Why You Should Not Get A Massage Lady To Clear Your Blocked Ducts

I realised I had blocked ducts on Friday morning when I woke up, even though I latched a few times in the night. They were painful. by 9am I was in so much pain, I took panadol to soothe it. Fever kicked in too. I called all the recommended Massage Ladies from my mummies groups and managed to get a particular Mdm Y*** to come down to help me. She was a very nice lady. And I think she did manage to clear some.

My breasts were still really painful the next day. Mdm Y*** even messaged to see if I was better. Very good service follow-up! 🙂 I then started taking the anti-inflammatory pills from the GP. And continued with my panadol. By Monday (just 2 days of taking the pills) most of the pain was gone and I had no more fever. But I could still feel lumps.

On Tuesday, a particular Mdm I** came to clear for me. She stayed for less than 1 hour and I think my lumps were maybe slightly better, but they were still there.

I was at my wits end. I want to continue breastfeeding. The blocked ducts were irritating me. I was in pain. Should I call another massage lady in? After speaking to some mummies, I decided to call an LC the very next day for help. I had no idea why getting an LC was not one of my options earlier.

I asked for an appointment with a Lactation Consultant at Mount Alvernia Parentcraft Centre, and got a slot with Sister Kang at 11am. I was hopeful. 🙂

Sister Kang is a very nice lady and she is very skillful too! She saw me for about 45 minutes. And through this 45 minutes, not only did she help me clear my ducts, I also managed to learn a lot from her about blocked ducts. And I hope to share all these with you, because in future if I get a blocked duct, I will go straight to an LC and not an ML, and I hope you do too!

1. Most massage ladies do not know how to clear the blocked ducts properly. They end up making it worse for some, and injure the breast tissue for some. Note that I have only ever called recommended massage ladies who are good at the breast to massage for me. Previously some have helped me clear before. But maybe those were easy to clear cases. This time, the 2 recommended ones have not been able to clear.
2. Sometimes lumps you feel might be dilated ducts or breast tissue. For eg. sometimes the breast is hard, but disappears when you pump, and it comes back again. Those are not blocked ducts. those are dilated ducts. Or, after you pump and sometimes you can feed tendon like things. those are not blocked ducts either. They are breast tissue! So yes, I had both of these and they were “diagnosed” by both the LCs that saw me that they were blocked ducts!!!
3. From the day you realise you have Mastitis, even if you do go and see a doctor to take antibiotics, it can escalate into abscess within 2 days if not cleared properly. You will need to get it massaged and cleared as soon as possible. Best is to see an LC to clear once you feel the first onslaught of pain.
4. The milk from blocked ducts can be quite salty, so some babies might not like it. And when they don’t like it, they refuse to latch. And the blocked duct gets worse. And maybe you think, why is my baby on a milk strike? This information is new to me. I had not known that breastmilk can be salty!
5. On Friday when I found out I was engorged, I pumped out some milk at 9am (Shown in the pic below) When left to settle in the fridge, there was a very obvious brownish or dark yellowish paste in the milk too. I was horrified. Was that pus? Did I have abscess?? I found out, the yellowish/brownish milk is just thick milk. They are not pus as pus is in the breast tissue and not in the milk ducts.

Moral of the story, is to recognise the pain and get an LC to attend to it as soon as possible. The only time it cannot be massaged is when there is abscess but then they can refer you to the breast specialist immediately. The LC will be able to access and differentiate which area is blocked, which is a dilated duct, which breast tissue. They will be able to access to see if it is a serious case where you have abscess already and need to be referred to the breast specialist to remove the pus from your breast tissue.

Damage done: $110.(It is $90 for those who gave birth at Mt A) or $160 for a house visit. I had spent more to give to the massage ladies and endured the pain which did not clear my breasts and added more distress to me. I think it is very worth it. And I gained valuable experience and knowledge too. In future if I do get blocked duct, or if any of my friends get a blocked duct, no more recommending massage ladies. I will only recommend lactation consultants from now on.

