Unboxing the Philips Avent 3-in-1 electric sterilizer

*Items were purchased by myself

A sterilizer is essential for every mummy. and can be used to sterilize bottles/pacifiers/breast pumps initially or food jars when they start to wean, so it is really a good investment to get a good one that last.

A sterilizer is essential because milk actually contains alot of nutrients, and bacteria can grow in that environment. Especially when newborns have not build up their immune system, these bacteria can cause them to be really sick. In the past, people used to sterilize the old-fashion way, which is to sterilize bottles in boiling water. You will have to monitor it, and also the hot steam may scald your hand *Ouch

Now the electric sterilizers really make this process hassle-free. Plug in, switch on and they will sterilize within minutes and auto switch off. And remain sterilized for up to 24 hours. Amazing!

After much deliberation between the Avent 3-in-1 and Pigeon Rapid steam sterilizer, I decided to get the Avent one for several reasons:

1) Avent sterilizer is smaller and flat in shape, and thus more space-saving. And it can fit 6 bottles, which will be more than sufficient for me. The Pigeon one is round and can fit 7-9 bottles, which will be useful if there are more kids.

2) Avent sterilizer can keep bottles sterile for up to 24hrs, while 6hrs for Pigeon. I am planning to sterilize twice a day, once before going to bed, so I can use the bottles in the morning. So I will need the bottles to remain sterilize throughout the night before I use them in the morning.

3) Sterilization time needed for both is 6mins, so they are on par.

I was also considering the Pigeon multi-function sterilizer, which is a sterilizer, bottle and food warmer in 1. The pros will be that space-saving and cost-saving, but the cons are that if the base is spoilt, all 3 functions will be gone and also when I am sterilizing, I cannot warm a bottle at the same time.

The Avent box comes in a carrier for easy transport.

The box exterior:

Quick guide on how to use:

Freebies that comes with it:

Avent 125mL bottle

Pacifier

What I believe is used to remove the hot items from sterilizer

Contents:

Top left: ‘Lid’

Bottom left: ‘Base’

Top right: ‘Body’ (for taller items)

Bottom right: ‘Tray’ ( for smaller items and accessories)

How to assemble for your different needs:

1) Assemble all the 4 parts if you need to sterilize bottles: Put bottles in the ‘body’. Put teats in the ‘tray’.

2) Assemble all except ‘tray’ to sterilize breast pumps

3) Assemble all except ‘body’ to sterilize pacifiers and small items

Hope you enjoy this review 🙂

xoxo,

Best stretch mark products in Singapore

*Products reviewed here were purchased by myself

Having stretch marks is a really nasty thing, and I will do anyhing to prevent it.

If you have no idea how stretch marks look like:

 

Stretch marks during pregnancy are usually found in the belly, and maybe on the breasts, thighs, buttocks, and upper arms 

 

 

There are 3 main causes of stretch marks during pregnancy:

1) Genetics

2) Gaining weight too fast in a short period of time stretches your tummy extensively

3) Dryness and itchiness during to the stretching

 

When do you start getting them:

The 6th or 7th month of pregnancy

 

To reduce stretch marks, I have been religiously using the Palmer’s cocoa butter body lotion every night after bathing from 6 weeks onwards. The 250mL bottle can last a long time as I use only 1 pump everyday before 4 months, and after 4 months I need at least 2-3 pumps to coat my belly 

 

The active ingredients are: Cocoa butter, vitamin E, shea butter and Bio C-Elaste (contains collagen, elastin etc).

 

My review of the product:

Pros: It is creamy (great as an overnight moisturizer), and smells just like chocolate. Not sure whether it will prevent stretch marks, but it does reduce itchiness and dryness of skin. Can be applied all over body, including the breasts.

Cons: Tends to be greasy, so I only use it at night. So people are allergic to cocoa so can’t use this product.

An alternative product is the Clarins stretch mark control, which is also a very popular product. This product contains Crowberry extract as its active ingredient. A cheaper alternative to Clarins is the Bio-oil. Bio-oil formulation is more on plant extracts and vitamins in an oil base.

Some mummies use both, Clarins/Bio-oil in the morning and the Palmer’s for overnight.

Pricing (estimate):

Palmer’s lotion (250mL): S$20+

Clarins (200mL): S$70+

Bio-oil (60mL): S$15+

xoxo,

Tea and coffee suitable during pregnancy for that crave!

I am an avid coffee and tea fanatic. And it is something that I find most difficult to cut down during pregnancy. However, caffeine is not good for pregnancy, so, I resorted to looking for alternatives.

Why do we need to be wary about consuming caffeine during pregnancy?

-Caffeine can pass through the placenta to the fetus. It is a well-known fact that kids should not drink coffee, because it will make them jittery and cause insomnia. Imagine what it can do to a fetus.

– During pregnancy, the body is less efficient in metabolizing caffeine, which means a higher amount of caffeine in the body longer.

-Coffee/tea contains phenol, which affects iron absorption. Iron is one of the most important supplement needed for a healthy pregnancy.

When I read about the harmful effects of caffeine, I really freaked out. However, despite the harmful effects, as long as you keep overall consumption lower than the recommended 200mg a day, should be fine. But this also includes caffeine found in chocolate, and other beverages like coke, pepsi etc.

