10.5 months meal schedule

Here's what our 10.5 months bb meal plan.. subject to her appetite!

29Dec13-4Jan14 (7 days)
8am	Early morning milk (ml)	210
9am	Breakfast	Cereal + Blueberry/Banana + eggyolk + leftover milk
11am	Mid morning Breast milk (ml)	210
1pm	Lunch	Brown rice Porridge + fish + vegetables + carrot/puree
2pm	Afternoon milk (ml)	210
4pm	Afternoon snack	Blueberry / Banana / puffs
5pm	Mid-Afternoon milk (ml)	210
7pm	Dinner	Potato + Pumpkin
	Fruits	Pear puree
9pm	Night breast milk (ml)	120
5Jan14- 11Jan14 (7 days)
8am	Early morning milk (ml)	210
9am	Breakfast	Cereal + egg yolk + leftover milk
11am	Mid morning Breast milk (ml)	210
1pm	Lunch	Pasta + sweet potato puree + brocoli
2pm	Afternoon milk (ml)	210
4pm	Afternoon snack	Banana / puffs
5pm	Mid-Afternoon milk (ml)	210
7pm	Dinner	Brown rice Porridge + fish + Brocoli + sweet potato puree
	Fruits	Plum puree
9pm	Night breast milk (ml)	120
Total milk intake (ml)		960

Ikea Baby Gate

We also purchased the Ikea Baby Safety Gates to close off our kitchen from the wandering BB. Sounds great in principle, but we removed it and kept it in our storeroom as it's just too inconvenient and narrows the kitchen entrance unnecessarily.

We simply use furniture such as the swing bed and dining table chairs to cordon off the living room along with the sofa.

Update - 18th May 2014: Turns out this is useful after all, as little BB has a tendency to wander into the kitchen and we started getting used to this by now!

Having her own character

She is also starting to develop her own character and having an incredible liking for mobile phones and tablets. She just can't have enough of them and given an Ipad long enough, she could actually (perhaps by chance??) launch her favorite kids songs app! We are trying to keep her screen time to a minimum, trying to focus her on physical toys and adventures instead. She indeed belongs to the mobile generation - born with a mobile phone, so to speak!

A quick note on the swing chair and cot beds - since October / November, when we realized that she could sit up and even stand, we quickly lowered the beds and started strapping her in the chairs to prevent any accidents.

Bb first Christmas

Bb first Christmas! She's learning to walk and vocalising trying all kinds of sounds! Weight wise is gaining ok as well, getting closer to the 50th percentile. But she is very active, healthy and happy. That's the best indicator of healthy development!

We ended up buying those foam puzzle mats to provide additional cushioning. However, on hindsight,

- Don't buy those with alphabet letter cut-outs. You will spend a lot more time trying to find, sort and fit them in every time you remove them to clean the floor.

- Buy as large pieces as possible. The smaller the foam tiles, the more time you end up fitting them together.

Bb learning to sit

Bb started learning to sit by herself today! Tried to slowly manoeuvre herself from a crawling to sitting position. She's really developing quickly over the past month! And really active today crawling all over the place. We started her on carrot puree this week as well.

Just to note that previously she seemed to have allergy skin rash to organic sweet potatoes but it could have been coincidence.

She is on baby brown rice cereal, oatmeal cereals, organic green pea puree, pumpkin, apples, avocado puree, pear puree..etc

Bb development

Bb able to crawl forward with her hands! Able to rotate hands and use individual fingers ie index finger pointing handle baby books and pass between hands

Baby first fever

Poor bb was crying and making a fuss - turns out she's having a fever - we brought her down to Thomson Medical Clinic to make sure it is not something serious - turns out to be a "normal" viral fever, with some baby panadol, plenty of fluids (milk) and rest to help recovery. The stick on fever strips seemed to help a bit too.

BB almost crawling

BB almost started crawling by 7.5 months - she's able to lift herself off the ground by the hands easily and push against her legs to inch forward!

First call

Little cutie bb calls bah bah for the first time!

Parklon Playmat & Nurture Pure Glass Bottles

DD reached a milestone recently and was able to roll herself from back to front! But she is getting a bit big for the swing chair not to mention she seemed to be bored with the constrained position. While we do have her on tummy time on her bed, we were thinking it would be a good idea to have a big playmat in the living room so she can have more freedom to express herself while we watch over her. Hopefully it will help with her development!

After quite an exhaustive search on potential playmats... stories on how those puzzle-type playmats may harbor dangerous heavy metals, chemicals..etc, we finally decided on this Parklon Playmat at a expo baby fair.