Breastmilk Storage Bags Comparison

There are a few very commonly used milk bags amongst breastfeeding mummies. In this post I will compare 3 brands: Pigeon, Lansinoh and Boots, the 3 brands I use most often and I will let you know which is my current favourite!

Boots milkbag is really cheap, at 150baht from Thailand. Economically it is the best milk bag around. The plastic is thick and soft. So far no leaks.

However, the downside is something that was highlighted to me by a veteran member in a particular breastfeeding facebook group in Singapore. The portion where you write the information on, it is directly on the part that contains milk. Most other milkbags have it at the top. See the picture below when compared to the Lansinoh milkbag. The gripe is that possibly the ink might seep through the plastic. I’m not so sure about this. I have continued to use the bag and my boy is now 4 years old already.

Lanisoh was my favourite milkbag to use. It is on the expensive side though, even when you manage to get them from local sales or from Amazon. However I love it because the plastic was thin and (superficial i know), the bag is pretty. This impression change though. Lansinoh recently “improvised” their milkbags. The most obvious change is the 3-way portion you have to peel off before you use the bag. I used 1 box (100 pieces) of it, but by the time I have reached about 80 pieces, more than 5 bags have leaked already. I am not sure of the reason it leaked. Was I too rough? I never had this problem before. I stopped using Lansinoh completely. 😦

And now for my current favourite brand. Pigeon milkbags! I chanced upon this when I was given a box to try it out by my friend. The quality of the plastic is similar to that of Lansinoh, which I like. Thin and soft. Not the crispy kind. The bags were packed just as nicely as Lansinoh ones too. And best of all, they do not leak!!! I’m so happy to have found my new trustworthy brand to accompany me for the rest of my breastfeeding journey. 🙂

Hong Kong for Kids – Tips!

We brought our entire family of 3 adults, 2 toddlers (2 and 4 years old) and 1 infant (4 months old) to Hong Kong recently. To check out what we did on each day, you can refer to our itinerary HERE in our previous post. In this post we will share with you some tips on bringing kids to Hong Kong. 🙂

1. Air Tickets

Usually we travel via SQ and try to get them cheaper when we book earlier. But this time, it was less than a month from the actual trip before we booked. SQ was about $1800 for all 6 of us, and the timings were not very ideal. I then chanced upon the Cathay-Maybank deal which cost $1300 for all 6 of us! So we went ahead with it. However, our experience was not very ideal. They do not give toys/gifts to the kids. I asked for them and the reply was that it was a short 4 hour flight, so they don’t have that practice of giving souvenirs to the kids. And this was the same reply I got for both the flights there and back. Also, the bassinet did not seem as sturdy as SQ’s which had a strap over the bassinet to prevent it from flying up during turbulence. Cathay’s one didn’t have that. Overall the staff was not very friendly as compared to SQ. So next time, I will definitely book SQ again.

2. Tickets to Attractions

I checked out kkday(KK), klook(K), and the various websites(Web) themselves before heading to Hong Kong. Most of the prices are very similar. For Klook and sometimes KKday, they didn’t have child prices. So we didn’t buy from them. Here’s roughly what I collated for the attractions we wanted to visit. Disneyland (K:$116, KK: $118/$83, Web: $114/$84), Ocean Park (K:$72, KK:$70/$35, Web: $80/40, Tram+Sky Terrace: K:$15, KK:$13, Web: $16/$8) In the photo below is the prices at a tour agency at the HK airport itself. Those are cheapest though only by a dollar or so and you have to pay in cash. If you don’t want to waste your time at the airport, you can book on the website itself and go to the hotel directly. Also, a tip is to buy your Disneyland meal coupons on Klook. (Don’t worry they are recognised in Disneyland, however you have to exchange your coupons at the entrance). Prices of food in Disneyland range from about 129-139 HKD. Meal coupons are sold for $25 which converts to be about 129HKD. But you can spend it on the slightly more expensive dish. Also, it comes with a free ice cream or pop corn that you can collect at their many carts in Disneyland. You also get 5HKD off a bottled drink if you want.