And our local tea and coffee (those from coffeeshop, Yakun etc) actually contains a higher amount of caffeine. This is because the quality of tea leaves and coffee beans they used are crude and not as refined.

So, here are the few drinks that I have been loving during pregnancy:

Caffeine-free teas

 

 

I use rooibos tea to replace the english breakfast/red teas that I love drinking.

And chamomile lavender has such a nice fragrance and calming effect. Mint tea is also calming and good for digestion.

Decaffeinated coffees

The one from Boncafe is pretty decent. The one from Nescafe is more acidic.

xoxo,

We conceived with ConceivePlus lubricant

*Products reviewed here were purchased by myself

Many women who are trying to conceive are curious about this product-whether it really works or not.

This product is from the brand Sasmar, headquaters in Belgium, Brussels. Their research and products are centered around fertility, family planning and female health.

I personally was using this when I was trying to conceive (TTC). And got pregnant on the third month trying, so it works! The reason why I was looking for a sperm-friendly lubricant was because I tend to have vaginal dryness (Sorry if TMI, heehee). To enhance the intimacy experience for both of us,  I started doing my own research on what kind of lubricants that are suitable for use during TTC. As many of you may know, normal lubricants like Durex and KY jelly are not ‘sperm-friendly’. So if you have been using these lubricants and finding it hard to get pregnant, the solution may just be a simple change of the lubricant you used. I read that the ConceivePlus lubricant not only counters vaginal dryness, but also actively promotes fertilization by increasing sperm motility. Which is all you need, the swimmers reaching their ‘destination’=a beautiful baby 🙂

A 30mL tube costs about S$20 and a 75mL tube costs about S$35. You will need a teaspoon sized amount for each application, so a little goes a long way!

xoxo,

Clearblue Digital with conception indicator review

*Products reviewed here were purchased by myself

I already knew I was pregnant from the home pregnancy tests I took on 11/3/14. I have read good reviews on the Clearblue Digital with conception indicator pregnancy test kit, and decided to try it.

The reason being that most commercial test kits measures qualitative HCG levels, which means that if your urine HCG is higher than the threshold, it will come out as positive, and vice versa. Whereas this kit is more on the quantitative side.

[This test costs about S$24.90 each, and you can purchase at any big pharmacies. I got mine from NUH pharmacy.]

This particular test kit can predict the number of weeks after you have conceived (aka when the sperm fertilizes the egg and starts the pregnancy journey). I actually know that I am 5 weeks pregnant now, counting from my last menstrual period. And I estimate I conceived 2-3 weeks before as I roughly know my ovulation day.

[Btw, doctors will date your pregnancy from the first day of your last period, not from when you conceived. This is because many women do not know when they ovulated, when the egg was fertilized and when did implantation occur. Too many variables. ]

So, I decided to put this pregnancy kit to the test, and see how accurate it is. It claims to be 99% accurate at predicting pregnant or not, and 92% accurate at predicting weeks after conceive.

The 4 possible outcomes of weeks estimator:

How they define:

1-2 weeks – hcg level of 50-200 (96.5% accurate)

2-3 weeks – hcg level of 200-2000 (76.1% accurate)

3+ weeks – hcg level of 2000+ (96.9% accurate)

Like any other kit, it just involves peeing on the stick or dipping into a urine sample. Immediately an hourglass icon pops out to show that it is processing the sample.

Recap it and lie the kit on a flat surface with the screen facing you while waiting.

The ‘Pregnant’ result came like 30s after, and the ‘2-3’ result came out after 2 minutes. Amazing.

The display will stay on for 24 hours become battery runs out.

I think there are 2 main advantages of this system:

1) This can be an early check of your HCG hormones, whether it is increasing at a normal pace. For example, if you know that you conceived 2-3 weeks before, yet the indicator suggest that you conceive 1-2 weeks before, it could mean that your HCG level is on the low side, and maybe you should monitor more closely and do the test again.

2) It also has a ‘error’ indicator, if you did the test wrongly which could affect the accuracy of results.

xoxo,

GNC’s Women’s Prenatal Program review

*Products reviewed here were purchased by myself

From the moment that I knew I was pregnant, I immediately did my research on good prenatal vitamins and supplements to take. I tend to have a fairly unhealthy diet, without much greens and fruits. Thus, I felt the need and assurance to take a multivitamin supplement targeted for pregnancy.

It seems that the GNC’s Women’s Prenatal Program (Physician endorsed) has quite a good reputation.

It comes in a box, with 3 bottles inside, namely,

1) Women’s prenatal formula (with iron)

2) Women’s Calcium 600

3) Women’s DHA 200

1 box can last 30 days, and each box costs S$67.95. A bit on the costly side, but given the comprehensive amount and variety of vitamins that this program provides, it seems like taking this is sufficient to cover all my pregnancy needs.

You actually have to take 2 tablets of 1), and 1 tablet of 2) and 3). In total, 4 tablets each day. I would have to say the tablets are a little big, so I have to make sure I swallow properly. The tablets are to be taken with food for best absorption.

I plan to take this program especially for the first trimester, at least until I see a gynae who will probably prescribe supplements as well.

xoxo,