We never banked. If we had a family history of certain illnesses, I would have considered it, but we did not, so we did not bank.
We waited until the cord stopped pulsing...delayed clamping and cutting.
My first son was *almost* anemic when tested right around 12 months. He was just above the threshold. He was eating very little in terms of solids when testing. That little bit of extra iron reserves IMO may have kept him out of anemia territory. There is some data that it can be helpful in preventing anemia by providing extra iron stores.
The other option I would have considered was donating to a public bank, but it didn't fit our circumstances at the time.
eta: read up on the track record of how "usable" those cells really are for people at this point in time. IMO, not nearly as impressive as the private companies would like people to believe.
Mama to DS-2004
DD-2006
and a new addition-ds born march 2010