My New Breastfeeding Gadget - Ardo Calypso Dual Breast Pump

Finally I managed to get the new upgraded Ardo Calypso Dual Breast Pump as soon as it was released in the market. Although this retailer has an online website (http://www.enjoybreastfeed.com/) where all their items can be easily purchased with just a few clicks, I went all the way to the Enjoy Breastfeeding showroom in Klang just to test out the pump last Saturday.

The shop was pretty small and had 2 staffs assiting the boss and lady boss, Michelle. The shop was basically swarmed by mummies. Some were getting advice on breastfeeding and some were looking for breastpumps for their coming bundle of joy. I went straight to one of the staffs and requested to test out the Ardo Calypso Dual Breastpump.

She explained to me patiently on the pump and I also managed to ask questions on the Ameda and Medela Freestyle breastpumps.

Ameda is great as well and is from the same manufacturer as Ardo Calypso. However, I heard from a friend of mine that it is a hassle when it comes to pumping at weird places like toilets since she cannot think of a suitable place to place the pump unit and the bottles. So, this will also definitely be a problem for me as I travel alot.

Medela Freestyle.. wow.. I must say that I was not pleased at all with the sound that was emitted from the tiny machine. It was loud compared to the pump that I previously bought, Avent Single Uno. AND it sounded weird to me, kind of funny too. However, in terms of size, it is a plus point since the pump unit is smaller than Ardo Calypso's.

Ardo Calypso.. affordable, weight wise is about the same as Medela Freestyle to me. Size of the pump unit is two times the Medela Freestyle's which is big. It is as big as my novel as shown in the picture below:

There is a hook on top of the unit which makes it convenient for me to put a string so that I can hang the unit while pumping. This eliminates the need to look for a suitable spot to place the pump unit while preparing or pumping.

The pumps is also really quiet! This is good. At least I can more discreet when I pump.. :)

Below picture shows what I get from the whole package - The Dual Pump, 3 Ice Packs, 8 Bottles, 1 Bagpack and a free bottle of Fenugreek! Good deal at RM976.

The below show how the pump fits into the bag - Of course I will not be bringing all 8 bottles out at one time, so the pump funnels and bottles will go here:

The pump unit and adaptor will be placed at the bottom of the bag:

Shall look forward to commenting on the performance when I start using it later.. Next week! Soon..

Travelling to Penang - Day 5

IT IS THE LAST DAY OF MY BUSINESS TRIP! Today is the day that will determine whether all my efforts for the past few days will go wasted or not.

In the morning, I wrapped the chilled milk in newspapers and then kept them in the polystyrene chiller box together with the well-frozen ice packs. I had 3 small ones and I always managed to keep the milk chilled for at least 5 hours when I went out for daily business visits. Usually the milk and ice packs were kept in the cooler bag. For this time, since the milk would have to be kept chilled for about 12 hours out of the fridge, I kept them in a polystyrene chiller box.

The weather seemed to know what I was up to and all day the weather was not hot at all. It rained heavily in the morning and then the sky remained cloudy until about 4pm when the sun showed her sunny rays. The chiller box was kept in the front passenger seat with the air conditioner blowing directly at it. I was not sure if that would help lengthen the life of the ice packs that were keeping the previous milk chilled, but somehow, it would be better than not keeping the external environment cool. 

Finally, I reached home after visiting 3 customers and a long 5 hours drive. Guess what? My chilled milk were still chilled and the ice packs were only about 80% molten! I managed to bring the milk back for my Little Jen! (*smile widely*)

Travelling to Penang - Day 3

Counting down, 3 more days, exactly 72 hours or less, I shall be home. This means I can keep expressed breast milk (EBM) chilled and then store them in the freezer once I reach home. No more throwing away all the good nutrients my Little Jen has been missing. I sterilise the equipments with boiling hot water and then  after pumping, I keep the EBM in the pre-stesterilized bags in the minibar.

Unfortunately, the minibar is not cold enough to freeze my molten ice packs. Thankfully, I have friends in Penang and my friends are kind enough to help. The ice packs are left at my friend's place to freeze and I shall collect them when we meet tomorrow night. Thanks a lot, buddies!

Travelling to Penang - Day 1

Finally at 9.30pm, I get to pump and release myself from engorgement. I have been nursing Little Jen only at night for about 2 months now and therefore, I am really surprised that I am still able to get about 10oz within 15 minutes of pumping.

Here comes the sad part, on the way here to Penang from KL, I kept my ice packs with 6 cans of Oldtown White Coffee in a polystyrene box. Along the way, I stopped in Batu Gajah and Chemor for customer visits. Had dinner along the way to my hotel on Penang island and by the time I checked into my hotel, the ice packed were all molten but the Oldtown White Coffee was still cold. This means if I freeze my expressed breast milk (EBM), they will not stay frozen for 12 hours until I reach home.

So, tonight and tomorrow morning's milk will have to go wasted. I have no way to bring them back (*sob*sob*).

I miss Little Jen so much! And, Hubby too of course. This is the longest time I am away from them since the boirth of Little Jen..