Parklon Playmat Yellow Bear Schoolbus - Front

Parklon Playmat Yellow Bear Schoolbus - Back

Costs S$175 with free delivery.

Update: After 2 months of using the playmat, we highly recommend it to everyone as it really helps our BB to develop physically - She is able to practice rolling over, turning over and transition to crawling. We also placed one of those play stations on the mat and tied various toys on it letting her have endless hours of fun and activity.

We also bought a set of Nurture Pure Glass Bottles from a local distributor, Mumsfairy Pte Ltd:
As we had been using our various milk bottles for coming to 6 months now with frequent sterilization and its probably time to replace the bottles to prevent any undesired leeching of chemicals. Glass bottles seemed to be a good alternative.

WebMD: Plastic Vs Glass Baby Bottles

We purchased a set of 3 4oz (120ml) glass bottles to test out. It's good to note in the product sleeve that it can be sterilized and their website seemed to verify that it is made of safety glass.

Update: After 2 months of using glass bottles we find we much prefer them to plastic bottles - reasons being

- No greasy residue in bottles. Milk grease don't stick as much to glass surfaces as plastic - meaning BB gets more in her diet and less cleaning up afterwards.

- Glass bottles heats up *much* faster than plastic bottles. A time and life saver for parents.

- No worries about BPA or plastic heat / physical deterioration.

Hence we will be buying more glass bottles going forward!

Nurture Pure Glass Bottles

Local Distributor: Mumsfairy Pte Ltd

Website: www.mumsfairy.com

Email: mail@mumsfairy.com

Contact: 81575780 / 98004598

Baby Drops...All sorts of baby drops

Came across the article: The US CDC recommends Vitamin D supplementation for babies who are exclusively breast fed:

http://www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding/recommendations/vitamin_d.htm

Although we live in tropical Singapore where people are trying to get *away* from the sun rather than in it, it seems unnecessary.

However given that DD stay indoors most of the time and given her usual clothing, I think it may be necessary.

In any case, a friend of J's recommended Appeton multivitamin drops:

http://www.appeton.com.my/childcare_mv_infant_drop.htm

Which contains L-Lysine, which is supposed to help babies with fighting viral infections...and with all the different variants of flu, cold and what not everywhere, it may be a good idea to go for this. It also contains 100% FDA requirement for vitamin D, at 400IUs.

We tested it on DD and initially she made faces at its taste. Subsequent inclusion in her regular breast milk doesn't seem to make a difference so we may stick with this.

However, just to be on the safe side should she be a fussy eater, I also ordered this:


http://www.carlsonlabs.com/p-295-super-daily-d3-for-baby.aspx

The good thing about this is that it only requires a single drop per day. So rejection isn't likely to occur.


Another baby drop which was prescribed by our Pediatrician was BioGaia's Probiotic drops:

http://biogaia.com/product/biogaia-protectis-drops-25

This was supposed to help with DD's colic which might had been caused by excessive stomach wind. We used this in conjunction with RidWind Simethicone drops (introduced earlier) and it seems to do the trick in calming our DD. However, it is rather expensive. Amazon's cost for this is more than double that of what we are paying at our already exorbitant PD clinic, so I do not know any better. Fortunately we can utilize the baby bonus for this at the clinic so it somewhat helps.

Another product which I am interested in is this:

http://www.nordicnaturals.com/en/Products/Product_Details/514/?ProdID=1541

It includes vitamin A and D3, with DHA comprising of a high 408mg per 4ml serving. Although J is already on a DHA supplemented diet via molecular distilled omega 3 and prenatal milk powder. I suppose a rotation of the multivitamin drops with this wouldn't hurt. Reasons why DHA is important for babies:

http://www.dhababy.com/

So a good level of DHA would definitely help DD.

Welcome to Thomson Medical Center (TMC)

After quitting KK, we decided to choose Thomson Medical Center based on positive reviews by J's friends and my brother's experience. Turns out he switched to TMC from KK as well, due to his bad first child delivery experience.

We enrolled for the tour of the medical center and signed up for their prenatal classes, 6 sessions at $361. We elected to attend their weekend class at Ang Mo Kio hub supposedly to cover the basics and get us ready. However, it was not indicated clearly that 2 of the sessions would be held at Singapore Chinese Girls School (SCGS), so transportation might be of concern. The AMK hub venue is held at a small child care center and crammed to the max with attendees with no seats and sitting on exercise floor mats for the mothers. So it can be rather uncomfortable for each 2 hour plus session.

