Cord Blood Donation

You can donate your baby’s blood to a public bank for those in need. Through a partnership with Cord for Life program, BIDMC is a site for public banking collections. We work to add to the national inventory of cord blood units available to all people in need.

Here are some things to know about donation:

• Donation is free and easy.
• Collecting the blood is safe for the birthing person and baby.
• When your baby is born, someone cuts the umbilical cord as part of the birth process. We can collect and store the blood remaining in the umbilical cord for anyone who may need it.
• When we don’t collect the cord blood, we typically discard it with the placenta (afterbirth) as waste.
• At BIDMC, we offer cord donation Sunday night through Friday evening.

Almost everyone can donate cord blood. To donate to the public bank, you must:

• Be 18 years or older
• Have a single baby (not available for twins and other multiples)
• Have no history of hepatitis B and C, or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)
• Have no history of cancer or organ transplant
• Have had no tattoos, unsterile piercings or acupuncture in the 12 months before delivery

These requirements follow national standards. There are other medical conditions and travel that may exclude you from donating to a public bank. Our team will review these with you if you’re interested in donating.

Here are some ways to start the donation process:

• Bring a completed consent form to your doctor’s office during a prenatal visit. Your doctor will sign it and forward it for review.
• If you’re expecting your baby within a month or so, you may bring the completed consent form with you to the hospital. When you arrive, tell your nurse or doctor you wish to donate.
• Complete a consent form on the labor and delivery unit at BIDMC.

Know what to expect if you choose to donate cord blood:

• Cord blood donation doesn’t affect your labor and delivery until after the birth of your baby.
• Once someone cuts the umbilical cord, we use a needle to collect the cord blood from the umbilical cord.
• The birthing person's blood sample is also required. We may collect your blood before or after the birth.
• Once collected, we weigh the blood. If we’ve collected enough, we send the cord blood unit and birthing person's blood sample to the Lifeforce Cryobanks for next-day delivery.
• To date, thousands of patients have received cord blood for bone marrow transplant, and the number is growing.

Families can also choose to store umbilical cord blood privately for their family’s possible use. There is a separate cost associated with private cord blood storage. The decision to store privately or donate is a personal one for each family.

Professional organizations — such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Obstetrics & Gynecology, and the American Society of Bone Marrow Transplant — recommend public donation. This is because families so rarely need their stored cord blood. Private storage is potentially beneficial for families in which a family member is in need of a bone marrow donor.