Saving Cord Blood is Important for LGBTQ+ Couples with Baby Plans

Planning to have a baby means planning for the future. For some couples, having a baby just takes a little more planning! Thanks to medical breakthroughs, today, there are fertility options for everyone. Those who can’t, or don’t wish to, have a baby the traditional way can still experience the joys and magic of parenthood with a newborn of their own. LGBTQ+ couples can give birth and raise children of their own, through adoption or with the help of fertility treatments. These parents should be aware of the importance of saving the newborn’s umbilical cord blood, tissues and stem cells, just in case.

This is what umbilical cord blood can do now

Blood and tissues saved from the newborn’s umbilical cord is a 100 percent match for that baby and a possible match for future blood-related siblings. There are over 80 diseases now known that cord blood stem cells can treat. Cancers, blood diseases, immunity disorders and more can be treated. Cord blood is easy and painless to collect and best of all, it is available when it is needed. If it can do all this now, just think what might be learned about what it can do in the next 20 years!

Nontraditional challenges

Not all those who want to have a baby can have a baby the traditional way. LGBTQ+ parents have additional challenges to fertility. That is why, as they start to grow their families, it is so necessary to include cord blood banking into the plans that they make for the future. Having methods of treating any medical issues that arise is additional security. Storing cord blood is also a bonus to those with auto-immune diseases.

Any family must be prepared for what might happen

Anyone adopting an unborn baby, or undergoing fertility treatments, or who have a predisposition to a particular disease should look into the benefits of banking and storing the baby’s cord blood and umbilical stem cell tissues so that these cells can be used in the future. If the baby is being adopted from unknown birth parents, this can give the baby extra insurance if any health issues do arise in future. In that case, the baby will always have a match.

Cord blood banking is essential to the child’s future health.

Cord blood banking provides reassurance for today’s modern families. We can’t see the future, therefore it is necessary to do whatever possible to prepare. Cord blood is a lifesaver. The costs are more affordable than ever before as technology increasingly makes the long-term storage of cord blood stem cells more accessible.

For baby’s future health, it is very important to learn what you can about storing cord blood stem cells, especially when the likelihood that it might be needed someday is strong, or you are not in touch with the child’s natural relatives. Click here for more information.

Reviewed by Paul V. Holland, MD