We saw TMC's delivery rooms and decided to opt for the Premier Single suite subject to availability on delivery - which allows for privacy and the husband to room in with the mother after delivery.

The gynae we switched to is Dr (Mdm) Tan, an aging, almost-retired doctor with a life time wealth of experience behind her and was highly recommended by J's friends as well. We obtained all our medical records from KK for her reference. Unfortunately, as with all private gynae consultants, they charge by the package, so even though we are several months into the pregnancy before switching to see her, we still have to pay the full package price as new pregnancies. The benefits are apparent from the first consultation. They have their own ultra scan machines right in the consultation rooms so there's no need to queue up for a common scan as at the public services offered at KK. It is also conducted by the gynae who would see and explain the baby status on the spot - something we sorely missed at KK, which was conducted by a lab technician whose job is not to explain anything to the anxious mother and the results are to be interpreted by whichever doctor happens to be for the queue.

Upon asking her about our anxiety over the artery kink issue, she asked J to sleep on her side to help with the blood supply, which provides great relief to us. She is also very patient and detailed in answering J's questions, putting her mind at ease and lowering our stress levels.

It is good to know we are in very good hands!

We also signed up for TMC's First Born Incentive, a membership scheme for patients and a quick calculation shows that the benefits, the discounts and the goodie bag items offset the membership fee and we signed up for that too. Their goodie bag is generous with all sorts of items and samples from milk powder manufacturers and baby supply companies. We also take the chance to sign up for whatever free samples we can get from all major companies. Everyone loves free samples!

KK Hospital - Don't bother

The story left off with us at KK after our CVS results which thankfully turned out fine (Thank goodness we were so anxious on the procedure). We also get to know we have a dear baby girl based on the result as well. Below is the CVS review and scan at week 15 (20120912). It's so amazing to see our little daughter growing well!

KK was also conducting a research into new methods on how to better confirm babies' genetic health without undergoing invasion procedures such as CVS. We were asked to participate by donating the remainder of our CVS sampling which are to be discarded. We opted to contribute to their research. Any breakthrough which would remove the need for invasive procedures would benefit a lot of people and prevents them from undergoing unnecessary risk. Made all the sweeter by their offer of a free subsequent routine scan.

However, the whole episode was handled by a nurse (coordinator?) from myanmar. While she is pleasant enough, she failed to draw blood sample from J. Drawing of blood samples is a relatively easy and straight forward procedure which all nurses should be able to do, and do well. I know this as I was an army medic during my NSF days and drawing of blood is the easiest, as compared to putting in an IV drip line. I would even expect nursing students to be capable of doing this easily. So it was a surprise to see her having so much trouble and inflicting needless pain on J. I was almost aghast when she suggested drawing blood from the hands instead of the inner elbow. That is usually reserved for doctors when all else fails and the patient would experience a lot more pain. I hope this is not what they do in Myanmar and even if they do, it has no business being practiced here in Singapore. Anyway, we didn't make a fuss over it. She managed to get it on the second try and took much longer than is necessary.

Since we are at the topic of staffing, might as well cover the genetic counselor we saw. We encountered this genetic counselor who speaks in an over-the-top UK english accent, the type which gives you the impression that she is trying to be more british than british and acting out some sort of stage play. I am not sure if she is really a british citizen, raised in the UK, studied in the UK and only get transplanted to Singapore in the last month or so. She certainly looks Chinese. To some she will come across as some sort of a condescending british blue blood royal uppity talking down to peasants. But to be fair to her, she knows her stuff but I still can't bring myself not to get irritated every single time she speaks. We are here for a medical consultation, not attend a british musical.

In any case, she better start speaking more like locals if she is going to work here for long. It is only right. For instance, foreigners going to other countries have to adapt to the countries. Foreigners in Japan have to learn to speak Japanese and their customs or at least adopt some of their mannerisms and local-speak. Even if Singaporeans head to UK to work, we can't expect to get away with insisting in speaking only in Singlish with mandarin, malay and tamil words peppered all over the place. We have to adopt and adapt to the english way of speaking for ease of communication and comfort. So the same rule applies here in Singapore as well. While I am not expecting her to start parleying in Singlish, simply observing and following our language accents would go a long way.

Did I also mention long waiting times? We have to wait for long periods everywhere at KK. The crowd is always terrible and the waiting times are long. To be fair, that's the subsidized route. The difference is night and day when we went private at Thomson Medical Centre.

We returned in week 20 for another routine scan. However, the lab tech was not able to get accurate scans of the baby's heart due to the positioning which was resolved during a followup scan. All's good news the baby is growing well and fine!