3. Hotel

We needed to find a hotel with 2 queen size beds in them, if not we will need 2 rooms each with a queen/king size bed. A large room with 2 queen size beds is more economical but there are not that many in Hong Kong. Disneyland’s Hotels are all of that configuration. However we were also planning to stay for 3 nights in the central. We shortlisted Royal Plaza Hotel (RP) and also Holiday Inn Golden Mile(HI). Here are our comparisons. RP was connected to Mongkok East MTR and also directly connected to a shopping mall. However, Mongkok East MTR is not very accessible as it is not on the main train line. HI nearest train station is Tsim Sha Tsui. It is a very convenient MTR station but you need to walk about 3 minutes to reach it. And it is not sheltered. HI is also very near to the Harbour which was why we chose it in the end as we wanted to watch the Symphony of Lights.

As for the hotel in Disneyland, it doesn’t matter which hotel you stay at, you can enjoy all the programmes and activities at all the 3 hotels. However, Disneyland Hotel has a strong drawing point to it as it looks like a Disneyland Castle! It also has an indoor swimming pool which was sadly closed when we were there so we did not get to use it at all. It is a must to have breakfast at the hotel. At least once (because it is very ex). That is when you get to meet all the characters like Mickey, Minnie, Pluto and Goofy. So you do not need to queue for these characters whilst in Disneyland itself!

4. Airport Transfer

When travelling with kids, just take the taxi. From airport to hotel is about 250HKD. Even when on the map, Hong Kong Disneyland is just 3 MTR stops from the hotel, please DO NOT take train with all your luggages and all. We wanted to experience sitting on the Disneyland MTR train. So we planned to go to the airport via that. That train only travels one stop and returns. So you can just take it for fun, no need to go anywhere. That 3 stops, we had to change at every stop. Which is fine if we just had to go up or down the lift to the next train. But no, we had to walk quite fair, cross bridged, even go out of the gantry and re enter again. That 3 stops took us about 1.5 hour. And we were almost late for checking in as we had thought it would be about 30 minutes only. It also cost more than a cab for the 6 of us. 3 adults and 1 paying child.

5. Attractions

You can view our Itinerary to see how we spaced out and did what on which day. We went there for 6D5N and visited Ocean Park, The Peak, and Disneyland. Ocean Park had many shows that you can catch. There are some rides that kids can sit in, maybe half the rides. but a large half of it is meant for older kids and adults. For the children, do take the Ocean Express and the Cable car to the higher part of the Ocean Park. They really enjoyed those. Cable Car queue is usually very long though. So if you happen to see it is short, just go and take it first. The kids liked the penguins and seals as well. We only managed to catch the dolphin show though. And they enjoyed it! Go earlier to find good seats!

The Peak is more worth going if you have older kids who can enjoy the wax museum and the trick eye museum. Ours can enjoy neither. But we had fun riding in the tram. A tip though, maybe just a single ticket will do. The trip up is always very crowded until about 2-3pm. So if you intend to go up before that, just take a cab up (about 70 hkd from the ferry station) and later on take the tram down. The shopping centre was not very big as well so we didn’t spend a lot of time up there. We went up to the sky terrace though. Nice pics, but that’s about it.

Disneyland, it was my first time there. I was surprised that most of the rides did not have a height limit. Which meant that even my 2 year old could play in almost everything. Even my 4 month old took rides! It is really worth it to bring my 2 year old there as she was free entry and she had loads of fun. Needless to say, my 4 year old enjoyed himself too and he also managed to go on an easy roller coaster ride! The Toy Story section had more rides for older kids. Other than that, most are for the little toddlers and younger kids. The kids wanted to repeat each ride. We took each ride for about 10 times maybe. Good thing there was no queue as we went on a weekday. Try to catch the shows in the park too. The Lion King one was really good. 🙂 The park opens at 10am and closes after the every one clears after the 8:30pm fireworks. For a good seat to watch the fireworks, you have to be there at 7:30pm to catch the parade.

