizing your exposure to harmful substances, all contribute to growing a healthy baby.
Store you Baby’s Umbilical Cord Blood
Storing umbilical cord of your newborn means, if your baby require or met with an accident, he will have a source of stem cells that is an exact match, with no risk of rejection. There is also a strong possibility that his/her siblings will be a match as well. Today, cord blood stems cells are used in the treatment of over 70 life-threatening diseases, including a wide range of cancers, genetic diseases, immune system deficiencies, and blood disorders.
Choose the Right Pediatrician
A pediatrician is a partner in the health of your baby and one of your most important decisions. Choose someone you trust completely and have the same basic philosophies as you about health.
Get Information about Childhood Vaccinations
In order to ensure the health of your child, you should have enough information about all the required childhood vaccinations. Without enough knowledge, becoming knowledgeable and making an informed decision for your child is critical. It is one of the first decisions you will make and understanding your choices, risks and benefits will help you make the decision that is best for your family. Know more and understand what diseases the vaccines prevent, their effectiveness, what your risks are if you don’t stick to the schedule and what alternative options are available.
Consider Cloth Diapers
Using disposable diapers are easy and convenient, but one of the most serious toxic chemicals present in disposable diapers is Dioxin, which in various forms has been shown to cause cancer, birth defects, liver damage, and skin diseases. Hence, cloth diapers are better options. Cloth diapering is not at all what you think! So much easier than it sounds, much cheaper than your regular diapers, better for the environment and really cute!

Tags: , ,
Posted in New Born Baby HEALTH | No Comments »

Your first gift to your New Born Baby- GOOD HEALTH FOR LIFE!

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009

Our negligence during pregnancy period may lead us to dangerous consequences. Hence, it is important to be cautious because it is not only the question of expectant mother’s health and safety but also of the arriving the baby. Both need ultimate good care not only for the safe pregnancy but also to make the after pregnancy life medically secured. Here, to see the developments taking place as per your expectations and preferences, it is must to prepare a perfect birth plan. Preparing a birth plan well in advance with the consultation of your doctor helps your nursing staff to focus on the preset parameters not missing any priority. Knowledge of your preferences helps the nursing staff to meet your needs without getting confused about your opinion or acceptance. While preparing birth plan, you get enough opportunity to discuss with your partner about circumcision versus no circumcision, natural versus medicated childbirth, breast- versus bottle-feeding etc and the familiarity with the whole delivery process make the mothers more comfortable while delivering.

Now, should you prepare birth plan only considering your preferences, facilities and sentiments? Shouldn’t you plan for the healthy life of unborn child even before his/her birth? As a responsible parent; you need to do a lot of planning for medical wellbeing of your child. For the doctors too ensuring the medical wellbeing of the newborn is the primary concern. That is why, they take most advanced measures. Now, because of the advancement of medical science, we may go one step further to make your newly born more safe. How? The answer is – by preserving the cord blood of the baby. Otherwise, this miraculously potent blood is thrown away as medical waste. It is the blood that is present in the umbilical cord and can be extracted and preserved for decades for the future transplant needs of entire family. The cord blood stem cells is considered as a bio-insurance not only of your baby but for all the family members against more than 75 dreaded ailments like brain tumors, brain injuries, heart diseases and small-Cell lung cancer etc.

Storing your own baby’s cord blood is a first gift from your side to your baby. No doubt is left regarding the importance and medical value of Cord blood banking. More than 20 companies now offer this service either for donation or private storage. It is a hard to believe fact that inspite of global acceptance of Cord blood importance, very few expectant parents in India know about this ‘God gift’ and this is thrown in to dustbins.

Is not it an injustice to innocent newly born baby?

To know about the benefits of Cord blood preservation and the process, just visit www.cryobanksindia.com.

Posted in New Born Baby HEALTH | 1 Comment »

Empowering Parents to Make Decisions about Their Family’s Health

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009

Medical research studies have established that Cord blood stem cells are one time available medical resource for treating numbers of life threatening diseases. Immunologically, cord blood cells are much stronger and versatile in nature than matured stem cells of adults, so, these can be used in transplantation with more flexibility. Also, cord blood cells have capabilities to get transformed into all the major types of cell in the body. Because of the proven utility, cord blood cells are being used in transplantation treatments of leukemia, lymphoma, immune disorders, diabetes, brain injury, hearing loss, heart defects and blood diseases.

