"I tell people it is still a rather new science and
that it is expensive. The chances of needing the cord blood are pretty
low. If I myself was going through it today, I probably wouldn't do it.
It's a bit like having meteor insurance — it is beneficial should
anything happen, but it is so rare that you will need it that it is not
necessarily worth the money. It can't hurt, though." — Kenneth Saul,
MD, FAAP. Thousand Oaks, CA.
"This is a new
procedure which, so far, hasn't proven its worth or longevity. But if
you want to spend the money (it's not cheap), you have only one chance
to make the decision, which is when your baby is born. If it proves to
be life-saving later on, it will pay for itself many times over. But we
don't know that now." — Eugenia Marcus, MD, FAAP. Newton, MA.
"It can be life-saving, but it's very expensive and the likelihood that
you will ever need the cord blood is very low. If money is not an
issue, I always tell people to make sure the bank has been around and
is reliable. Some banks have fallen under and people have lost their
cord blood." — Erin Thelander, MD, FAAP. Brooklyn, NY.
To
obtain these results, Babble randomly called 300 AAP-approved pediatricians
in 50 states, then tallied the answers of the 20 who called back. Pediatrician Poll appears in Strollerderby every Friday.