Symphony of Lights, not worth watching.

6. Strollers

Many people will tell you not to bring strollers to Hong Kong because of the many MTR staircases. But let me advise you otherwise. We brought 1 stroller and regretted it. Because we should have brought 2. the MTRs have lifts! Of course right, they have people in the country who are on wheelchairs. However, we brought light weight strollers as lifts are not stationed everywhere and we just wanted to take the MTR at the nearest entrance we can find. These are the only staircases you have to carry the strollers down. And our Yoya was perfect for that. Easy to open, easy to close, lightweight. We also spent a lot of time at Ocean Park and Disneyland and ended up renting their strollers for 100hkd (20sgd) a day. We could have save that much money if we brought our own stroller! Good thing we at least brought one with us.

7. Baby Care Rooms

These are largely available everywhere you go. Shopping Malls and Ocean Park and the Peak have nursing rooms and diaper changing rooms. However, Disneyland only has diaper changing table but they are in every Ladies. So if you are nursing, good to just bring your nursing shawl so you can latch on the go. Or just sit down somewhere to latch.

Have more questions about Hong Kong? Just leave a comment or email or pm on facebook! 🙂

 

Hong Kong for Kids – Itinerary

Just about a month ago, we decided to bring our kids, yes, all 3 of them, to Hong Kong for a quick get away.  They are aged 4months, 2yo and 4yo. Many of my friends have since asked for my itinerary as they have kids of similar ages. So I thought might as well record it here 🙂 (We also give some tips for travelling to Hong Kong with kids. You can read about it HERE)

Day 1: Our flight arrived at Hong Kong at about 2. We reached our hotel at Tsim Sha Tsui (Holiday Inn Golden Mile) at about 4pm. We rested for a while until about 5:30pm. We had planned to stay near the Harbour so we can watch the symphony of lights show at the Harbour and also take the ferry to Hong Kong Island. So that’s what we did. We took a ferry to the other side for dinner. We hung out at the harbour for a while later on. We bought ice cream and sat around listening to the many buskers performing. They were pretty good!

Day 2: Ocean Park! It opens only at 10am and was only 2 MTR stops away from our hotel so we had a slow morning and arrived there at 10am. We basically spent the whole day there. There are kiddy rides suitable for the toddlers but there were a lot of adult rides as well. The kids also enjoyed looking at the penguins and seals. There were many shows but we only managed to catch the dolphin one. You have to try the ocean express and the cable car ride too! They are free of charge.

Day 3: We met my Aunty who resides in Hong Kong for a timsum brunch. After that we had intended to take the tram up to The Peak. However the queue was SUPER long! So we took a cab up instead. It was only about 70 HKD. There was the Wax Museum and a Trick-eye museum up there but we didn’t go to either as our kids would not know how to appreciate yet. So we just hung around, got an ice cream at haagen daaz, went to the sky terrace, played at a make shift bouncy castle, and took the tram down. In the evening, we caught the symphony of lights at the harbour.

Day 4: Disneyland! Similar to Ocean Park, the park opens at 10am. We checked out of our hotel, went to Disneyland Hotel in a cab (150hkd), deposited our luggage, and headed straight to Disneyland in the shuttle bus provided by the hotel! We stayed at the park until after the fireworks were over before going back.

Day 5: Repeat. We only covered half of Disneyland the previous day as the kids wanted to go on each ride multiple times. So glad we bought the 2-day pass. We were at Disneyland from 10am to 9pm this time and we hung around in the shop to choose our souvenir after the daily 8pm fireworks.

Day 6: Breakfast at the Enchanted Garden with the Disney Characters!! Thereafter we just hung out around at the hotel, playing in the maze and running around in the lobby and bumping into Goofy at the lobby, before heading to the airport to check out. It was a pity that the indoor swimming pool was closed. We had wanted to bring our 4 month old there to play.