However, later on we were told that one of J's blood supply artery to the uterus has a 'kink', so the blood supply could be affected somewhat. The doctors at KK told us there is nothing much to be done about this and the only solution is to wait and monitor. Not very comforting news and again send us on a panic run again. 

We were, at this point, rather sick and tired of the unnecessary panic and stress put onto us. From Down syndrome to CVS to incompetent nurses to irritating genetic counselors to low PAPP-A to artery kink? 

We understand that as medical practitioners they are simply trying to cover themselves by highlighting all and sundry risks but we need someone consistent who could evaluate the risks based on their experience. We should not be coming out of the consultation room feeling more stressed - We should have answers, solutions and assurance to keep J in a stress-free state.

We are also sick of seeing different doctors every time who provides varying degrees of advice with their own unique characters which at times we could not feel completely at ease for comprehensive discussions.

So with this latest scare, we decided to go for KK's private consultation in their private suite. It is not cheap at all for a senior consultant. We end up paying > $90 for the first session and having to wait more than 2 hours just to see him. But what breaks our backs is the behavior of the "senior consultant". But the moment we entered the room he exhibited impatience and his crude and dismissive manner in which he dismissed our concerns (which are the reasons why we are seeing him in the first place instead of his cheaper colleagues). He keeps on telling us everything is ok without going into details why he thinks it is "ok". I think we are more than capable of understanding medical conditions and his impatient arrogant attitude simply puts us off. He also did not check the patient's data on the docket and surprised us by assuming that J's blood type is O when it should be B, which she corrected. This led us to lose faith in him as a professional. 

The last straw came just when we were leaving the consultation room. J had a question and knocked on the door again to ask a question which lasted less than a minute. The "senior consultant" wanted to charge us later for extra consultation session!

This is obviously too excessive. Do they want all patients to take a stop watch and time each and every session? We definitely can, we can time him to see how fast and competent he is able to conduct his examinations, read through our case history and provide advice and assistance and if he falls short in any area, the patients would have the right to penalize him. Is this what they want? If not, then why are they doing it to us?

So we adamantly refused to pay the additional charges which to us is simply ridiculous. After much noise and back and fro with the payment counter staff, they agreed to waive the charges.

But this is enough to put us off KK for good. Our experience had been horrible and definitely not what we expect from a historically-respected institution.

(Later after we switched from KK hospital, they made it to the front pages of the news when it emerged that due to a new born baby tagging negligence and oversight, 2 couples took the wrong baby home. It was only identified due to the diligence of one of the parents. Needless to say both set of parents are severely traumatized by the incident and further DNA tests were necessary to verify the identity of the babies. The CEO of KK and his panel of management staff apologized publicly but as we can attest in our experience at KK, the focus and service is no longer there. It is only a matter of time before scandals such as these appear. The golden age of KK is long over.)

So we decided to switch hospitals to Thomson Medical Centre (TMC) and engage a dedicated and experienced gynae, which turns out to be one of the best decisions we ever made.

Baby Stuff...Tons of Baby Stuff

More assorted baby stuff here:

1. Baby Digital Anal Thermometer
2. Infrared Forehead Thermometer
3. Swaddle-Me Swaddles
4. Baby One Playpen
5. Puku Swingbed


Babies will have bouts of fever sooner or later...and I got this forehead infrared thermometer to prevent disruption to baby's sleep as much as possible. Although its accuracy is in the region of +/- 0.3 degree celcius. Update: After many tries we found this particular thermometer to be inaccurate it could not detect a higher temperature and it is definitely more than the 0.3 degrees stated. So probably advise to get a reputable branded thermometer with forehead and ear measurements.

Infrared Forehead Thermometer

To be absolutely certain of the body temperature, the only way is via taking of anal temperature. Let's wish we will never need to use it. In any case, in hindsight, I don't think we will ever have the chance nor will to use this. The moment the baby hits a high temperature we will probably be rushing down to our nearby pediatrician clinic.

Baby Digital Anal Thermometer

While the regular swaddle cloths do a remarkably good job, there are times when the baby will escape and make a fuss especially at night. So I got these velcro swaddles to test out. Unfortunately, the ones I got...while they are stated as for 0 to 3 months, they barely fit our baby during 2 months. And they are not cheap either. J bought a whole bunch of nice huge thin swaddles at a supermarket sale at a fraction of the price and they are so much better.