Little Jen on Formula Milk during day time

I had completely stopped nursing or expressing breast milk for Little Jen between 8am to 6pm in the evening since he was 8 and a half months old. He relied on the expressed breast milk stored in the fridge for more than a month and finally he finished the last pack. So, now, I am buying him S-26 formula milk for 6-12 months old.

During his stay in the nursery right on his first few days out of the womb, he was fed with that particular brand of milk. No allergies and discomfort. So, shall be buying that for him until he can take cow's milk which is A LOT MORE ECONOMICAL. One large can of S-26 only lasts him for less than 2 weeks, and mind you, he only takes formula milk between 8am to 6pm, which is about 4 feedings in total.

Good thing he was exclusively breastfed in the first 6 months and then continued with EBM during the day and nursing at night for the following 4 months. That is a lot of savings!

Travelling while STILL Breastfeeding

Buzzy Mummy will be travelling whole of next week to some foreign land, not so far away. Shall be in Ipoh, Penang and Kedah. Shall be bringing all my Breastfeeding Gadgets along and do what I have to do when I have to. However, on the last day of my business trip, I shall have to bring along all my Expressed Breast Milk (EBM) along with me for a whooping 12 hours! I have to buy a new chiller box big enough to keep all of them inside and along the way, shall have to buy ice cubes to help keep the milk chilled or prevent  the frozen ones from thawing. Ice packs will not be sufficient.

Hopefully everything will go smoothly as planned (*wink*)!

Breastfeeding at Work - Gadgets

Breastfeeding while working sure need some help in order to maintain supply.

I am using the following pump. It is a single electronic pump but in actual fact, it is a 3-in-1. Manual, electric and battery. I usually bring all out when I am outside so that I can pump manually if there is no electric point or use the battery if I am too lazy to pump manually.

Only the electronic parts i.e. the elctronic head and battery casings are kept in the bag shown above. I got the bag free by buying S-26 Mama milk powder and it is really useful and suitable to be used this way.

The rest of the parts including the baby bottles and manual pump will go into the bag below.

And for storage of the milk, I am using pre-sterilized bags as shown below. The benefit of using bags to store the milk instead of bottles is that it is more convenient. The bags are already pre-sterilised and so, you can just pour the milk directly into it and then prepare to be kept in the fridge or freezer. I used to label the bags with date, volume and time. Later, I became lazier and labeled only with the date and volume.

Labelling with dates is very important as that will give you an indication of the expiry date. Chilled milk can be kept in the fridge for up to 2 days and frozen milk can be kept up to 3 months.

When I am home, I will seal the bags using a heat sealer which is actually a really good investment. By heat sealing, you can leave the bags flat to freeze in the freezer compartment. Once frozen, you can keep them like the way you arrange books.

I kept the milk in this manner in separate plastic bags according to the month the milk was expressed. This is important so that we can keep track of the expiry date by batches since we do not want to throw any expried milk out, it will be such a waste.

When I am outstation, I will use cable tie to seal the bags. This is a cheaper option but may take up a lot of freezer space.

Ice packs are must-have necessity especially since I am doing Marketing and I can spend whole 8 hours out of house or office. This is to keep the milk chilled until I am able to store them in the fridge or freezer.

For hygiene purpose, I have a separate scissors for cutting and slitting when the need arises i.e. to separate the pieces of bags and to cut open any milk storage bags.



Oh, last piece of advise - Always store the milk in 2-3oz and nothing more! I had so many stored in 5-oz quantity cause I wanted to save on the milk storage bags.

My son rarely take 5-oz at one-go and I had no choice but to throw the balance as thawed milk must be consumed within an hour and cannot be frozen again for storage.  

Breastfeeding at Work - Schedule after 8 Months

When Little Jen was 8 months old, I began to relax on my breastfeeding schedule. I lengthen the time in between pumps for e.g instead of pumping between 8-9am and lunch time, I was pumping only at lunch time. Then after work, I breastfeed Little Jen directly and refrained from pumping unless I felt too engorged.

Eventually, I was able to go through the whole working day without any pumping. That meant from 9am till 5pm, plus minus an hour or two. The good part was that I suddenly felt I had so much extra time and I could spend more time with my Little Jen.

After doing so for about 1 month now, I am facing low milk supply. Little Jen is now only able to nurse happily right after my working hours and the following meals until his bedtime, he has to count on the expressed breast milk stored in the freezer. I am happy that it looks like the supply will be enough to last for a another month or two.

When he cries for milk in the middle of the night, I am still nursing him directly but I guess this will also be gone soon. Appreciating the moments while I am still still experiencing it (*smile*).

Breastfeeding at Work - Schedule in First 7 Months

Breastfeeding for working Mummies is no easy task but with the help of the following, things are much more convenient. Although I am working at home, I still made sure that I did what other Mummies would do when they were out at work while still breastfeeding their babies.

My Little Jen would have his last feed in the morning at about 7am and then between 9am and 10am, I would pump once. The next session would be during lunch and the last session would be after 5pm. The rest of the day, I would nurse my Little Jen on demand.

When I was outstation for business, I would pump again at between 9pm and 10pm and then again between 6am and 7am. That would mean pumping 5 times a day. However, 5 times a day was only good for few days, longer than that, the milk supply would drop quite significantly.

That was in my case, I am sure, every individual is different.