If you are an expectant parent considering banking your baby’s cord blood, these are the things you need to know.
Cord blood – collected from a baby’s umbilical cord following birth – is rich in blood-forming stem cells. Harvested cord blood and cord tissue can be frozen in cell banks for potential future use.
Expectant parents can:
- donate their child’s cord blood to a public cord blood bank, making it available to people from around the world looking for a stem cell transplant match
- pay for a private bank to collect and store the cord blood in case the child or a family member needs it in the future, or
- allow the hospital to dispose of the umbilical cord and its blood, along with other tissue from the
Donated cord blood is already saving lives. The cells it contains can be used in place of bone marrow transplants for children and adults with conditions such as blood cancers (including leukaemia and lymphoma), and genetic disorders like aplastic anaemia and thalassaemia.
However, successful transplantation depends on matching the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) tissue type of the donor and recipient. Because this compatibility is complex and varied, access to a broad and diverse bank of cord blood units increases the chances of finding a suitable match for patients in need.
Donating to a public bank is a meaningful way to support broader community health given the importance of increasing donor diversity to improve matching success. Private cord blood banking is also an option for families who wish to store cells for potential personal use, especially in the presence of known medical conditions or family history.
How cord blood is collected
In Australia, when cord blood is donated to a public cord blood bank, it is collected by a specially trained cord blood bank staff member. The sample is then transported to a processing laboratory affiliated with the cord blood bank, where it undergoes preparation. Red blood cells and plasma are removed, leaving behind the ‘buffy coat’, a layer rich in blood stem cells. These cells are then carefully frozen and stored until they are requested for transplantation. To date, evidence shows that even after 30 years of storage, the stem cells remain healthy and suitable for clinical use.
Cord blood donation to a public cord blood bank is free, but can only be made through the AusCord Cord Blood Banks located in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane who operate Collection Centres at:
- Brisbane: Mater Mother’s Hospital
- Sydney: Royal Hospital for Women, Royal Prince Alfred Women & Babies Hospital (temporarily not collecting) and Prince of Wales Private Hospital.
- Melbourne: Royal Women’s Hospital and Frances Perry House.
If you choose to privately store cord blood in Australia, a trained staff member of the company will come to your hospital to collect the blood. There will be a fee associated with collection and storage of privately banked cord blood. Expectant parents can find out the cost by contacting the company sponsoring the private bank.
Other considerations
There is a low likelihood of privately banked cord blood ever being used. If a baby developed leukaemia, it would not receive its own cord blood for a stem cell transplant as it is likely that the cells that gave rise to the leukaemia were there from birth. Family-banked cord blood may be of use if a sibling has leukaemia and requires a bone marrow stem cell transplant, but only 1 in 4 of siblings will be a suitable match. Cord blood collected by the private banks cannot be used for treatment of anyone outside the family. The cord blood cannot be transferred to a public cord blood bank.
With appropriate consent, cord blood altruistically donated to a public cord blood bank is available for:
- patients in Australia or elsewhere
- research that uses cord blood to better understand diseases and develop new treatments
- source material for new therapies.
Australian public cord blood banks are part of an international registry. This network links cooperative cord blood banks and stem cell registries from over 50 countries. They exchange de-identified donor information to find the best match for every patient. Information includes the number of cells in the cord blood unit, results from testing of the mother’s blood and cord blood for a range of infectious diseases, information about the mother’s family and medical history collected by questionnaire, and the HLA tissue type of the cord blood. The tissue type is used for blood matching in stem cell transplants. This information is put onto an international bone marrow donor search registry via Stem Cell Donors Australia so that transplant centres around the world can search the registry when trying to find a suitable stem cell donor for their patient.
The future of cord blood research is promising
The field of regenerative medicine using cord blood is rapidly evolving. Cord blood is already used to treat diseases of the blood and immune system, such as leukaemia, and researchers are now exploring its potential for a wider range of conditions, with clinical trials underway.
However, no parent should feel pressure or guilt if they choose not to bank their child’s cord blood. Should their child require a transplant later in life, it is highly likely that a suitable cord blood unit could be found in one of the many public cord blood banks around the world.
It is possible that one day cord blood therapies may become the standard of care for a wider range of conditions, but that day is still some way off. As with other stem cell therapies, further research is essential to establish safety, efficacy and clinical relevance. This is why the National Stem Cell Foundation of Australia remains committed to supporting this area of research. We fund scientists who are doing the rigorous work of developing and testing new treatments, laying the foundation for evidence-based advances that may one day benefit future patients.
Reviewed by the Foundation Board Science and Ethics Committee, September 2025.
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