That’s it! 🙂 Just for more info, we took Cathay flights as there was this promotion with Maybank Credit Cards at the time of purchase. So for the 6 of us, the total was only $1.3k instead of 1.8k if we had chosen SQ instead.  If you are planning a 5 day trip instead, I would suggest to skip The Peak. The tram ride is fun, but it is a relatively short ride. For a 4 day trip, just head straight to Disneyland 🙂

Leave your comments here or on my facebook page if you would like to know more 🙂

[Sponsored Review] Pigeon Steam Sterilizer

This post is written in collaboration with Pigeon.

Previously, I did not believe in steam sterilizers. When my first child was born, I wanted to save that $100 and use the traditional boiling method to sterilize the milk bottles. I cannot tell you the number of times I got burnt by the hot water splashing on me, by accidentally touching the sides of the pot, and melting the bottle tears because they came into contact with the pot. I succumbed and got a steam sterilizer.

Pigeon sterilisers are aesthetically pretty. The are sleek and round. They are practical to use too as it is large.

Here you can see that there are 2 layers in the sterilizer. The height of the top layer is adjustable according to your needs. For example if you are using small (short) bottles, you can adjust the height of the top layer to be lower, and on the top, you will then have more space for the bottle teats, covers, and you can even put in your pump parts to sterilize.

I “test packed” with the pigeon wide necked bottles. You can see that when I have put the 5 bottles in, there is still a lot of space available. The bottles are stuck in to the plastic fixtures at the bottom of the bottom layer of the sterilizer. I tried nuk premuim choice bottles with it and it fits as well!

If you have bottles that are taller than the pigeon bottles, no fret because there is a lot of space available on the top layer even after you have placed your bottles inside. You can also choose to remove the top layer completely if you want to.  I have tried using the sterilizer without fixing my bottles into the fixtures at the bottom of the sterilizer. In that way, I can actually put in 5 large bottles, 2 small bottles and all my pump parts for 1 sterilization cycle.

What I like about the pigeon sterilizer is that it requires very little water to sterilize. The box said rapid steaming in 6 minutes and it is really that fast! Yes, I actually went to time it. What’s good about this that no doubt you will have to descale it. All warmers and sterilizers are the same. But for the Pigeon one, the surface area to descale is very small. That is a BIG plus point!

Another good point of the sterilizer is the dome shape of the cover. I didn’t know that this would be a plus point until I used it. So, guess why it is in the shape of a dome? After sterilizing and when I wanted to remove the bottles to use them, usually we will remove the cover and all the waterdroplets will drip down. However, it being in a dome shape, there was no such problem! I simply placed the dome down on the table top while I removed the bottle I wanted and then covered the sterilizer back again and the water droplets remained in the cover!

The Pigeon Sterilizer also comes in a compact version that is large enough for 2 bottles and I love to bring it with me when we go travelling or using it for the pump parts in the office. These are all sold in major shopping centres and departmental stores in Singapore.

For more information on the sterilizers and other Pigeon products, you can check out the Pigeon Singapore website HERE.

[Review+Giveaway] Playkeroo @100am Mall

Playkeroo, located at Amara Hotel’s 100am Mall, opened just earlier this year and we were delighted to be invited for a session at the playground.

The playground opens at 10am everyday. When we arrived at 11am, it was already very crowded due to it being a weekend!

Strollers are not allowed in the playground. But you can park it outside of the playground but within their premises. Look at all those shoes. Everyone is at the playground early!

Admission charges for the playground are as follows. And as the same practice goes for all indoor playgrounds, you will have to bring your own socks or purchase socks from the counter before entering.

After being tagged, having a temperature check and having our hands sanitized, we were allowed into the playground! Just beyond the entrance was the toddler section. This part of the playground was meant to be for 0-18 months. It was a really suitable place for them to play in. However you will have to keep a look out for some older kids who might run once in a while as the area is not structurely separated from the main playground.

