News
How long should you keep your child’s cord blood stored?
The answer is indefinitely. Cord blood stem cells don’t have an expiry date and the chance of needing to use them increases with age. According to Frances Verter, the founder of the international independent site – Parents Guide to Cord Blood Banking it doesn’t make sense to invest in the up-front collection and processing fees and then…
Little Emma’s cord blood success story
Emma was born in Ukraine in 2015 but before her birth her parents were told she had spina bifida. Spina bifida is a birth defect in which there is incomplete closing of the vertebrae in the spine and the membranes around the spinal cord during early development of pregnancy. Thanks to one…
Little Lucas and his stem cell transplant
To look at five-year-old Lucas Gutman you wouldn’t know he is living with a congenital heart defect. His mum Jennifer says he is every bit as active as a typical kid – but the Ohio boy was born with HLHS – hypoplastic left heart syndrome – and became just the second such patient…
Can umbilical cord blood help with early autism diagnosis?
Researchers have discovered cord blood of new born babies might help doctors with the early diagnosis and intervention for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) As we know, many children with autism face challenges which affect their behaviour and development. A study by a team at the University of California David MIND…
Smartphones vs children
We know parenthood brings many new things to worry about but maybe we can ease your fears about the impact smartphones can have on your relationship with your children. New analysis published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry shows mums and dads using their phones can actually even improve their parenting…
Understanding teenage boys
Teen boys are a much-maligned group but we’re told beyond the stereotypes of being hard to talk to, always hungry, restless and accident prone they are generally big hearted youths yearning to be understood and valued. Teen boys face biological drivers which make their struggle to venture into independence very real and which…
Kindness matters
Parents want to their kids to be kind, and say it’s a trait they value over intelligence and work ethic. The U.S group Meredith Corporation’s first ever Parents’ Values Study has found while parents value kindness above all else, they believe young people today are less kind than in previous generations. Here’s…
Thinking of others starts really, really young
Toddlers might not be as self-absorbed as you think. A study into altruism in 19-month-olds found that even when hungry, they would give a tasty snack to a stranger in need. The team at the University of Washington’s Institution for Learning and Brain Sciences studied nearly 100 toddlers and found not only do…
How Maia’s cord blood changed her life and the lives of her family
How Maia’s cord blood changed her life and the lives of her family Maia Friedlander was the first NZ child to be successfully treated with her own cord blood after suffering brain damage at birth. Thankfully her parents, Jillian and Daniel, had this option because they had saved Maia’s cord blood stem cells with…
Keeping Shai’s memory alive
Keeping Shai’s memory alive Frances Verter gave up a career at NASA to dedicate her life to telling expectant parents about the importance of cord blood banking. When her daughter Shai was born, Frances did not know cord blood banking was an option and had no idea of how life-changing these stem cells could…