Thursday 30 April 2009

The Devil wears Prada

Last night while surfing the net for my pregnancy stuffs, dearest hubby suggested that I watch "the devil wears prada" movie.. I wasn't interested in watching it in the 1st place, thinking that it will be like reading some chick-lit books. Yeah, I don't read that kind of books for simple reason that I never find it appealing nor attractive enough for me to read it.Not that I have not tried to read it before ok..

"it's a good movie dear" . And when my hubby said that, I know that I should watch it..Well, I trust his views as he knows me inside out.. Plus, he is damn good at reading people's body language.

The Devil wears Prada. Surprise surprise! This is a good movie.With a good message too.. "Everybody wants to be us." Of course anyone would just love being in Miranda's or Andrea's shoues..Who wouldn't want when u can have all the designer clothes , bags and shoes that middle to lower class people can only dream off! Chanel,Prada, Dolce & Gabbana, Calvin Klein etc..hemmmmm!

But then, being there comes with a price or something that needed sacrifice..Just look at what happened to Miranda's personal life.And Andrea's life too.. Of course each one of us are different people with different view on life principles. But there will always be something that we need to let go. No doubt Miranda has her children and her famous job.But her marriage life?

And for Andrea. When one is at her place where she has be at some company's functions, you are bound not to be able to attend some family or friends gathering/celebration.. But then again, it' s how you play your part in your life that matters.

Of course job is important in life.And so is family & freinds. The bottom line is one should know when to draw the line. When is it for you to make that smartest decisions of having a balance in one's life.

For example, one should try to finish all his/her work on time on that day. The least to do is to finish what u have set out to accomplish on that day. And when u do this, then there will be no reason for u to stay back at office after office hours. Of course it's ok to stay back once a while in a week. But not everyday of the week..

But I always see & hear people staying back at office almost everyday.. And I wonder what happen to their social life.More pitying if they are single ..I wonder when is it do these people meet other single people!

p/s : I just love Meryl Streep's superb act!

Friday 17 April 2009

BPA-free

All things about BPA products is very alarming. I guess that I wasn't that worried nor much affected by it, not since yesterday.

Of course it's easy to be ignorance about it as it's a choice for us to make. But somehow yesterday, I just had to do some research on it to satisfy my curiousity on what BPA is all about.

I did read from wikipedia . But I failed to understand it from that. The explanation on BPA was too high level for me..I need something written in a laymen terms.

Found it here from momslittleones's reading corner . There are two reading materials that focus on BPA which I found easy to understand. After done reading it, I just can't help not to feel so worried and trouble too by this BPA side effects especially for our unborn baby and baby too..

Hard for us to deny that BPA has been around us for 5o years. It is widely use in a making all consumer products ranging from children's toys, resusable drink container , all PVC made products, and very worrisome to parents is plastic baby bottles. Yikes!

And the negative side effects can be from breast cancer, impaired learning and memory, prostate disease & cancer, miscarriage, sperm defects, obesity , diabetics etc...

But among us, who is most at RISK? Our growing children. With that, I'm so busy planning on what to buy and get for my 2nd unborn baby. From the breastpumps, to the bottles, teats and storage milk bags, all will have to be BPA free. Of course these BPA-free products is expensive than the normal one , but we can always minimize the cost by making a good buying plans.

So currently there are so many things going inside my mind. Thank goodness that there are many BPA-free baby products outthere. But the bottom lines will be my baby's products preference. We all know that babies are not alike. What suits ones baby may not suits another baby. And I hate to be making fruitless and wasteless decisions once I make the purchases.. See how mind boggling this things is for expecting mommy like me!

Back to the research findings from the reading corner, they clearly stated brands that is BPA leaching in baby's bottles. Most of these wellknown brands has come up with it's own line of BPA-free baby products in the market thesedays.

But to see those wellknown brands definitely give a strong impact on the mindset of mothers outthere. This will effect the purchasing power that mothers have when buying baby products. Even I was affected by it!

Prior to reading those articles, I thought I could still use all the normal bottles , teats and milk bags. Why? Because the BPA leaching is due to simulated use—dishwashing,brushing, and boiling. And I thought I could simply follow the basic rules of changing bottles and teats ever 3 months. But then, the total cost of using these normal products is actually the same as buying the BPA-free products. And for the sake of our children future, I dare not to take risk.

