Rainbow: As the title suggests, in this post, Sunshine and I will share about the various electronics which we bought for use in caring for Baby Cloud. As Baby C is still baking in my womb, we have not had the chance to actually use these electronics yet and our purchases were mainly from friends’ recommendations. Sunshine will be the main writer for this post as electronics is more of “his thing” than mine and I shall only share about the breast pump I bought.
Breast Pump – Spectra S1+
This is a popular breast pump to go to in recent years and all my friends who gave birth in the last two years bought this, as well as Spectra S9+ subsequently for going out. Initially, I had contemplated buying a cheaper breast pump so that I would not be wasting hundreds of dollars in case I do not have breast milk/am not keen to continue breast feeding for various reasons. However, my friend said she felt that there was a difference in the “sucking power” between the cheaper breast pump and Spectra S1+. If she had another chance, she would not have spent the money on the cheaper pump which did not result in much breast milk yield for her. Another reason for me wanting to spend hundreds of dollars on a breast pump was more of a psychological brainwashing for myself. If I did not spend so much on a pump, maybe I would have lesser qualms about stopping breast feeding when the going gets tough? On the contrary, if I did spend a bit more, then maybe I would not give up breast feeding that easily since it would be a waste of money? I did not consider other breast pumps simply because everyone around me was using this pump and had good reviews.
I bought my Spectra S1+ pump via Qoo10 and hence, was not entitled to any local warranty. Again, this decision was made based on feedback from my friends who bought the same pump. As they did not encounter any issues with the pump during their breast feeding period, I thought the pump would be lasting for its purpose and hence, did not feel the need to pay an additional $100+ to get the pump locally for its local warranty. I bought my pump from ohmyshop23 during one of its pre-11.11 sale and paid a total of $175.50 for dual pump and a “SG plug”. Sunshine was the one who wanted to add the “SG plug” as he thought the pump’s plug would then be changed to fit local plugs and there would not be a need to use a travel adapter, which was more troublesome. In the end, we realised that the “SG plug” was actually just an external adapter =.=” For $4.50, we would rather pay addition $0.50 to buy a travel adapter from Challenger as we could still use it when we travel overseas instead of this lousy “SG plug” which could only be used for Korean electronics for Singapore’s plugs. We both feel cheated. I also realised that the base price which I paid ($139), was not the lowest despite it being advertised as “pre-11.11 sale”. My friend had paid an even lower price when she bought during other time periods. Overall, I feel that service/delivery and the fact that we got all the items we paid for was decent and would recommend this shop if anyone is interested. However, my advice is to monitor the prices for a period before buying it when the price is lower than usual.
Update: 5 months post-delivery and this pump is a god-sent! It accompanied me through the daily pumping nights and allowed me to pump sufficiently for Baby C. I also love its battery life – I only need to charge it every one to two days for a three to four hourly pumping schedule in my initial months post-partum (I have a portable pump for use at work now). I have no regrets buying this pump from this seller (instead of buying locally at a higher price for the warranty)!
UV Steriliser – Haenim 4th Gen
In the past, most of our parents (at least both Rainbow’s and my parents) will use boiling water to sterilise milk bottles and teats. With the advancement in technology, UV sterilisers have emerged as popular electrical appliances to sterilise infant-related items. The workings of UV sterilisers are simple – it is simply a mirrored box with a bunch of UV LED lamps. The UV rays kill all the nasty bacteria and viruses. The disadvantage is that it will decolourise and/or accelerate the degradation of some plastics. For this reason, it is recommended that the milk bottle is made of PPSU material and the teat is made of silicone if you are using UV sterilisers.
There are many, many different brands and models of UV steriliser on the market. After doing some research, I have opted for the Haenim 4th Gen Sterilizer and bought it from Qoo10. The seller, ohmyshop (same as the one we bought our breast pump from) has directly imported the steriliser from South Korea and has priced it much lower than the retailers offering the exact same unit at baby fairs. Similar to the breast pump, this means that we do not have any local warranty for our steriliser as well. However, I am not worried about this because, in my humble opinion, the two main things which need to be under warranty are:
1) UV lamps
I want my UV lamps to be working properly so as to sterilise Baby C’s items in the way they should. In the event they break down, I would want to be able to replace it. Hence, it would be good to have it covered under warranty. However, UV lamps cost so much cheaper to buy on our own outside (we added 2 additional lamps for $10 when we bought the steriliser) that it makes no sense to pay a premium to get a local set just for the local warranty. In fact, even if my UV lamps are working properly, I would recommend changing them every 6 months to ensure their effectiveness in sterilising the items. If so, there is no point in me getting a warranty.
2) Integrity of the Steriliser
Another thing I thought we might need the warranty for would be the integrity of the unit. If the integrity of the unit is compromised anywhere, UV rays may be leaking out and we all know the harmful effects of UV rays on our skin, right (think of the sunblock we use under the sun)? However, I do not think we will be denting or doing anything to compromise the integrity of the unit and hence, I feel there is again, no need for the warranty.
We got the Haenim 4th Gen UV Steriliser as Haenim seemed to be the most popular choice amongst our friends. Unlike Cuchen which costs $500+, we paid less than $300 for our 4G Haenim (with the two additional lamps). I chose the 4G version instead of the 3G version because it is fully covered i.e. there is no glass for one to see the insides of the steriliser. While Rainbow wanted the glass so she could see what is happening inside during the sterilisation process (and also because it is cheaper), I would prefer to have a fully covered door, instead of a relatively thinner glass, to reduce any leakage of UV rays from the unit when it is working.
Delivery from the seller was fast and we got our steriliser in good condition. Rainbow loved the “chio-ness” of the steriliser while I thought it looked sleek and sturdy. As mentioned above, do not spend your money on the “SG plug” because it was just a stupid adapter.
Update: 5 months after the birth of Baby C and we have no regrets buying this UV steriliser from this seller (as opposed to buying locally at a much higher price for the warranty). We had been using the steriliser heavily – a few times per day daily and it is still in good condition, just like when we first got it!
Thermometer – Pigeon Digital Thermometer
I bought a digital thermometer for Baby C simply because ear thermometers are not accurate for newborns and I do not like infrared forehead thermometers. Infrared thermometers are much more expensive yet, the one we got previously was lousy and not accurate too (Rainbow was always about 35+ degrees Celsius only).
Honestly, I did not do much (any) research for a digital thermometer. We got the Pigeon digital thermometer simply because it was the only available thermometer for newborns when we shopped at NTUC. However, I liked it because it is not only suitable for use from 0+ month, it has a soft tip, is accurate up to 2 decimal places (which appeals to my scientific side) and stores the last reading. It is also much cheaper than an infrared thermometer ($9+ vs $100+). It was a satisfying buy, a cheap thrill to get something settled so easily. Lol. We got this thermometer on one of our regular trip to NTUC on 31 Jan 2020. Thankfully, Rainbow wanted to window shop the “baby section” then because when we checked out the same section exactly a week later, there were no more thermometers left due to Singaporeans’ panicked buying as a result of DORSCON Orange due to the spread of COVID-19 in Singapore.