Swaddle-Me Swaddles

My brother donated his used cot to us. It's a huge wooden cot that couldn't fit through a typical HDB door frame. We placed it in our baby room but we still need something for our bedroom for the baby to sleep with us, at least until she can sleep through the night. We came across this fantastic Baby One playpen at Kiddy Palace on sale. It is an all-in-one solution for sleeping, diaper changing, storage for baby stuffs, mosquito netting and adjustable sleeping levels for young to older babies and convertible to be a playpen. This saved us a lot of hassle when changing diapers in the middle of the night, and all the lotions, diaper wipers are within arms' reach. We do have a ceiling fan in the room, but it does not seem to reach the playpen and sometimes the baby gets hot and sweat in her swaddle, and when she is uncomfortable, we will not get much sleep. We tried to attach one of those portable clamp fans used in strollers but the batteries run out fast and they can be rather noisy. A cheap small usb-powered silent fan clamped using clothes pegs to the side of the playpen solves the problem nicely, taking care to avoid blowing directly at the baby's face or nostrils to prevent breathing problems.

So we have a playpen for the little baby, a huge cot for when she is larger, but we still need somewhere to rest her in the living room and a high chair for her to sit. We came across this Puku Swingbed at kiddy palace as well and it not only has 3 reclining levels, a detachable tray, adjustable height and allows us to "swing" or rock the swing bed in a horizontal position. Turns out to be perfect when parked right next to our sofa allowing us to keep an eye on the baby and gently rock the baby to sleep while watching TV.

We chose a super lightweight Goodbaby stroller from Kiddy Palace as well, weighing in at just 3.5kg, it allows full horizontal positioning and is light and easy enough to operate and carry with one hand. Model is JS-829128G8 KIK. It fits through the normal MRT gantries!

 

Cleaning Stuff...Tons of Cleaning Stuff

Cleaning, sterilizing, bathing and washing are all daily routines which one quickly becomes proficient at.

1. Pigeon Cleanser
2. Philips AVENT BPA Free Microwave Steam Sterilizer
3. Pigeon Multifunctional Sterilizer
4. Pigeon Sterilising Tablets
5. The First Years Spinning Drying Rack

6. Philips AVENT BPA Free Bottle Brush
7. Digital Shower Thermometer Water Flow Temperature Sensor
8. Puku Baby Shower Tub
9. Digital Aquarium Water Thermometer
10. Free Johnson & Johnson Water Thermometer Card
11. Summer Infant Contoured Changing Pad
12. Pigeon Baby Detergent


First off is the cleanser from Pigeon, safe for cleaning and disinfecting vegetables and baby stuff. Use undiluted and strangely smells like sprite but is a little on the expensive side. There's other cheaper options at kiddie palace which is concentrated but doesn't claim to disinfect - which is unnecessary since we will be sterilizing them anyway.

Pigeon Cleanser

I initially thought microwave sterilization would be a good idea. After all microwave has been around for decades, safe, convenient and fast. Again it's probably not a good idea to buy bulky items like this overseas due to shipping costs. Anyway eventually we decided to simply go with steam sterilization just like what other "normal" folks do here in Singapore. This was written off as a wasted buy but eventually proved rather useful in conjunction with the Pigeon multifunctional sterilizer below, its large capacity allows us to store the tons of sterilized stuff while processing the next batch.

Philips AVENT BPA Free Microwave Steam Sterilizer

This Pigeon multifunctional sterilizer is a great buy. It is convenient, with large sterilizing capacity, allows for bottle and food warming. Although the bottle warmer seems to work slower than the Kinde Kozi. And sterilizes in about the same time as the microwave sterilizer.

We also considered going pure sterilizing tablets. All accounts indicate they are safe (so far), extremely convenient - you just use a single tablet in a pot of water and its good for sterilizing 24 hours. Good for outdoors or trip uses. But of course I don't think anyone would be possible to go anywhere in the first few months after birth. We certainly couldn't and wouldn't. But in the end, the use of chemicals just seem too uncomfortable.

Pigeon Sterilising Tablets

Probably the most underrated item. This humble spin drying rack holds all our baby stuff orderly and saves our extremely limited kitchen space. Again, this would probably be better off buying locally to save shipping.

The First Years Spinning Drying Rack

We should have bought these items together as a pack and save some time. Anyway, its just a baby stuff cleaning brush.

Philips AVENT BPA Free Bottle Brush

There are a lot of interesting gadgets on the net and came across this digital shower thermometer which I thought would be a nifty idea to use to keep shower water at 37 degree celcius for optimal baby comfort. Unfortunately somehow our instant water heater seems to compensate and we still end up with upwards creeping  temperature. The seller of this item is strangely located in Greece and this little item went traveling around the world from Greece to USA, crossed the states before finally getting to Singapore. Still this is an interesting addition to the shower.