Just past the toddlers section is a car track where there are vehicles for the kids to drive in, a car wash, and even a petrol station to pump petrol for their cars!

The petrol station was my son’s favourite activity for the day. He was practically there the whole time, either waiting for his turn to use the pump machine or happily pumping petrol for others.

Turning in after the track, I found a place were I can put my beloved Jujube Be Right Back! These are actually meant for resting parents. But it has been taken over by all the diaper bags!

And then I came to the main playground where the full climbing structures were. There was a trampoline, a large ball pit, slides that go into the ball pit, and lots of areas you can run around and climb in.

The playground is very suitable for kids aged 2 to 6. My elder is 4 and my younger was 2. We always know that the older one is able to have fun. At that age, they are able to create play wherever they go. However my 2 year old I was afraid I had to entertain her, but she was so happy at the playground with lots of things to play with!

Playkeroo has a party room too, should you choose to hold your child’s birthday party there. Alternatively you can book the entire playground for the party. Here’s the party room and also the charges.

Having a 3 month old with me wherever I go now, I will always take a peek at the nursing room and diaper room facilities. Playkeroo has a nursing/diaper room inside their premise! You would not need to leave the playground when your kid had soiled their diaper or need to feed. However, an advice though is you will still need to bring your nursing cover along. As after you have drawn the curtains over the nursing chair, the staff access room is still INSIDE of the drawn curtain area.

If you are thirsty, you can always buy a drink at their counter. They serve very kids friendly drinks there.

What’s so special about this playground is they have an attached nail spa for the mummies to go to! (Of course this is provided You have Simeone else taking care of your kid) and prices are currently going for 20% off for the month of April!

Parking tips: it is really expensive to park at Amara hotel. $2 per half an hour! So we decided to just park along the road next to 100am mall. It was convenient and cheap. Of course, hope it does not rain!

For more information, you can visit their website at http://playkeroo.sg/ or facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/playkeroosg/

Giveaway time! Click the links below to participate in our giveaway. We are giving away 3 passes on our Facebook page and 2 on our Instagram page. Join both for a greater chance of winning! 🙂

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SmartKids Asia 2017

SmartKids Asia is back from 17 to 19 March 2017 at Singapore Expo Hall 6 for its sixth installation since it started in 2012. This year, SmartKids Asia partners The Straits Times Schools team to introduce two new additions to the educational event.

To commemorate the 75th anniversary of the fall of Singapore, The Straits Times Young Storymakers Camp, will make its debut at SmartKids Asia. The two-day camp is built on the idea of bringing young explorers back in time, and into the shoes of a war reporter. Participants from ages 9 to 12 will get to walk through Singapore’s rich history, and learn news reporting techniques from The Straits Times journalists.

Also making its debut is The Straits Times Parenting Masterclasses – a two-day seminar for parents to learn and discuss parenting tips from experts such as Sha-En Yeo, a positive psychology coach and award-winning author. The News-in- Education specialists from The Straits Times Schools Team will also discuss how news stories are useful resources for imparting character education and English language skills to pupils.

In partnership with National Library Board, the event will unveil SmartKids Asia Storyland for the first time. For three days, this segment will showcase timeless classics in the form of theatrical plays and storytelling from Goldilocks & The Three Bears, Little Red Riding Hood to Hansel & Gretel, and more.

Pororo Park Singapore, the Official Play Partner of SmartKids Asia 2017, will also be a part of SmartKids Asia Storyland presenting a rendition of Jack & The Beanstalk featuring its main character, Pororo The Penguin.

Organised by Sphere Exhibits Pte Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Singapore Press Holdings Ltd (SPH), SmartKids Asia will take place on 17 – 19 March from Friday to Sunday at 10am – 9pm (17 – 19 March) and 10am – 8pm (19 March) at Singapore Expo, Hall 6.

