Hi edksd,
I hope that my milk supply is sufficient. Will definitely try my best not to supplement. But quite a few of my friends really do not have sufficient supply (esp in the 1st week or so), and the baby cried after every feed cos he/she is still hungry. So one of the poor husbands drove all around Singapore looking for Similac at 3am, and he finally found something at Mustafa. Since mine is most likely lactose intolerant (since it is genetically linked), I think the situation will be worse.... I don't think my husband can find any Isomil at 3am even if he tried driving around. So that's why I thought it is good to get one tin at home just in case.
I am seriously considering banking the cord blood with Cordlife. Will be meeting up with one of their sales representative this coming Sat to discuss and to tour their medical facility at Camden Medical Centre. I nearly signed up with Stemcord at their roadshow at Suntec last Saturday.... I went down to Suntec, took a queue number and waited for my turn.... That was when I was put off by their sales reps... They know next to nothing about their product and they are simply eager to make a sale and earn that commission. I made a call to Cordlife, called some friends to find out the difference between the 2 companies, and left the roadshow without signing up.
Basically, Stemcord came up with a pretty attractive offer at the Suntec roadshow. $450 for the initial professional fee and storage fee and registration fee, instead of the usual $1k. It also waived off the 1st year storage charges of $250. If you are a DBS Women's card holder, it will be $400 instead of $450. For subsequent years' of storage, they will also give you a discount of 10% off the annual storage fee of $250, if you have the DBS Women's card. Basically, it is much cheaper than Cordlife. However, it is stated in their contract that they reserve the right to increase the annual storage fee by not more than 10% every 5 years.
Cordlife is currently also having their own promotion, which is up to August. They will waive off the $400 professional fee. So they will charge $1K instead of $1.4K for the registration and initial extraction fee. They will also waive off the 1st year storage fee of $250.
From year 2 onwards till the child's 21st birthday, Cordlife promises no storage fee adjustment. The annual storage fee shall be pegged at $250 a year.
The main reason as to why I choose to bank with Cordlife is that they are accredited, unlike Stemcord. They also use a different method of storage of the cordblood, using 2 storage bags (which is the gold standard for cordblood storage recommended by US Cordblood Institute) rather than 4 vials (as used by Stemcord). The extraction is direct to the storage bags, hence there is minimal risk of contamination (which will render the cordblood useless for storage). How Stemcord does it instead is that they will extract using syringes, and then transfer to the 4 vials for storage. This process leads to a much higher risk of contamination, though it is much cheaper.
Given the difference, I thought the incremental $550 is not very significant... However, I do have friends who bank with Stemcord and they have no complaints. I think at the end of the day it is an individual assessment on how much to spend and whether it is worth it in the first place.