Digital Shower Thermometer Water Flow Temperature NEW Display Sensor Child Lcd S

We bought this cute Puku baby tub during a baby fair at the Singapore Expo. Just a tub with a gauze option for holding older babies during showering.

Puku Baby Shower Tub

So the shower thermometer doesn't work out and in a weird flash of inspiration I thought of using an aquarium thermometer instead. It worked fine but unfortunately probably due to the cheap thermometer it is not very sensitive, with a noticeable time lag to reflect the temperature which makes it harder to mix right.

The star of the baby bath turns out to be a free thermometer card from Johnson & Johnson and I can't even recall where and how we acquired it. Must be from either the Thomson Medical Centre's First Born incentive goodie bag or something. Anyway its free, its fast and get the job done very well. We simply punched a hole in it and attach it to the tub.

This contoured changing pad is another star. It allows us to place the baby comfortably in any place in the house. On the sofa, on the table, on the beds..etc and we can even carefully move the baby around on it. It is waterproof, large-sized and comfortable. But due to the volumetric size shipping costs a fortune and then I found out similar pads can be found locally. Silly me.

And finally our choice of Pigeon's baby-friendly hypoallergic baby laundry detergent.

Feeding Stuff...Tons of Feeding Stuff

Feeding is the prime 24 x 7 baby activity and where a whole plethora of issues and problems will surface for the parents and drive them to the edge of insanity.

We wanted to breastfeed our BB given the benefits of exclusive breastfeeding. 

More to come later in the blog on our grouses on the various issues and problems we encountered with breastfeeding that no one told us. It is one of those things which falls under the category of "Things you absolutely need to know but everyone is reluctant to tell you"

But for the time being, here's the feeding stuff we end up buying.

1. Ameda Purely Yours Ultra Breast Pump
2. Medela Pump-In-Style (PIS) Advanced
3. Maymom AC adapter for Medela's Pump In Style Advanced
4. Pumpin' Pal Super Shields, Angled Pumping Flanges
5. Pumpease Hands Free Bra
6. Kiinde Kozii Baby Bottle Warmer
7. Green Sprouts 10 Pack Waterproof Absorbent Terry Bibs, Girls
8. My Brest Friend Professional Pillow, Blue
9. Philips AVENT BPA Free Standard Nipple Protector
10. Philips AVENT Comfort Breast Shell Set, 2-Pack
11. Philips AVENT BPA Free Freeflow Pacifier
12. Philips AVENT BPA Free Natural Polypropylene Bottles (NewBorn) 3-Pack
13. Philips AVENT BPA Free Natural Polypropylene Bottles (3 Months on) 3-Pack
14. Philips AVENT BPA Free Natural Medium Flow Nipples, 2-Pack
15. Philips AVENT BPA Free Natural Fast Flow Nipples, 2-Pack
16. Lansinoh Breastmilk Storage Bags, 100 Count
17. Rid-Wind Simethicone Baby Drops
18. Pigeon Disposable Breast Pads


The 2 prominent brands for home breastfeeding is Medela and Ameda. Medela is very well established in Singapore, all the hospitals use it, all baby fairs feature their booths and their stuff is easily available in major kiddie shops.

We did our research and narrowed down to Ameda and Medela in a neck to neck race. Initially we just bought the Ameda due to the fact that its pump system is closed, meaning there is no chance of milk getting into the tubing, hence providing for better hygiene and with no need to clean the tubes. It's price is also lower than Medela PIS Advanced and most web comparisons can't really distinguish a clear winner between the two. It comes with different sized flanges, (Standard, Mid and Large) but we personally think that for typical Asian sizes, Standard should be just fine. We purchased the Ameda from Ameda Direct (http://www.amedadirect.com/). It also comes with 3 different sized flanges and 6 milk storage bottles. The price is lower compared to buying from local retail plus free within-US shipping, promotions and free gifts. It is fortunate that the Ameda pump uses a universal voltage power adapter, so saving me the hassle of buying one for use in Singapore. It can run on AA batteries for using while on the move.