Visitors at SmartKids Asia 2017 can also look forward to the following activities:

1. Meet & Greet sessions

SmartKids Asia will bring forth two sets of popular characters: My Little Pony featuring Apple Jack, Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash; and Pororo & Friends featuring Pororo, Krong and Petty for three days of performances and Meet & Greet sessions.

2. Free Trial Classes

Three days of trial classes from educational and enrichment providers will happen from 10am to 8pm daily. The programmes are tailored for ages 2 – 12 years old, encompassing English, Maths, Science, technology, arts and more. Registration is available here.

3. Daily Stage Activities

A comprehensive set of stage segments from various exhibitors encompassing education, the arts and sports at SmartKids Asia.

4. SmartKids Asia Activity Area

The Activity Area will have hands-on activities specially crafted for parents and children ages 3 to 7. Parents can look forward to arts and crafts activities such as puppet-making, cake-pop making and printmaking from partners such as Playeum, and Spurbox.

5. Daily Lucky Draws with prizes worth more than $10,000

Visitors will be entitled to one chance in the lucky draw with every receipt of purchase. Happening daily at 7.30pm, $10,000 worth of prizes will include a family suite at Amara Sanctuary Resort worth $2,800, family passes to Bounce Singapore and many more.

6. Goodie Bag Giveaway (Worth up to $50)

With a total of 1,500 goodie bags to be given away, registrants are to redeem the Goodie Bags at the event from 10am onwards. Participants can reserve a goodie bag through pre-registration on SmartKids Asia Facebook page or be the first 200 to queue at the door.

7. SmartKids Asia’s Fun Passport

The Fun Passport is an interactive activity for children of all ages. Participants are to complete activities from different pit stops held at various booths. Completion of the Fun Passport entitles one to spin the prize wheel with exclusive prizes up for grabs.

8. SmartKids Asia Talent Time

As a new stage segment, Talent Time is open to children from all walks of life to display skills and talents in the areas of dancing, singing, and playing an instrument for the coveted title of SmartKids Asia Talent Time champion. The top participants will walk away with prizes worth more than $1,000 in total. Registration is available here.

9. SmartKids Asia Art Contest

In partnership with The Dim Sum Place, a new F&B joint by the creators of The Ramen Stall, the art competition caters to children ages 9 – 12 to showcase their creativity at SmartKids Asia. The top 10 winners will walk away with retail vouchers from The Dim Sum Place worth more than $500 and more. Registration is available here.

10. Stabilo Junior Colouring Contest

SmartKids Asia and Stabilo is introducing a Colouring Contest for children in the younger age group of 5 to 8 years old. Happening on all three days, the winners of the contest will walk away with prizes worth more than $500 in total. Registration is available here.

11. SmartKids Village

In collaboration with partners such as MARIGOLD UHT Milk, the SmartKids Village offers complimentary snacks and drinks to children of all ages. The complimentary foods will be available at varying timeslots throughout the day. Limited quantities will be available each day.

For more information on the latest updates and event highlights, visit www.smartkidsasia.com or www.facebook.com/smartkidsasia.

[Sponsored Review] Haenim 7S Bluetooth Breastpump

There are now more and more breastpumps in the market. Which one to choose and what makes each one unique? We got to try the Haenim 7S breastpump and I find it very suitable especially for exclusively pumping mummies due to the functions and compatibility with the Haenim 7S Breastpump App.

Haenim 7S is the world’s first BLUETOOTH Breast Pump! This means that the pump can be controlled on your phone, via bluetooth, using the Haenim 7S App! The App can

(a) Save your fave controls and it will run automatically!
(b) Records pump session details like date/time, duration.
(c) You can input the volume expressed at each session!
(d) Graph to help you monitor your expression volume.
(e) Set reminders/alarms for your next pump session!

These were the items that came in the box. Breastpump, flanges, flange covers, silicon flange pads, milk bottles, valves, timings, power plug, instruction manual and a warranty card.