Despite the proven importance of Cord blood in medical surgery, the awareness and acceptance among the expecting parents about the Cord blood storage banks is considerably low. Reasons are many like parents are not informed about this God gifted life saving resource or the cost of cord blood banking is not affordable for many parents. Activities to spread awareness about Cord blood banking are hardly noticed and published by media because these don’t have any sensational element. According to a recent research, more than 78% expectant mothers accepted that they were very little informed about Cord blood banking so they couldn’t decide.

To eliminate this significant education gap and to increase general awareness, society of the American Hospital Association has decided to celebrate July month as Cord Blood Awareness Month globally inviting all the leading Cord blood banks to participate. By declaring it as a medical necessity, cost of cord blood storage can be reduced by approx. 35 percent. Bills of Cord blood banking can also be passed to insurance companies for the full or partial compensation. Reduced cost of cord blood banking will empower the parents to decide for Cord blood banking to make their whole family more secured against many life threatening diseases. In India, even today, there are very few cities that have Cord blood banking facility. To empower the parents to make timely decisions about their family’s health, inspiring support of govt., social welfare organizations, medical institutions, financial institutions, insurance sector etc is must.

The results of continuous efforts of spreading awareness about Cord blood banking is being noticed every where. Realizing utility of cord blood stem cells and its worth as a health insurance for whole family, about 8% of parents decide for cord blood banking. Out of these, almost 80% approach to private Cord blood banks and the rest 20% prefer public banks. Still 8% ratio is very low and much is needed to be done to make Cord blood banking popular and acceptable in India.

Posted in New Born Baby HEALTH | No Comments »

A precious opportunity occurring only once during your child birth

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009

Expectant parents need to take various important decisions before the birth time of their baby. The decision taking becomes more difficult task for the first time expectant parents. First time expecting parents are seen struggling to find satisfactory answers of many questions like which Pediatrician is best, normal deliver of cesarean, breastfeeding or formula feeding etc. Being conscious about the well- being and needs of the expected child is a sign of good parents but still many parents in India miss a unique and only once in life time opportunity to make their child medically secure. Inspite of, regular write-ups and ads in magazines, newspapers and over internet, celebration of July as Cord blood banking month etc. more than 75% Indian expecting parents are unaware about the importance of Cord blood stem cells for future medical needs. So, come out of those 75% and like responsible parents make your child and family members more medically secured by preserving Cord blood stem cells.

Umbilical cord blood stem cells are used in transplant treatments of various kinds of pediatric disorders, leukemia, metabolic disorders and sickle cell disease. Patients in need of a cord blood transplant may find a match with cells of sibling or those of an unrelated person. So, Cord blood banking is essential not for personal use but for social cause also. Options are many, you just need to determine for Cord blood banking. Some parents prefer to bank baby’s umbilical cord stem cells in a private cord blood bank while others donate it to a public cord bank. Public Cord blood bank is an alternative to paying for private cord blood banking. Private cord blood banking can be a good idea for the parents who already have a child suffering from lymphoma, leukemia, sickle cell disease, thalassemia or other diseases that can be treated though cells transplant.

After deciding for Cord blood banking, you need to get involved personally in this process. First of all, decide the purpose, whether you want to donate or save it for family’s future use. Now, short list the best from the available options.  In case of Pvt Cord blood bank option, inquire about the credentials, facilities, services, data management and pricing structure etc. If you opt for donating, choose the best institution following the philosophy matching to yours.

Cord blood collection procedures are of two types: Bag method and Syringe method. Your doctor will advise which is preferable seeing the delivery conditions. Both of these methods don’t take more than five minutes to complete and don’t cause any discomfort to mother or child. Cord blood banking is also safe for high-risk, C- section and premature like deliveries.

So, don’t miss this one time opportunity to guard your and family member’s future medical needs.

To know more about Cord blood banking, you may visit www.cryobanksindia.com.

Tags:
Posted in New Born Baby HEALTH | No Comments »