Ameda Purely Yours Ultra Breast Pump

However, after using Ameda for a while, J started to wonder if Medela would perform any better. We had some lactation issues which we would go into at later blog posts, but suffice to say that out of desperation, we wanted to try every single option available. Another important consideration in getting an additional Medela pump is when the 4 months maternity leave is up and J needs to go back to work, she would be able to place one of these pumps in her office, hence save her from carrying the pumps everyday. Another factor is the difference in pricing between local retail and online. The local Medela distributors wanted to charge S$799 for a Medela PIS Advanced. We managed to get it for half the price from Amazon. So for slightly less than the price of a single local retail Medela pump, we managed to get both. Speaks volumes about the cost of living here in Singapore. The set comes with only 3 milk bottles and 1 set of standard sized flange. Due to the difference in electrical voltages between US (110v) and Singapore (230v), I had to purchase a separate third party AC power adapter from Maycom. Medela also allows for AA battery operations.

Medela Pump-In-Style (PIS) Advanced

Maymom AC adapter for Medela's Pump In Style Advanced

The Ameda pump comes with 3 sized flanges, standard, medium and large while the Medela comes with a single standard size flange, which is almost the same size as the Ameda standard. J had to switch between different sizes for testing on comfort and output, and eventually settled on the standard for both. However, the Medela is slightly smaller and somehow it does not provide as much comfort (read: pain). The Pumpin Pal Super Shields touts itself as "the most comfortable flanges". They are certainly the most expensive for a few pieces of plastic. Another touted benefit of this flange is since it is angled, it allows for the mother to lean back in the chair to pump instead of having to constantly lean forward, improving comfort.

Pumpin' Pal Super Shields, Angled Pumping Flanges

Speaking of expensive, here's another way expensive item, the Pumpease Hands Free Bra. Expressing milk using a dual electric pump means mothers have to constantly hold the bottles throughout the whole duration - which quickly becomes tiring. Medela offers a hands free kit basically comprising of two pieces of plastic, bra hooks and rubber bands with decidedly average reviews. Since we have both the ameda and medela pumps we needed one which could work with both. Hence pump ease. It is actually a modified tube with 2 holes and quick release hooks at the front. One can probably modify a normal tube for the same effect. We purchased 2 of these for medium and large sizes to account for the weight loss following delivery. So far so good and holds up well under constant use. But still, Pumpease is way too expensive for 2 modified tubes.

Pumpease Hands Free Bra

We also considered warming of milk bottles, especially at night, when one is tired and sleep-deprived. The best reviews on Amazon is for this Kiinde Kozi touting benefits such as "even warming of milk preserves nutrients" and a thousand and one other glowing reasons why you should buy it. I bite and bought one. Unfortunately, as with most things electrical bought from the US, it uses 110v voltage with 100 watts requirement and hence I had to buy a heavy, bulky and expensive down convert transformer. It circulates the warm water within the container to help disperse the heat evenly and its quite a novelty to use. However the timing guide provided seems to be underestimated and we always set a time window much higher. In hindsight, it is probably better and simpler to just get one of those ordinary bottle warmers from Pigeon, Philips..etc

Kiinde Kozii Baby Bottle Warmer

Some buys are simply due to impulsiveness. Such as these Green Sprouts 10 Pack Waterproof Absorbent Terry Bibs, Girls. They are a dollar a dozen at baby fairs and stores but for some reason I could vaguely remember it seemed like a good idea to buy online and get it shipped all the way to Singapore incurring hefty shipping costs in the process. There's nothing special about these bibs but somehow have so many glowing reviews I thought they must have something more going for them. They don't. At least the colors are nice.

Green Sprouts 10 Pack Waterproof Absorbent Terry Bibs, Girls

Seemingly the must-have item for breastfeeding, the brest friend pillow helps mothers maintain a good posture for breast feeding. This item is readily available in Singapore but comes only in cloth-covered versions. The drawback to that is the need to remove and wash the covers. There is a plastic covered "professional" version which allows one to simply wipe clean. So we purchased and ship it all the way to Singapore. The shipping cost is fantastic due to its volumetric size. In hindsight I suppose one can get away with borrowing, renting one, using the cheaper cloth version or other cheaper brands of pillow as it is only useful for the first few months after which the mother would know the best position to nurse the baby without the pillow.

My Brest Friend Professional Pillow, Blue

I initially got this in case of sore nipples, a common problem when breastfeeding. As it turns out later, it also serves as nursing aids for mothers to help the baby latch on properly. It is used at the Thomson Medical Center's lactation clinic as well. There are holes at the end for nursing. Somewhat useful but when there are breastfeeding issues, every option is worth a try.

Philips AVENT BPA Free Standard Nipple Protector

These shells are for use in extreme cases of core nipples but somehow J finds them bulky and awkward for use and gets all gunky and sticky when used with the sore nipple cream. So it goes into cold storage almost immediately.