I was very happy that it came with 3 sizes of flanges 24/28/32mm so you could pick one that was a best fit.

I also liked that the flanges came with silicon cushions so it was more comfortable against the breast during pumping. Another major plus point was that the bottles are 200ml bottles which were perfect for me especially when I’m engorged! I won’t need to pause pumping to switch bottles anymore!

This picture shows how to connect all the parts and tubings. Initially I had not known how to connect as it was different from my current breastpump. However it was really simple to fit everything together.

In case you only wanted to do single pumping, you can also remove one tubing  from the pump and cap it up.

I tried out using the app to control the pump. It was very simple. Using the app, I could toggle between 9 different strengths for massage mode and pumping mode. You could also enter your name (I keyed in “mummy”) to customise and personalise your pump settings and for recording purposes. Yes, you can also use the pump by itself without the app. However, the app will have the timing for the pump session, which the pump set itself doesn’t have.

After you stop the pump, you will see this summary of the pump session (I am lazy so I usually skip the massage session as you can tell from the summary) It showed that I have pumped for 11 minutes and 9 seconds and I can also enter the volume that I have collect for each breast.

All the pump info will be stored and you can view them later on at the Stats page. As I latch most of the time, I only pump once a day. This chart shows my pump data over 3 days. It shows how long I have pumped for, and how much was my yield each day. I can also toggle to see the statistics for each day, or even for each month.

Usually the question asked when buying a new pump would be “Can it clear your breasts?”. Well for mine, I think they cleared well enough, and efficiently too. That said, clearing well and efficiently has many factors. One of which is whether you have used the correct flange size.

If you are interested in the pump, you can purchase it from the below link:

https://tlo.com.sg/collections/haenim/products/haenim-7s-bluetooth-breast-pump

TLO will also be at the upcoming baby fair in April at Expo.

Here’s also a $100 off discount code for you to use to purchase the breastpump from TLO. Code: BEAUTIFULCHAOS

T&C for discount code:

(1) For use at www.TLO.com.sg only.

(2) Valid till 31 May 2017 only.

(3) $100 off Haenim 7S Bluetooth Breast Pump only.

Disclosure: This is sponsored collaboration between Thelittleonesinmylife and Beautiful Chaos. We received the Haenim 7S Bluetooth Breastpump for review purposes. All photographs and opinions are my own.

Nursing Room – Hillion Mall

Level B1

One room with nursing chair, water dispenser and changing table. 

Natal Kitchen Confinement Tingkat Review

My #3 was due in early January and the confinement nanny could only work until 21st Jan due to CNY. I thus decided to find a Confinement Tingkat company to order from so at least I can have Confinement food for a longer period of time. That was when Natal Kitchen offered me their single/dual meal plans for Confinement!

Of course I had a trial meal with them first. You can read about my trial meal experience HERE.

Natal Kitchen’s Confinement tingkat comes in a warmer bag. Food is warm when they arrive but if I choose to have it later, it is also very easy to warm up in the microwave. For a month, my food arrived  usually about 11-11:30am. Occasionally earlier and occasionally later, but never before 10:30am and never after 12nn. That was good as I usually take my lunch about 11:30am-12nn.

Each meal comes with 2 bowls of longan red date tea. And Friday meals include a dessert as well. I like it that their longan red date tea just right. Not too sweet and definitely not dilute.

The variety of the foods served everyday is vast. There are hardly any repeats! You will not get sick of the food. There is one particular dish I really loved but it never repeated!

The soups are flavourful and full of ingredients. You can see ginseng in some of the pictures below too!

Natal Kitchen offer trial meals before you order the whole package.

Quote: TNKJOY for the following discounts and free gifts!

21 / 28days single meal: $50 discount + 1x 1.8L La Gourmet food jar free
21 / 28days double meal: $80 discount + 1x 2L La Gourmet thermal cooker free

Wishing you a smooth labour and a good confinement ahead! 🙂