One thing about being a parent is that we try so hard to give only the best for our children. No doubt that some of us are not financially strong . But that do not deter us from trying to give the best that we can do for our children. I've seen some parents who are just low paid workers. But their actions in being not stingy on food for the children is something that I salute them.. We all know that fish & seafood are expensives. But we can always get it cheap from the wet market expecially if u buy at the early wee hours in the morning.

Thus, BPA free or not, the choice is ours parents!

Oh yeah, do check it out ( the reading materials from momslittleones ) as they got tips on how to avoid this BPA things!

Wednesday 15 April 2009

Spectra vs Ameda BP

Reason of today's entry was due to my visit to momslittleones shop at Sri Kembangan a few weeks ago.

It's is also because I know how dilemma and confusing it is to choose breast pump(BP) ..

Prior to my visit to momslittleones shop, I have chosen 2 BP that I favour most ie Spectra 3 and Ameda Lactaline. On the 1st ranking was Spectra 3 followed by Ameda . But before I can make the final purchase, I need something concrete or strong validation to back up my decision.

In fact, I hate feeling inferior when hubby asked me why I made that purchase.. My dearest husband doesn't like impulse purchases or semi-impulse purchase or whatever purchases that is done without fullest logical thinking. Simple to say, do enough Qs & As before making that final decision.. But then again, I am not a shopaholic too..

Back to my visit , I have to say that I gained alot of useful infos on both BP. And looking at the BP online is definetely not the same as looking at it in reality. When I say in reality, I mean by touching it , feeling it with your barehands and even testing it on my body.

I have to stressed these finer points that touching the BP with my own hands helped me alot in understanding the BPs. There at the shop, the BPs are display outside the box/packaging. Normally we will only see the BPs being displayed in the box. Thus, we only get to view it and read whatever is written on the box/packaging.

But at the shop, they let you touch and try the BPs. And the best part of it, not only that I learn how to assemble & disassemble all the BP parts, I found out which one is easier to use. Working mothers who have to express at office have less time to spare for expressing session.

So on Spectra I found out that it's open system pump is one bad point that I dont like.. An open systems pump means that there is no barrier in between the tubes and milk collection . So there is a chance that milk will leak into the pump tubing. With that, this means inconvenience and a hassle to working mothers as we have to then wash, sterilize and air dry the tubes before pumping again. And the tubes are not that big. In office, the most that we will pump is for 3 sessions. And how on earth are we going to airdry it in such a short time?

And I found out from the sales person there who was really helpful and knowledgable about BPs, these incidents is a common thing. Another common thing to happen is that milk/water gets into the motorpump via the tubes. And when this happen, you need to send your motor for a service. Each service cost about RM50-RM100 . Once u send your motor pump for service, the level of noice motor will be a bit louder than before.. But it is still quiter than Medela which most users said sounded like mesin potong rumput!!!!! Imagine the noise of the motor pump of a grasscutter.

And with milk leaking inside the tubes, then mold can be found too.. Mold is not good as this will infected your precious expressed milk.

Howeve, the manufaturer have recently come up with a special item that function as a barrier to prevent leaking milk. How effective this small part is unknown yet as momlittleone have only have it in their shop recently ( less than a month ) . Thus, need to wait for review from the users.

As for Ameda, it is a closed system pump that have a diaphragm which acts as a barrier to prevent milk from leaking into tubes. Thus, the expressed milk is never exposed to the tubes or the motor pump. The best part is that less parts to wash and sterilize! Yippe! And no mold too..


On a personal notes, I did have a good look at the Spectra & Ameda BP. I found out that the milk-leak-into-tubes can happen easily due to the design of the Spectra. So that is one key point that worries me.. You may think how on earth will the milk leak into the tubes and into the motor pump. Well, it can happen when we accidently dropped the bottles on the floor or have it tilted during expressing sessions.

Another bad points on Spectra is that u can't use batteries supply when there is no electricity. But with Ameda yes.

However, both have it's good points too. Both can be used with Avent wide neck bottles and Aventvia cups. Just use the Spectra Wide neck converter. This u can only find from fabulousmom online shop( for malaysia).

Both are good trusted BP brand that is recommend by certified lactations. The level of noise is way much better than Medela BPs. And it's not that heavy & bulky too..

On single pump and double pump, I only have to say this. If u are a working mother like me who wants more expressed milk in a short time ( less than 20 minutes from assembling the BP to washing it ) , then double pumps is the best choice. On brands, Medela or Spectra of Ameda are ok.. So long as it is approved and recommended by certified lactations.

Oh yeah, somehow Avent is not so on the prefered list at that shop...

I'm can't wait to receive my Ameda this week...