Philips AVENT Comfort Breast Shell Set, 2-Pack

Another frivolous buy. We decided not to use pacifiers due to their effects on baby teeth development (possibly crooked teeth on long term use) and possible baby dependency on pacifiers. But somehow I got weak-kneed sometime and decided to get these as some sort of last resort insurance standby, which never get used even during the worst periods.

Philips AVENT BPA Free Freeflow Pacifier

There are usually better and easier ways to do things. In this case, being a guy who is easily charmed by the "latest" supposedly "bestest" advances in any product, I was instantly taken in by the latest in baby bottle feeding product released by Philips under their Avent Natural line. This line features a re-designed teat which supposedly offers the most comfortable and natural fit as compared to a mother's breast. Unfortunately this series was not yet offered for sale in Singapore. So I did the natural thing and bought them online. It is also cheaper as well. But then much later on, we subsequently found out that there is no difference in using whatever teats or bottles, be them generic Pigeon's or Medela's. The baby doesn't care a hoot so long as she gets her milk. And you will probably get other bottles included in sterilizers or breast pumps. If I get to do it all again, I would simply buy one of those all-in-one Philips or other brand packs which includes everything, bottles, teats, sterilizers, warmers, brushes...etc. Why give yourself needless work when you can get everything in one nice package? Also, I would avoid Philips Avent line because their bottle neck sizes and teats are different from others, which at least generally have the decency to standardize them so you can pump the milk direct into any storage bottle, attach any mix-and-match teats, warm it up and serve. Cuts down on hassles and needless sterilization, which can only be a good thing. So either you go all Philips, including buying their Avent breast pumps, sterilizers...etc or forego it for maximum compatibility. Anyway these newborn 120ml bottles comes with stage 1 newborn teats (0-3 months).

These are larger versions of the same series and comes with stage 2 (3 month+) teats. Incidentally, the difference in teats is due to the number of holes they have. Newborn teats only have 1 hole. Stage 2 teats have 2 holes and so forth. So theoretically, if one is not going to have more babies, they can perhaps DIY holes in the teats as needed without needing to specially buy them. But of course, totally untested since I, as usual, already bought them before understanding. 

These are the stage 3 (6 months+) Philips Avent teats. Pair. 

With maternity leave in Singapore capped at only 4 months and WHO's recommendation that babies be breast fed for at least 1 year and the mothers' returning to their careers, it is inevitable that milk storage is important to have a stash of milk ready for contingencies. Lansinoh milk storage bags have the best ratings on Amazon and our experience with them is good. Freeze them laying flat and they makes for easy card-like storage in a suitable container. Update: Thanks to J's foresight in storing a huge stash of frozen milk, we were able to continue feeding the BB even after J went back to work after 4 months' maternity leave - with additional pumping in the office, we managed to supplement for close to another 5 months, which by then BB is already on solids and formula milk. (And the diminishing supply of daily pumped breast milk). So advice - store as many as you can, as often as you could because it will be gone before you know it!

Sometimes you wish someone would have alerted you beforehand things you probably will need. A colicky baby is every parents' nightmare and you will never know if you will face it until the night of reckoning itself. Would explain more in later posts but suffice to say that in hindsight, I would definitely have bought these Rid-Wind baby drops. The active ingredient is Simethicone, a perfectly safe medication which is not absorbed by the baby and which reduces the surface tension of liquids causing smaller bubbles to group together for easier expelling by the baby either by burping or farting. Somehow we found that Guardian stores are selling them at almost twice the price than at NTUC Unity. Anyway, Simethicone is also one of the active ingredients in those anti-colicky medications given out by pediatricians. (the primary being some anti-cholinergic, which works by inhibiting the brain signal transmissions which really don't sound like a good idea ). And except that they charge you easily ten times more. We now use it for bottle feedings and have at least 2 new bottles of Rid-Wind on standby at any time.

Rid-Wind Simethicone Baby Drops

Breast pads are essentials for breastfeedings. At least a few pairs of cotton reusable pads for economical use at home and a box of disposables for outdoors.

There are those who swear by gripe water. Being the unthinking impulsive buyer, I naturally bought one for standby initially, but later on started having doubts on it. Online searches for gripe water throws up inconclusive evidence of its effectiveness. There is no hard concrete evidence that the ingredients work and there are speculations that it could actually be the sweetness that soothes the baby. Some even warn against babies ingesting dill oils. So to err on the safe side we decided to give gripe water a miss.